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When this Chimney Smoked, Many Men were Employed, 4th - 6th class, Reenascreena National School | Tales of Light and Shadow, Children’s Exhibition
2013-04-23

When this Chimney Smoked, Many Men were Employed, 4th - 6th class, Reenascreena National School

Description

"When this chimney smoked many men were employed" (The Southern Star)

When you pass through Reenascreena Village, you notice a lone chimney stack. This was once part of the Reenascreena Mills (1850-1955). We researched this for a history project.

Once Reenascreena was a hive of industry with a corn, a flax and a woollen mill. Reenascreena became famous for the production of fine cloths which were exported world-wide. So we thought a fabric wall hanging was appropriate to depict this landmark.

The Stack was built to take away the smoke from the fire which heated the large dying pot. Story has it that Mrs Hurley measured the dyes with a teaspoon from six gallon tins that were kept in her kitchen. She could match the colour of any cloth a year later if it was requested. So we decided to mix dyes to tie-dye fabric to create stones for our stack. Finally we sewed in flax for the tufts of grass which grow on it.

We recorded the names of the owners and workers at the Woollen Mill on the borders for posterity.

Our sepia film shows the mill stream which powered the cogs and wheels which in turn helped power these mills. This reflects the working of James L. Hayes in his The Essence of Taste exhibition and his concerns with renewable energy, industry, histories, and his use of projected film. The film projected over the stack shows the ghosts of the activity that once took place there. The song Aragon Mill by Si Kahn could easily have been written about The Reenascreena Mills.