Irish woolen mills
 

Does anyone know if there are still some woolen mills actively producing products that are available for tours etc in the area south of Shannon?

I'm doing some research on them and am planning a trip to Ireland next spring to continue the research

Am not aware of any wollen mills actually in operation at the present. Look at www.blarney.com

It's not south of Shannon, but nearby is Hanley Woolen Mills outside the village of Nenagh. They have a nice shop, and the mill used to be open for pre-scheduled tours. Not sure what things are like now.

The Nenagh Tourist office would have contact info and maybe www.shannonregiontourism.ie

From your spelling, I assume you're American. Our laws about origin labelling in these islands are totally different from yours. You'll probably find that the closest most knitwear on sale in Ireland has come to being made by an Irish person is that the sheep shearer's g-g-g-grandad got transported from New Ross.

You can try emailing each of the companies in the Irish Knitwear Exporters Group (www.ikegireland.com). They mostly knit the clothes themselves, and I think some do in fact dye some of the wool too. I don't think any have a mill to spin it.

If that's messy, try emailing Fiona Harrison at the Irish Clothing and Textiles Alliance (details at www.ibec.ie) for any surviving fully commercial mills.

There are a small number of craftspeople (though I think they all use imported wool these days), and you might get some help from the Irish Crafts Council (www.ccoi.ie).

There may still be one or two mills operating in the North, though there probably won't in a year or so. If you draw a blank in the Republic, try the British Apparel and Textile Confederation (www.batc.co.uk), which represents what's left of the industry in Northern Ireland.

Thanks very much for your information. I have found a couple of woolen mills still actively producing in the Kenmare and Nenagh areas. Your information has given me some other leads.

Hi There;
You might try Donegal Woolen Mill. There are a couple still in Ireland and now that the border is down you can travel quite freely to those mills in the north of Ireland. Have been there twice and both times I have brought very nice wool home. Hope you have a wonderful trip.

Sincerely
Bess L

Here's this but it's in the southeast, not too far from Dublin:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avoca_Handweavers

BesseL: By any chance, did you notice when you topped this thread that . . . eyes trip was in 2006?

oops