LINEN HERITAGE - Lurgan Linen Trail Multi-Cache

Of the Ulster counties engaged in the linen trade, Co. Armagh played a most important part, particularly in weaving. The Lurgan / Portadown area was known throughout the world for the excellence of its fine linen, and, in fact held a supreme position in the production of fine handkerchief linens, generally termed 'the Cambric Trade'. At the same time though a vast range of other types of linen fabrics were produced in the area including damask, sheeting, aero linen, drying cloths (tea towels), dress linen, embroidery linen, tailors' interlining and many cloths for industrial use.

In the Plantation of the early 1600’s lands in the area of the south-east corner of Lough Neagh were granted to an English Lord, William Brownlow and his family. By 1620 the Brownlow family had established a castle and bawn on a nearby ridge of land (from whence the name Lurgan is derived, an Lorgain meaning "the long ridge" in Irish), and according to a contempory source, "a fair Town, consisting of 42 Houses, all of which are inhabited with English Families, and the streets all paved clean through also to water Mills, and a Wind Mill, all for corn."

In the closing years of the 17th century Lurgan began to develop as a linen manufacturing centre, and Thomas Molyneaux in his book "Journey to ye north" written in 1708, describes the town "at present the greatest mart of linen manufacturers in the north being almost entirely peopled with linen weavers”

At that time the making of linen was an essentially domestic affair. Farmers grew the flax on their own lands and it was scutched at home. The families then combined to spin the thread.

During the hand-loom period, different classes of linen goods had each its own locality of manufacture. The Huguenots are credited with the introduction of fine linen into Ireland especially in the Lisburn and Waringstown areas. Louis Crommelin, a Frenchman from Picardy, upon invitation from William III came to Ireland. In 1699 he was appointed Overseer of the Royal Linen Manufacture in Ireland.

In an account of Lurgan written in 1751 by the Rev. Richard Barton, there is a vivid representation of the Lurgan linen market. While the linens were sold in the open market they were measured under cover in the public houses and custom had made it a rule that the sellers of webs of linen should “expend at least three-pence in liquor for the good of the house”.

The patent for the market in Lurgan was issued in 1629 to Sir William Brownlow, and the rights for it were subsequently sold in 1884 to the Town Commissioners for £2000. Linen merchants stood in the open street and made purchases, paying for, and receiving the goods afterwards in local public houses, most notably the Black Bull Inn which stood in what is now the entrance to Windsor Avenue. Although it is gone, another hostelry now exists in close proximity, which, if you choose to visit, you will be greeted by the geocaching owner, “BUP42”. At the beginning of the 19th century a Linen Hall was built in Church Place (close to the site of what is now the War Memorial).

The introduction of the power loom, however, sounded the death knell for the hand loom industry, although their demise was a slow and protracted affair. Factories did not immediately replace the handlooms – as late as the 1860s houses with weaving sheds were being built in the town, and in the surrounding rural areas this practice continued with labourers’ cottages into the first decade of the 20th century.

Female members of the household often worked at home, folding, packing,stitching and sewing for the linen factories and this outworking became an essential feature of the industry.

In linen weaving, Lurgan was exceptional in that the weavers were mostly men, whereas women weavers were more common in other parts of the country. The reason for this would appear to be that there were no heavy industries in Lurgan, and men tended to gravitate to the heavier end of the textile industry, that of weaving. Women worked at the lighter jobs in the industry, such as winding in the weaving factories, hemstitching and embroidery.

This multi-cache will bring you on a tour of sites of some of the major linen factories in Lurgan. I have selected these based on their importance in the history and development of the town. Sadly most are gone, but the premises of two still largely exist reasonably intact.

At each you will have to find or determine a number which will form part of the solution to the final cache location. Enjoy your tour around Lurgan and it’s linen history.

Waypoint 1 - Johnston Allen & Co

James Johnston and Joseph Allen formed a parthership in 1867 for the manufacture of linen and cambric by handloom. They began in a terrace house in William Street supplying yarn to about five hundred cottage weavers.

