Foxford Woollen Mills

Agnes Morrogh-Bernard, a Sister of Charity, arrived in Foxford in 1891 and found a town in serious distress after decades of famine and emigration. She decided a woollen mill was the answer, had no relevant knowledge, and wrote to John Charles Smith, a Protestant mill owner in Caledon, County Tyrone, asking him to teach her - which, unusually for the period and the sectarian climate, he did. The mill opened in 1892 with a loan from the Congested Districts Board and became the town's employer for a century. It went into receivership in 1987 and was bought and restarted; it still weaves on site, and Foxford blankets and tweeds are sold nationally. The visitor centre runs guided tours of the working floor where you can see and hear the looms, which is the reason to come rather than the shop. Production runs on a weekday schedule, so weekend visits see machines standing still.

What you actually see

• The working looms - weaving on the original site, on the mill floor.
• The founding story - a nun, a loan, and a Tyrone mill owner's help.
• The blankets and tweeds - the products the mill is known for.
• The mill buildings - the 1892 complex beside the River Moy.

When to go

Weekdays during production hours if you want to see the looms running - at weekends the floor is quiet. Tours run at set times. The shop and cafe are open year-round.

Honest expectations

The mill does not run at weekends or outside working hours, so the tour is much less interesting then. Tours are ticketed and timed. A large part of the site is a retail operation.

Nearby

Ballina and the River Moy are north; the National Museum of Country Life is south.