School: Pádraig Naofa, Droichead Banndan

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1. The Cotton-Mills of Bandon

   

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   [Closed in 1810].

   Outside the town of Bandon on the main road to Timoleague and about a quarter mile from the hamlet of Old Chapel are the ruins of the famous "Cotton Mills". These mills were built by a man named George Allman in the beginning of the nineteenth century. They were working up to 1810 when they had to close down owing to a strike. George Allman died in 1818. There were five large floors and each floor was covered with sheet-iron. Hundreds of spindles were worked by the water from the Bridewell river which rises near Knockbrown and flows close by. The old mill-wheel - a huge one - was to be seen until very recently when it was dismantled. Old Bandonians state that "every turn of the wheel earned a guinea" for the Directors Sweet or Swift - Sullivan Allman. These Directors lived in three spacious houses overlooking the mill, viz., Milton House, Overton House, and Mount Prospect. The houses are still there and occupied. The mills were the largest cotton mills in Munster and gave employment to thousands.
   Bandon Town at this time extended to the Old Chapel and farther on and the population was nearly 20 thousands. In fact the bulk of the population resided round Gallow's Hill, New Road, and Old Chapel.

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Mr Stephen Crowley

   Gender

   Male

   Informant

   Mr Con Donoghue

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Bandon, Co. Cork