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C H A P T E R 1 INTRODUCTION Portlaw today is a quiet peaceful village, situated approximately twelve miles from the city of Waterford. It lies on the river Clodagh - a small tributary of the once vibrant river Suir. To many Portlaw may seem like any other small village of Ireland, lying a stone's throw from Lord Waterford's seat at Curraghmore. To those, however, who know Portlaw and are familiar with it's history, realise that it has much more to offer. It holds a wealth of history, and to it's inhabitants a secure feeling of home. I feel for Portlaw just as any 'native may, because I am a native of this small, yet beautiful village. Being a native of Portlaw, obviously was the main source of motivation in choosing Portlaw as a study area. Also, inevitably, I had a brief knowledge of it's famous background and it proved quite interesting and fascinating to me. Any person observing Portlaw today can immediately perceive that it is like so many of Ireland's towns and villages, suffering under the hands of the depression. However, there was a time when it probably was one of the more prosperous towns of Ireland. The origins of this long gone prosperity and Portlaw itself lie in a cotton factory - Mayfield Mill - as it was known. The age of this prosperity was back in the nineteenth century. It was a place that rose out of nothing but a few mud cabins, which date back to around 1821. The transformers of the village were the Quaker family of the Malcolmsons. It was they who built the few mud cabins into a model township. In researching Portlaw as an industrial village, one of the most irritating and salient factors that befell me was that 1 feel - and hope that any reader of these pages will come to realise - that the village of Portlaw has never been given enough recognition as a model industrial village. The most any writers have attributed to it is a parenthetic reference. Portlaw was a thriving, vibrant, self-sufficient community, when other parts of Ireland were decaying under the ravages of the famine. It was a home and a place of work for thousands. It came to be more than a thriving community however, it turned out to be a model village and it was proceeded by Bessbrook in County Armagh. Ironically many geographers whilst referring to the model townships of the Industrial revolution mention Beesbrook in relation to Ireland, yet fail to recognise that Portlaw was the inspiration behind Bessbrook and it also said that Cadburys, when building their village of Bournville had Portlaw in mind - at least it's layout. In praising the Malcolmson family and their deyelopments in Portlaw, 1 am not saying that they were unique. There were many more industrialists who like the Malcolmsons built model villages for their workers. One could say, that they all contained the germ of the idea which Howard and many other planners were to propagate. All can be regarded as embryonic garden cities. Although Industrial villages and garden cities are clearly two different phenomenon, they both aimed for a combination of working and living in a healthy environment. In my endeavour 1 have tried to give the reader as concise an insight as possible into the birth and literally death of the village of Portlaw. Portlaw was born out of industrial prosperity and has right up until today continued to be effected by the ebb and flow of this prosperity. Portlaw has contracted in size and population since the fall of the cotton factory and the Malcolmson family. Contemporary Portlaw is a reflection of what transpired over one hundred and fifty years ago. Portlaws layout and structure is a fossil of what once was a landmark of Ireland. The sense of community pride that exists today in Portlaw as regards its history is a living tribute to the family of the Malcolmsons, the propagators of village life in Portlaw.