The business flourished and by 1877 the number of weavers had increased to one thousand. Larger premises were found, again in William Street but included a stitching factory and finishing room and employed three hundered

Early in 1888 a decision was taken to build a power loom factory on a site in Victoria Street, with capacity for 500 looms. The original chimney shaft at the factory was 150 feet high, the tallest in Lurgan. To accommodate the increasing workforce the factory owners built houses in Woodville Street and Victoria Street.

The company remained in business until 1982, when the annual £750,000 order from Marks & Spencer ceased when M&S decided that they would no longer sell hankerchiefs.

Stand at the point which the co-ordinates bring you to. Look up. How many windows do you see in the tower? We will call this number A

Waypoint 2 - Lurgan Weaving Company

The Lurgan Weaving Company Ltd. (37) or “The Limited” as it became known is another fine example of Lurgan’s industrial architecture. This two storey building in Ulster Street, erected about 1880, was the entrance and offices of the factory.

The factory itself contained 472 looms and its products included cambric of the finest quality. The brick perimeter wall and characteristic saw-tooth roof of the weaving sheds are notable in their design, and are characteristic of several mills that existed in Lurgan at that time, the others sadly now gone from the town’s landscape.

Stand at the point which the co-ordinates bring you to. How many arched windows do you see? We will call this number B

Waypoint 3 - Bessbrook Spinning Company (Richardson Sons & Owden – Lake Factory

The Bessbrook Spinning Co. Ltd. was one of the most important firms in the Irish linen trade. The Richardsons were among some of the earliest settlers in Ulster, initially establishing themselves in Lisnagarvey, near Lisburn, and later as the family expanded, moving into County Armagh (Lurgan, Gilford and Newry areas).

The model village of Bessbrook was conceived by John Grubb Richardson, and was built providing houses for his workers, a school, churches and a shop, but his Quaker benevolence stopped short of a public house !

The “Lake Factory” in Lurgan was a cambric weaving factory, and formed an important part of the Richardson and Owden group of mills. This factory with it’s saw toothed roof remained a feature in the town until it was finally demolished in the early 1980’s. An interesting fact to note is that the factory sat below the level of the park lake, with the road to the golf club acting as a barrier.

Stand at the point which the co-ordinates bring you to. You will see an Orienteering Marker. What number is it? We will call this number C

Waypoint 4 - WFB Baird & Co

The original James Johnston of Johnston Allen & Co (see above) had a large family, and one of his daughters, Margaret, married W.F.B. Baird, a mathematics teacher from Campbell College, Belfast. A very generous man, James Johnston set his son-in-law up in the linen business in Union Street, with the workers in this factory coming from Johnston Allen !

Built in 1912, the original factory was equipped with four hundred Atherton looms, which had been modified from the cotton trade. The factory mainly manufactured piece goods for the handkerchief trade in the USA, where the largest market was at that time.

The company survived the depression of the 1930's and prospered but the demand for linen handkerchiefs disappeared as fashion changed.

The company took the decision in the late 1960's to change from handkerchief production to clothing production. At this time Italy was at the forefront of the fashion industry and fabrics were developed for Armani and other leading fashion designers. In Ireland the company acquired the dyeing and finishing works of John Hanna in Kells. Dating from 1798, this company was a specialist in linen suiting. Baird modernised the company to become the leading finishing works in Ireland. At the same time the company was offered the design services of the McNutt family in Donegal. The combination of the two families created the brand Baird McNutt Irish linen.

Stand at the point which the co-ordinates bring you to. How many lights do you see above the red dorr? We will call this number D

Waypoint 5 - James Malcolm

Lurgan can justly claim to be one of the pioneers in the introduction of linen power-loom weaving. Power loom weaving was introduced to Lurgan as early as 1855 by James Malcolm with the building of a plant in Factory Lane (now called Malcolm Road after him).

The commotion the building of this factory created among the hand-loom weavers was so great that they collected in a body and marched through the town demanding that it be shut down. Despite their protests the introduction of the power-loom had the blessing of the principal people of the town. Nothing, however, could halt progress and by 1866 the Malcolm was making alterations and extensions to the factory to increase the number of power-looms for weaving cambric and cambric handkerchiefs, and became the first factory in the United Kingdom for hemstitching of linen by machine.

