Portlaw Heritage Centre

28/05/2026

Portlaw Heritage Centre is now open every Saturday afternoon from 2.30 pm to 4.30 pm for the 2026 Summer Season. Feel free to call in and explore the Heritage of Portlaw. Outside of these hours, please contact us by email on [email protected] for an appointment to visit. For full contact details and additional information visit our website portlawheritage.ie.
Our volunteers made good use of their time last Saturday and planted up two large flowerpots as part of the Portlaw Tidy Towns Family Planters Project. We thank the Tidy Towns committee for their great work which enhances the experience of visitors to our historic village.

18/05/2026

1839
The year 1839 started with a catastrophic natural event which embedded itself in the memory of those who lived through it. Known as the “Night of the Big Wind” (Oíche na Gaoithe Móire), a major storm struck Ireland and Britain on the 6th and 7th of January causing significant damage to the entire island and was used as a benchmark for severe weather events for years afterwards. In the following days newspapers across the country reported between 300 and 400 fatalities across the island. We cannot find any specific details on the impact to Portlaw but there is no doubt much structural damage would have been caused. The Factory Inspector’s Half Year Report, issued in July 1839 by James Stewart Esq., reviews his inspection of various factories in Ireland and mentions the factory at Mayfield run by the Malcomsons, along with other employers, as generally being adverse to the employment of children under the age of thirteen years in line with the Factories Act 1833. The Act was one of the first major pieces of legislation to regulate working conditions in factories, including children in particular. While the concept of children working long hours is shocking to us always remember to judge reports of this nature in the context of their time. This year also saw the introduction of the 4d token, supplementing the 2s and 1s tokens introduced in previous years, which could be used in the local shops. The Waterford Mirror reported on the first annual show of the Portlaw Agricultural Society which took place in October followed by dinner for the leading members of society in the area.
Sources:
Tom Hunt. Portlaw, County Waterford 1825 – 1876 Portrait of an Industrial Village and its Cotton Industry.
Irish Newspaper Archives.
Portlaw Heritage Centre – Copy of Report by James Stuart, Esq., for the Half Year ending June 30, 1839.

13/05/2026

Portlaw in 1838
The year 1838 saw the retirement David Malcomson from the cotton mill business in 1838 and handing over control with his son Joseph taking over the business as managing partner. It was also the year when the Portlaw Tontine Club, formed in March, came into existence. Established to ‘promote temperance and the habits of saving’, it reflected the Malcomsons Quaker faith. Workers paid in six pence a week and benefited with the capital and interest paid at the end of the year but savings were forfeit if a member was found under the influence or frequenting alehouses within a set distance of the village. The factory inspector returns for 1838 show a combined workforce in excess of 1000 personnel consisting of 516 males and 495 females. While there were was not a pattern of unrest in the Portlaw area due to the industrial structure of the village there were instances of agrarian unrest reported in the surrounding areas. The Leinster Express in May 1838 reported on the burning of four houses at Mount Bolton following the eviction of the tenants. On a national level the year also saw the UK Parliament enact the Poor Law (Ireland) Act 1838 which established the workhouse’s which became so deeply associated with misery and destitution. the closest surviving example of these workhouses is the one in Kilmacthomas.
Tom Hunt. Portlaw, County Waterford 1825 – 1876 Portrait of an Industrial Village and its Cotton Industry.
Waterford County Museum, The Towns & Villages of the Waterford Greenway – A History of Dungarvan, Abbeyside, Stradbally, Kilmacthomas, Portlaw & Waterford City, (Waterford, 2018).
Irish Newspaper Archives.

30/04/2026

Portlaw 1837
In 1837 Samuel Lewis published a two volume guide and Atlas which provided a snapshot documenting each village, town and parish in Ireland. The entry for Portlaw provides information on population numbers, local economy, industry, religion, education, and parish structure. The entry describes the newly built cotton mill as “very spacious, with a flat roof, on which is a reservoir for water, 260 feet in length and 40 feet in breath; it is fitted up with the most improved machinery, propelled by three large water-wheels, and three steam engines, the united power of which is estimated at more than 300 horses.” It recorded that there were in excess of one thousand persons employed in the mill and the population of the village was recorded at 3250 residents. Samuel Lewis guide and accompanying atlas are a fascinating picture of Ireland in 1837 and Guilcagh, Clonegam and Kilmeaden can also be found within its pages. It can be searched easily on the internet.
Sources:
Irish Newspaper Archives.
Samuel Lewis’s A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837)

26/04/2026

11/02/2026

1836.
The Heritage Centre had a busy end of year with the launch of the website, so we had a gap in our year by year snippets of what was happening in Portlaw. We are getting back on track this week with some interesting highlights from the year 1836. The second phase of the mill building was completed in 1836 measuring 260 feet in length and 40 feet in breadth.

Also reflecting the Quaker ethos of the Malcomsons there were a number of visits during the summer and winter of 1836 by temperance speakers promoting the benefits of sobriety. The year also saw the establishment of the Waterford Commercial Steam Navigation Company with the Malcomson family as majority shareholders.
Outside of the world of the factory and village, Portlaw was not immune from a feature of Irish society known as faction fighting. These were large scale fights, often organised at fairs and patterns, which resulted in serious injury and even fatalities. The Freemans Journal carried an account in July 1836 of one such incident which resulted in a fatality. The two principal groups in Waterford were the Shanavests and the Caravats. The two factions mentioned in the article were smaller groups and would have been aligned respectively with the larger ones. The practice eventually declined in the middle of the 19th century as policing became more effective and church condemnation increased.

Sources:
Tom Hunt. Portlaw, County Waterford 1825 – 1876 Portrait of an Industrial Village and its Cotton Industry.
Irish Newspaper Archives.
The Heritage Council, Portlaw, County Waterford – Conservation Plan, (Kilkenny, 2003).

15/12/2025

Portlaw Heritage Website Launch.
Hi all, we have spent the last few months putting material together to populate the website content, supported by Deise Design, our partners in the project. We are delighted to announce the launch of our brand new website and the address is www.portlawheritage.ie The aim of the website is to enhance the visibility of the village and we are deeply grateful to The Heritage Council for their support on this project. We hope you find the information in the new website easy to access and that it provides a centralised platform showcasing the town's industrial heritage; sharing stories, promoting events and making our story more accessible to local residents and international visitors. We will continue to add more stories and articles to the website at regular intervals as we expand the content. The factory complex, streets and buildings of the village provides the backdrop to our lives; our past, present and most importantly our future. The website is particularly relevant as we mark the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the Malcomsons, and the 40th anniversary of the closure of the leather industry in 1985. We will bring more news of the official launch of the QR code walking trail in the New Year.

Explore Portlaw Heritage Centre in Waterford. Discover the area's rich industrial and social history, exhibitions, archives, and stories of the model village.

14/12/2025

Best of luck to our good friend Tom Hunt on the launch of his new book on Wednesday the 17th of December. Tom has extended an invitation for anyone who would like to attend.

11/12/2025

Portlaw Calendar 2026 is now on sale at Fogarty’s, the Post Office and the Martin Centre.

13/11/2025

We are indebted to the Heritage Council for providing support and funding for our new website. The website will provide a centralised platform to showcase the town's heritage; share stories, and promote events, making it more accessible to both local residents and international visitors. Keep an eye over the next few weeks as we get close to going live. Projects of this nature provide access to a wide audience that we can only dream of reaching.