C H A P T E R 2 METHODOLOGY As shall be submitted in the Literature Review, the main type of research in this work, was researching the majority, if not all, the articles written about Portlaw during the nineteenth century. As the title implies, the study undertaken is a case study. The author was not focusing on just one aspect of the village during the nineteenth century, but many overlapping areas of interest, as is outlined by virtue of the title of each respective chapter. For my study to be somehow original it was quite necessary to go further than researching and editing books, articles etc. In light of this, tables and graphs were devised and compiled by means of information gathered from parliamentary papers in the National Library, Dublin and from Censuses reports ranging from 1821 to 1901. Also Griffith's valuation was a main source of Information for original work, and also for supplying information and material not to be found in any book. Griffith's valuation was used to try and outline some trends occurring in tenement leasorship and rateable value for the period around 1852. Some graphs were compiled from this material which gave interesting results. In compiling the graphs for tenement leasorship, three main Land Leasors at the time' were taken into account. Namely the Malcolmsons, Medlycotts and Richard Curtis, the other leasors leasing, only a few houses each are classified as "other" on the graph. The total number of houses taken into account were 425, this number was equated as 100% on the graph, therefore showing the percentage leased by the respective leasors as mentioned above. See graph No (1). Graph No (2) gives the overall percentage of valuation classes, the class value was attributed as follows: five categories were devised in all, the first category being houses with the net annual value ranging from £1 up to but not including £2, and so on up to £6+. As many of the houses above the valuation of £6 spanned quite a large range it was thought that £6+ would be an appropriate category to use in order to give an overall indication of the percentage of houses above this value. Later when contrasting house values as attributed by 1901 Census, and by my own categories from the 1852 data. I devised the following categories so as to class the houses (i.e. class as regards quality etc.). The houses in the £1 - £2 category and £2 - £3 category were taken as 3rd class houses and the£3 - £4 and £4 - £5 categories as 2nd class, the last two categories i.e. £5 - £6 and the £6+' being categorised as Ist class. This proved to be quite beneficial as is outlined in Table 6. Here the eye immediately perceives that many of the houses leased by the Malcolmsons in 1852 had the same class value in 1901, and houses in the other streets which in 1852 according to my classification are classed as 2nd class, and have a low number leased by the Malcolmsons, have changed hands over the intersecting years and dropped to the standard of 3rd class. Graph No (3) is a superimposition in effect of Graph No (1) and No (2), as regards information pertaining to Malcolmsons. By virtue of comparison, the graph allows the percentage valuation classes leased by the Malcolmsons to be compared to the overall percentage of the valuation classes. Data from the Census reports gave a comprehensive division of the male and female labour force in 1871, giving an overall indication of employment structure. Similar but shorter accounts were obtained from the 1821 Census and the numbers of families dependant on various trades is given in the Census of 1841. Table 4 was again constructed from the Censuses which gave invaluable information as regards number of population, number of houses inhabited, uninhabited. When all the data from the relevant years is compiled and contrasted, trends in the prosperity of the village can be seen, also the general health of the village at that given time can be immediately observed. Taking, for example 1841, here 458 houses were inhabited, none were uninhabited and 31 were being built, whereas later in 1881 and 1891 a significant decline in inhabited houses is perceived. In 1891 alone 144 houses were uninhabited. Even the censuses themselves i.e. the reports indicated this decline and gave an explanation for the decline saying: "The decrease in 1881 was attributed to the closing of a Cotton Factory, and in 1891 to reduced employment in a Spinning Factory" (Report of Census for 1881 and 1891.) In the Parliamentry papers on various years under Factory Inspector reports, the Partlaw Cotton Factory is mentioned three times, in the 1836, 1839 and 1852 reports. This information allowed the author to compile tables, which outline the numbers employed and their sexes, as well as allowing for comparison with other factories of the time. By mere comparison, how extensive the works in Portlaw were, is easily comprehended and realised. Trade Directories also proved to be valuable sources of information. In the trade directories the main persons in the village at the time are named and also their occupation. In compiling the graphs the author perceived that a certain Richard Curtis, was leasing a relatively large amount of property in Portlaw at the time of the research done in Griffiths Valuation. However, no one seemed to be able to tell the author who this person was, and what status he held in the village. However, when his name was referred to Slater's commercial directory of 1846, he was listed as Coal Merchant, Grocer, Baker and Flour Dealer, thus giving further insights into the social life of the village at that point-in time and the main persons there within. With a compilation of this material and the written literature studied by the author, the various chapters were research and compiled. Chapter 4 deals with the Malcolmsons, their origins, how they acquired their wealth, how they became involved in the Cotton trade, and subsequently their eventual arrival in Portlaw Chapter 5 follows on from this, dealing with the Cotton factory - the conditions, the number of workers , employed, the uniqueness of the engineering of the factory and other such details. Chapter 6, deals with the main village types in Ireland at the time. This discussion is very general, this being a result of the diversity involved in all these villages. Therefore,only general remarks were made ,and a small, yet clear account of Gilford, an industrial village similar to Portlaw, is given. Chapter 7 is a description of the model village of Portlaw. It discusses the layout and structure of the village. Also it looks at population figures, house inhabitation figures etc. it was in this Chapter that Griffiths Vaulation was analysed. Chapter 8 looks at the benefits that Portlaw received as a consequence of being an industrial village, and also by the fact that it's benefactors were a Quaker family. Therefore, the chapter also looks at the Malcolmsons as philanthropists and their Quaker philosophy. The conculsion outlines the eventual decline of the factory - the factors conditioning this decline and inevitably the subsequent decline and demise of Portlaw. As already mentioned, the study undertaken being a cease study, had to look at many aspects of the village during the nineteenth century. Thus prohibiting extensive research and subsequent writings on any one area of village life at the time. Many aspects had to be covered, and hopefully in doing so the author hopes that this was acquired with satisfaction for the reader.
