Council to asked to investigate Kilcullen crochet lace heritage

A motion asking that Kildare County Council conduct a feasibility study about the beginnings of Irish lace crochet in Kilcullen will be discussed at the next meeting of the Kildare-Newbridge MD, writes Brian Byrne.

The joint motion for the 20 October meeting is from Cllrs Tracey O'Dwyer and Mark Stafford, who ask that the study clarify the proposition that the craft began in Kilcullen. It would also look at the possibility of establishing a permanent exhibition in the Kilcullen area.

The craft is reported to have supported up to 700 women workers around Kilcullen in the middle of the 19th century, and is credited with bringing the industry to Clones in Co Monaghan, founding a tradition in that area which continues to this day.

The wife of a local Rector, Mrs Martha Roberts, began teaching the craft in Kilcullen around the mid 1840s to women, to try and alleviate the hardships of the Great Famine.

READ: Kilcullen once centre of lace 

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