Cathy Scuffil, a Historian in Residence with Dublin City Council for the Dublin South Central area, believes people still appreciate those links hundreds of years later.
The Liberties Weavers are a group that aims to breathe new life into the history of weaving and textile production in the Liberties.
They do this by organising weaving classes, community based workshops, exhibitions and historical lectures.
Cathy has worked with schools, local history societies and community groups in her mission to make history engaging for people from all walks of life.
She has been a champion of the Liberties Weavers from the beginning, and guided the group through the social history and the impact weaving had on The Liberties.
“With weaving, we have a lot of place names that are still in everyday use,” she said.
“This community of people who came to live in Dublin settled around the Liberties because the Earl of Meath, who owned a lot of property in the area, built a new market for them.
“That’s how we got the name New Market, it was built for the weaving trade.
“They settled around Weavers Square. They washed and dried their clothes on what they called tenterhooks. They hung it out to dry and bleach in the sunlight.
“We know that area of Dublin as the Tenters. We have lots of little place names that link us back to the weavers.
“The name Marrowbone Lane came from French speaking people. It should be Mary La Bon Lane, but Dubliners didn’t speak French very well, so it became Marrowbone Lane.
“The Liberty Weavers are trying to keep alive and honour the tradition of weaving and the textile industries in that part of Dublin.
“There have been archeological digs done in and around the area because of all the new buildings that have been going up. They have discovered many archeological finds that really show you the history of the area.
“They are beginning to find quite a lot relating to weaving, such as pieces of silk. They found pieces of wool, the remains of old looms. Some of the things they found would have gone back as far as the Vikings.
“It seems there was a hat manufacturer in Dublin around the Thomas Street area in the Viking era. We were very fashion conscious when we were in the Viking era, that is the beginning of weaving in the area.
“In the late 1600s, early 1700s, we had a massive influx of people, mainly from French speaking parts of the continent.
“They came over to live in Ireland because of persecution on the continent due of religious beliefs.
“The person involved in inviting them over was a man called the Duke of Ormond. We have a street in the Liberties called after him, Ormond Street.
“They were very skilled people, they knew quite a lot about weaving, but they also knew about raising animals like sheep to get the wool.
“But also, they were skilled at the dyeing process, so turning the wool into different colours. It’s a full range of skills they brought with them.
“They could make their equipment, build their looms, build their shuttles, the big needle that sends the thread across the warp.
“Through the Victorian era in the 1800s, they developed a way of weaving both wool and silk together into a product called poplin, a beautiful material which shimmered in candlelight.
“Dublin poplin, or Liberties poplin, was a really important material. Queen Victoria had it in her trousseau and all the royals came to Dublin to buy their poplin. It saved the industry a little bit through the 1800s,” she added.