C H A P T E R 3 LITERATURE REVIEW As the title suggests, this work is based firmly in the past, therefore the main type of research involved was the reading of many articles that referred to Portlaw or aspects relating to Ireland in the nineteenth century. This proved to be a somewhat tedious task as the author was soon to find out. However, listed below are some of the most helpful books, articles etc. found by the author. Lt was necessary to read a few books on each aspect of the study so as to gain verification of data uncovered. In researching Portlaw as an industrial village, the author found that although many books refer in general to the industrial revolution and its consequences, only few gave any beneficial insight into the villages and towns that were the outcome of the revolution. Also another major criticism that the author found with any of these books was that practically all failed to refer to Portlaw as a planned industrial village of the nineteenth century. My sentiments seem to echo those of the Reverand P. Power who, when writing of Portlaw in 1910 says, "It is strange that none of our country historians has gone to the trouble of investigating the story, of the great Portlaw industry, one of the most interesting things of its day in Ireland". Whilst Power laments the fact that Portlaw has not been recognised, T.W. Freeman in his book Ireland felt that Ireland was predominantly rural and that the industrial village "is a phenomenon almost unknown to the majority of Irish people outside the North East" General information regarding industrial villages and model towns was found in various qualities and quantities. Galbraith in his book entitled The Age of Uncertainty, (1977) cites the model textile town of New Lanark as an example of enlightened humanitarian experiment. He gives a rather sketchy account of New Lanark as created by David Dale a noted Scottish "Capitalist and Philanthropist" and Robert Owen his son-in-law, who was a "Philosopher, Utopian Socialist, Religious Skeptic and Spiritualist". The case of New Lanark was further explored by Turnock in The Historical Geography of Scotland since 1707 (1982). He explores all these planned villages were not all copies of each other, and that each individual village / town, had to be studied according to its own merits. He also notes the difficulty in the uncertainty of the evolution of the planned village concept. Peter Hall’s book Urban and Regional Planning ( 1982 ) lokks at the planned village not on the end product of philanthropic motives. He dates the planned village beginnings to R. Owen and says how the scale of the industry at that time was throwing up powerful industrialists who saw the advantages of decentralisation. He refers to all the noted planned English villages, as well as the Krupps village in Germany,- one which closely resembles Bournville and port Sunlight. Also he refers to the planned village of Mortman Pullman that was built by Pullman in the United States in 1880. He says of all these towns, "many of them are still functional and highly pleasant towns today." How true this in the case of Portlaw, however he failed to mention it Allsopp in 1914 paints a grimmer picture in An Introduction to England’s Industrial History he writes of the horrors of industrial life. Rows of houses without proper drainage, sanitation - a far cry from the healthy atmosphere as exhibited in the case of Portlaw. If Hall above saw some of the model villages as being pleasant and functional today Allsopp saw the result of the industrial revolution in a different light. He saw its traces "in the dirty back streets and tortuous slums of our great industrial towns where millions of people live narrow gloomy lives cut off more or less completely from sunlight and fresh air and horribly overcrowded" Industrial villages of Ulster 1800 - 1900 by D.S. Macniece in the Book Plantation to Partition ed. P. Roebuck (1981) mentions all the model villages listed above, as shall be noted later. He attributed great praise to Bessbrook - a village built with the layout of Portlaw in mind - He deals in depth with Gilford, a model village of Ulster that came in to being around the same time as Portlaw, and as shall be seen in Chapter 6, it compares quite well with Portlaw. Information about the Irish village type of the time, was acquired from a combined reading of a few books and articles. The main reading being a Chapter from L.M. Cullen's book The Emergence of Modern Ireland 1600 - 1900. In Chapter 4 of his book "Village and Countryside: Landlord and settler" he