feilden clegg bradley studios + bucholz mcevoy architects
In late September 1850 ‘a very handsome factory intended for the manufacture of flax’22 was reported to be near operational on the outskirts of Limerick. The occasion of the story was the arrival of a large water tank weighing four tons reaching the quays from Glasgow possibly destined for J.N. Russell’s skutching mill at Roxborough which it appears was amassing a stock of flax to be prepared for spinning.23 A year later the Russell skutching mill at Clonlong is also reported to be active in a similar capacity.24 The purpose of Lansdowne mill was described in social terms as a means to ‘effect any improvements in the conditions of our fellow countrymen.’25 a philanthropic tone which is a common theme of the reported activities of the Russell family. Caution should be exercised as the social context of the period was harsh. Working hours in other Limerick factories of the 1850s were reportedly long, starting at 6am and not finishing until 6pm for some and 7am to 8pm for others.26 The Factory and Workshop Act 1878 prohibited women from working more than 56 hours a week, a clear indicator of the measures to address what must have been substantially longer hours across the industry.
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space for the tanks that stored the spring water.28 The building that became known as the infiltration gallery was built over the sunken area of the quarry that created the pond. The stone arched plinth is described as set over ‘vats of stone’ which must have served to store the water but could also have been used to steep the flax. The article notes ‘over those vats of stone [the arches] support the broad floors of the new Linen factory, which, half roofed with glass, is filled with light from above.’29 The description offers a vivid account of the building’s form affording analysis of the remaining fragments. The glazed roof, long since lost, suggests ample daylight was important offering some idea for the potential use of this building. Other flax mills of this period and earlier relied upon large well-lit buildings for dying. The dyehouse at Ditherington Flax Mill (1798) is a single storey building built around 1850 which relied upon long clerestory windows to allow ample daylight to penetrate the room below. A similar building may have been built over the reservoir at the Lansdowne mill in 1855 and with consideration of the operational arrangement of the site it is likely that the dyehouse was located on this part of the site.
Fig.35 Staff at Newtown Pery Mill, 1935
Early reporting captures the activity of J.N. Russell in his efforts to open the factory however there is little news of the people involved. The early reports offer no evidence to identify the architect of the Lansdowne mill. The newspapers of the time afford some insight into the evolution of the site in the first few years. The buildings were built of cut limestone quarried on the spot.27 The quarrying of the stone is noted to have created the pit in which the fly wheel could be located and the 22 23 24 25 26 27
The Limerick Reporter and Tipperary Vindicator – 20th September 1850. The Cork Examiner – 20th November 1850. The Morning Advertiser – 20th June 1851. The Limerick Reporter and Tipperary Vindicator – 20th September 1850 A Stitch in Time. A History of Limerick Clothing Factory. Sharon Slater. p12. The Cork Examiner – 5th December 1855.
Fig.36 The dyehouse at Ditherington Flax Mill
Within its first period of operation the mill’s chimney required re-construction. A severe storm struck Limerick harbour on Christmas eve 1852 destroying a ship in the quay and causing extensive damage to buildings. The chimney is described as having been 160 ft tall but of too narrow a base to resist the force of the wind.30 The top two thirds were lost as was the boiler house onto which the chimney collapsed. The chimney 28 29 30
The Cork Examiner – 5th December 1855. The Cork Examiner – 5th December 1855. The Limerick Chronicle – 29th December 1852.
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