Newry was late on the scene in establishing powered flax mills, exploiting the boom that inevitably followed the closure of American ports during their Civil War.
Dromalane Mill was built 1864-6 at a cost of £40,000 by an in-law of John Mitchel’s William Hill Irvine. He managed it for ten years before his departure for Australia. The long-deserted building has recently been refurbished and now houses offices and retail outlets.
Bessbrook Spinning Company was earlier established and successful and went through a succession of owners, eventually being sold in 1916 to Blackstaff Spinning & Weaving Company. When Robert Dempster’s mill opened in Corn Market in 1865 it was the largest dry spinning mill in the country. Besides flax, it worked hemp and jute yarns. Robert Kerr who was originally the mill manager took over ownership in 1906. The mill closed in 1927 some six years after his death. Again the deserted building was eventually refurbished and now houses Community Services offices and retail outlets.
The story of 'Damolly Mill' is separately told herein {April 2004]. The Edward Street warehouse which today is mainly a carpet warehouse was, in my youth Carroll’s Tobacco Company, but before that Abraham Wilson’s spinning mill. It operated from the 1860s until 1921.
As
noted above in relation to spinning, most linen weaving until the 1850s
was done on hand looms (i.e. non-powered and often at home). From that
time power looms were increasingly introduced, with a huge rise in the
1860s [there were 14,834 in 1867] with a further rise up to 1905
[32,831]. This brought greatly increased production of spun yarn and a
rise in wages.