discusses the Irish planned village, it's evolution, and survival today. He also categorises the planned villages of Ireland into three. This proved quite interesting as I placed Portlaw into one of these categories, and contrasted it with Cullen's village in the relevant category. Orme's book 'Ireland "(1979) was for me, a breath of fresh air in the fact that of all the books mentioned so far, none of them acknowledged Portlaw as a model village. Orme does, however. Over three chapters he discusses the evolution of the Irish town, Aalen's Man and Landscape in Ireland (1978) also mentions Portlaw, he refers to it as one of the two greatest industrial towns of Ireland. Bessbrook being the second. T.W. Freeman also provided background reading as he had a chapter entitled Irish Towns in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century in a book edited by Butlin The Development of the Irish'Town (1977). Also Irish Geography 14, had an article by T. Jo.nes Hughes - village and town in mid nineteenth century Ireland, both articles giving good background reading. Isabel Crubbs, being a quaker herself supplied reading on the Quakers in Ireland. She locked at items on philanthropists in parts of her book, "Quakers in Ireland" namely Chapter VII and Chapter VIII - "Light and Shade in the Nineteenth Century and Philanthropy and Education". She speaks of the Quakers as benefactors to Ireland, and mentions how they set up soup kitchens during the famine. In Chapter VIII she makes direct reference to Bessbrook and Portlaw and the good deeds done by the Quakers there. An article In the Irish Times dated Wednesday April 8th 1959, discusses the Quakers by Arnold Marsh. He speaks of their integrity and eath1y riches, and he also makes references to their acts of philanthropy, and in doing so makes a passing comment about Portlaw. A very brief handout, on the Quaker philosophy was given to me by some Quakers, when I visited Dublin looking for the Society of Friends Library, only to find out that it was in cold storage for the year, however, in return I was given the above literature on the Quakers from a charming and hospitable meeting of some members of the Society of Friends. A very detailed and most excellent account of the Malcolmsons, their origins and their business interests down through the years and including information of Portlaw, was acquired from two articles printed in the Munster Express in 1966 and in 1971. The 1971 Article was a copy of a Speech delivered to the members of the old Waterfords Society on Friday November 26th 1971, by Mrs Phyllis Milton - a great granddaughter of William Malcolmson. She goes into great depth about Clonmel, Portlaw, and also the many other industries and interests which the Malcolmsons were involved in i.e.Neptune Ironworks 'and Shipbuilding Industry, Annaholty Peat works, The Shannon Estuary Trade, Clonmel, Thurles, Limerick-- and Foynes Railsways, St. Petersbury Steam Ship Company, Shannon Fishing, Ruhr Coal Mines,among many others. The second article was also a copy of a speech, this time made by Mr. Charles Jacob. Mr Jacob as well as supplying the author with these two articles, also gave her a copy of a memoir compiled by the late Alexander Malcolmson, great grandson of David. Information regarding the "Leather Money" of Portlaw was obtained from an article in the Journal of the Royal Society Antiquaries Ireland (1968). Also additional reading material on this topic was also in the old Waterford Society Decies No. 10 entitled "Tokens issued by Waterford tradesmen". As already stated, the majority of research for this work lay in procuring any available and relevant information on Portlaw, its conditions of living etc in the nineteenth century. Many of the articles, books etc were repetitions and of no great value. Others only gave parenthetic references to Portlaw, whilst many articles proceeded to give all in one accounts of the lives of the Malcolmson family, hereby incorporating all their business interests and transactions and Portlaw only being included as one of their many business successes. Much information had to be discarded as a consequence of this, and others proved too superficial to be of any relevance to the study. No one article or book gave any comprehensive and detailed account of Portlaw as a nineteenth century industrial village. Of course, the author realises that her work would have been futile if this was the case, and it is her hope that her study now fills in the gap that previously was unfilled. |
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