FLAX GROWING IN IRELAND:

HISTORY AND FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES

Programme

Venue: The Ryandale Inn, Moy, Co.Tyrone.

THURSDAY 18 SEPTEMBER

There are plenty of options for lunch in Lisburn before the visit.

3. pm Meet for Field visit. Irish Linen Centre & Lisburn  Museum, Market Square,

Lisburn BT28 1AG County Antrim, Northern Ireland. www.lisburnmuseum.com

We are booked for a Guided flax to fabric tour at 3.30 – 4.30. The Museum closes at 5 so if

you want to look around the whole Museum it is suggested you do so before the guided tour.

This tour will include an overview of the history of flax and linen production in Ulster. (Free)

Evening gathering at conference hotel ( c 45mins westwards down the M1 from Lisburn)

Arrange own dinner at hotel. There is traditional Irish music in a pub just beside the hotel on

Thursday nights.

FRIDAY 19 SEPTEMBER All events at Conference Hotel

10am–11am ‘We might as well be under the Soviet’ - Compulsory tillage in Ireland

during the Second World War by Dr Michael Loughman

Short Break

11.20 – 12.20 A woman leading the men. Elizabeth F. Bobbett and the tillage question in

the 1930/40s by Dr Peter Moser and Dr Tony Varley

12.30 - 1.30 LUNCH

1.30 am – 2.30 am How a little blue flower made Northern Ireland the linen capital of the

world by Dr Lindsay Easson

2.30 – 3.30 Modern flax production in Ireland and me by Luke McGuinness

Break

4.00 – 5.30 Local flax grower Helen Keys discusses her experience producing flax on her

farm, providing a basis for a wider, audience-inclusive, discussion on the challenges and

opportunities for flax growing in Ireland today

6 PM Conference Dinner at Conference Hotel

SATURDAY 20 SEPTEMBER

AM 2 Field visits.

1. 10.00 AM Field visit to flax-growing farm.

Mallon Farm in County Tyrone where Helen Keys and Charlie Mallon are reviving the

tradition of growing flax for fibre, as part of a patchwork of potatoes, grass and oats. Using

nature-friendly practices, Helen and Charlie, are growing flax fibre to produce textiles as the

first commercial producer of Irish-grown linen in over 40 years.

105 Pomeroy Rd, Cookstown BT80 9EY

https://www.nffn.org.uk/rethink-farming-helen-keys/

2. 1 PM National Trust Property-Wellbrook Beetling Mill, Cookstown.

Situated in a peaceful, wooded glen along the Ballinderry River, Wellbrook Beetling Mill

stands as a reminder of Ulster’s once-flourishing linen industry that dates back to the late

seventeenth century. 20 Wellbrook Road, Cookstown BT80 9RY www.nationaltrust.org.uk

2.30/3.00 Depart