Sadly, what remained of the factory premises were demolished in recent years, largely to make room for Millenium Way (see GC2PCY2 - “The Road to Nowhere That Created Another” multi-cache by BUP42).

The co-ordinates will bring you to a point close to what had been the entrance to the factory. At this point you will see a brown box. On it a sign has a five digit number. Take note of the last digit of that number. We will call this number E.

Waypoint 6 - Robert Watson & Sons – The Flush Factory

Another long gone factory, although in this case there remains one of the storage buildings.

The linen factory of Robert Watson (Lurgan) Ltd was founded in 1808 at “The Flush” (so called after the river which flowed through the site) and is considered by many industrial historians to have been one of the earliest hand loom factories in Ireland.

Sited at the end of Ballyblagh Street (so named after the townland to which it faces, and now called Flush Place) is the point where the extended main street of Lurgan branches in three directions, to Belfast, Waringstown and Gilford, placing it very much at the road transport hub of the linen industry in the area. The company was still manufacturing fine quality hankerchiefs until the early 1960’s when, as with many of it’s local competitors was forced to cease operations.

The Watson family were renowned in the local area for the keen interest which they took in their employees as was common with many of the established local family businesses. In 1861 when Shankill Parish Church was rebuilt, the principal window in the chancel consisting of three lights was presented by Francis Watson. Furthermore, when a peel of eight bells was installed in 1878, the largest subscriptiom was received from the Watson family.

The co-ordinates will bring you all that remains of this factory. There you will see an advertising board, on which you will see a telephone number comprising 11 numbers. Take a note of the last digit in the number. We will call this number F.

Waypoint 7 - Seawright Douglas & Co

The youngest linen factory building in Lurgan is on this trail merely to highlight the fact that the linen industry, albeit in the twilight years of the industry in this area, the manufacture of of fine linen hankerchiefs remained strong in the Lurgan well into the latter part of the twentieth century.

This drab grey (largely pre-fabricated) concrete building contrasts with the fine, almost ornate structures which represented the linen industry in the town from the mid to late 1800’s. Nevertheless, irrespective of it's rather dour appearance compared to it’s industry counterparts, it was an important source of employment in the town and played it’s part in the latter years of linen manufacture in Lurgan.

The co-ordinates will bring you the gates of the factory. On the gates are a number of postboxes. Count them. We will call this number G.

You now have seven numbers.

The final cache can be found at:

N 54° 2 (A+B+3) . (E) (E) (F) , W 006° (D) (C) . (G-1) (C) (F).

You can check your answers here: "http://www.geochecker.com/index.php?code=d04b420d5f8fd85752f19980f3e1d8de&action=check&wp=474332504e5659&name=4c494e454e204845524954414745202d204c757267616e204c696e656e20547261696c"> Geochecker

I hope that this cache has brought some enjoyment and appreciation of an important part of our industrial heritage (albeit that there remains little by way of physical examples) and that you have gotten some exercise whilst doing it !

The Cache

A final footnote:

Other notable linen factories that formed Lurgan’s linen landscape included: Samuel McCrudden & Co, Kinnaird Textiles, RR Brown & Co, McCaw Allen & Co., John Douglas & Son, Thomas Bell & Co., Mathers and Bunting, McCaughey & Co., James Clendinning & Sons, Lurgan Hemming and Veining Company, John Ross & Co., Faloon, Hanna, Maxwell & Co., Murphy & Stevenson, Mercer & Brown, R Uprichard & Co., Mourne Linen Co., Brownlow Textiles, Lurgan Linen Co., Lurgan Thread Works, Blackstaff Flax Spinning & Weaving Co.,Ltd., C Blane & Sons Ltd., Milltown Bleaching Co., Ltd., Dollingstown Hemstitching Co., W. Hanna & Co. Ltd., Mercer & Brown Ltd., Twyble & Co. Ltd.