COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF CLONDALKIN AREA COMMITTEE

Wednesday, September 15, 2021

QUESTION NO. 16

QUESTION: Councillor F. Timmons

"To ask the Chief Executive could he request that South Dublin County Council locate the recent Heritage Week short film " Clondalkin Tangible Threads " which relates the story of the Clondalkin lace makers who worked on the lace designs for the famous Irish dress designer Sybil Connolly from the 50's to the 70's into Brú Chrónáin Heritage Centre especially as the work began in the very rooms of the house where Brú Chrónáin is located now and to issue a report on same?"

REPLY:

As part of SDCC’s contribution to Heritage Week 2021, a 20mins cultural heritage film was produced under the County Heritage Plan by the Heritage Officer. The film is a collaborative production in conjunction with Irish Crochet Lace Revival group and the families of the crochet makers of Clondalkin who created and supplied crochet to the internationally renowned haute couture designer, Sybil Connolly.

‘Clondalkin’s Tangible Threads, Irish Crochet in the world of haute couture’, tells the previously untold story of the network of women in Clondalkin and its environs in the 1950s and 1960s, who made the Irish Crochet that was a highlight in many of Sybil Connolly’s exclusive designs.

The film recounts how the crochet pieces were designed and created for these gowns by Clondalkin women, and how the patterns were verbally taught to the cohort of out-workers in Clondalkin and surrounding districts over a ten-year period.

The Clondalkin origin of the crochet in these haute couture gowns had not previously been acknowledged, so it is hoped that this film will now deservedly shine a light on the creativity, skill, and industry of these local women who worked from home to produce such high-quality pieces.

The film also adds significant new information to the historical record of Sybil Connolly and her haute couture business which was located in Dublin City and which used Irish-made fabrics, crochet, lace, and weaving.

The location of the filming in Brú Chrónáin, the Round Tower Visitor Centre, closed a circle in this story as the Centre incorporates the houses of Mill View where some of these crochet families lived at the time that this Clondalkin cottage industry operated. Filming took place in one of the upstairs rooms which is now a reconstructed bedroom.

It is an objective of this project to deposit a copy of ‘Clondalkin’s Tangible Threads’ in Brú Chrónáin, the Round Tower Visitor Centre, as a permanent cultural heritage resource. In preparation for this, the film is currently being processed for the addition of sub-titles, so that the film is accessible to all.

‘Clondalkin’s Tangible Threads’ can currently be accessed at the National Heritage Week website at https://www.heritageweek.ie/projects/clondalkins-tangible-threads.