How we might clothe ourselves:

Flax & linen in Ireland from prehistory to today

Monday 20th November

Westport Plaza Hotel

On Monday 23rd November, 8pm, Orla Murphy will look at ‘How Linen shaped Ireland’.  Her lecture will trace the role of flax and linen in Ireland from pre-history to today.   Linen manufacture has waxed in waned in Ireland since the Iron Age. Once a cottage industry that was widespread throughout the country, linen manufacture promoted the establishment of planned towns such as Westport in the eighteenth century. Irish linen was a major export commodity before becoming concentrated in Ulster as the industry mechanised, and ultimately declined. On the brink of disappearing in the twentieth century, Irish linen is now staging a comeback.

Orla Murphy is Assistant Professor and Deputy Co-Head of the School of Architecture Planning and Environmental Policy in UCD.  Her research and practice focuses on Irish towns, housing, and participatory design, especially in the context of climate resilience and a just low carbon transition. Orla is co-presenter of the RTÉ documentary series Building Ireland, now in its fourth season.