- Title:
- Living Linen Interview LL2_R01/08
- Object name(s):
- Sound Recording : Magnetic Tape, Reel; Sound Recording
- Brief description:
- Sound Recording on Reel: RSD Craigmore. Library Transcript: Transcript. Summary: Mr Blair's grandfather moved to Bessbrook from Cookstown. In Bessbrook he was in charge of the village accommodation and housing stock. Mr Blair's father also worked in the linen trade. Harry was offered a job in the factory whenever his father passed away. At the age of 14 he started in the wages office. The weavers were paid weekly and their wages varied greatly. They were not only paid according to a piece rate, but some had money deducted for poor work and arriving late. Some workers also had their rent deducted from their pay packets. During WWII Bessbrook wove a lot of canvas and mercerised cotton for the MoD. In Sept 1942 Mr Blair was moved to Craigmore factory, a subsidiary of Bessbrook. He became factory manager in 1946. Craigmore is a small village on the Newry - Bessbrook tramway. Craigmore factory was a very old building. The age of the building was reflected in the working conditions. Craigmore wove mostly plain cloth and rough counts. They had some 200 shuttle looms. Craigmore was a satellite, or extension, of Bessbrook. All of the orders, including the yarn, were passed through from Bessbrook. The yarn was originally sent down from Bessbrook in hank form although in later years it was dressed in Bessbrook and transported on the beam. Water power remained important at Craigmore throughout Mr Blair's reign. The mill race was packed up by a pond and coal fired boilers. Craigmore never electrified and investment was minimal. The village consisted of approximately 50 houses. The nearest shop and amenities were in Bessbrook or Newry. There was, however, a small farm at Craigmore that belonged to the factory. Labour relations were excellent. The workers were drawn from Craigmore, Newry and Bessbrook. Several families had two or three generations of members working in the factory. The tramway was a lifeline up until it closed in the early 1950s. The rolling stock could run on the road or rails. The tram left Bessbrook every hour. The timetable was designed to facilitate workers getting in and out of Bessbrook/Craigmore. Workers paid full fare. There was no evening service. Although Mr Blair was factory manager, the manager at Bessbrook came down to discuss matters once a week. Mr Blair had little budgetary control. He could authorise expenditure on housing, but on all industrial or manufacturing matters had to refer to Bessbrook. Towards the mid- 1950s business began to falter. Craigmore was working week about and, being a satellite factory, had no independent customers. Craigmore only received decent orders when Bessbrook was at full capacity. Craigmore closed in 1959/60. The factory was sold and eventually burnt down in the early 1970s. It was never re-built. Mr Blair was moved back to Bessbrook to work in the costing office - his manager’s house was sold along with the factory. Costing was not something that Mr Blair took to and he was put in charge of the wages office where he had started off as a boy. Bessbrook had undergone a lot of changes. The weaving workforce had been greatly curtailed. With the introduction of Northrop automatic changing looms one weaver now looked after 6, as opposed to 2, looms. The belt drives had been replaced with individual electric motors and wages had risen dramatically. The method of calculating and recording wages, however, remained the same. Mr Blair left Bessbrook in c.1963 and left the textile trade altogether. He finished his working life in education.
- Collection:
- National Museums Northern Ireland
- Object name:
- Sound Recording : Magnetic Tape, Reel; Sound Recording
- Object number:
- HOYFM.R2001.39
- Object production date:
- 02/02/2000
- Object production person:
- Blair, Harry (Mr)
- Right holder:
- National Museums NI
- Text reason:
- Collections online record
Persistent shareable link for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/efa84234-4437-31a7-bb00-2e42038850d0
Use licence for this record: CC BY-NC
Attribution for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/efa84234-4437-31a7-bb00-2e42038850d0, National Museums Northern Ireland, CC BY-NC
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