Built in 1824, Blarney Woollen Mills was originally known as Mahony's Mills and provided valuable employment to the people
of Blarney and surrounding areas. It was a water powered mill and it produced tweeds and woollens for the home and export
markets.
In 1928, a boy of 13, like most of his friends in Blarney, began to work at Blarney Woollen Mills. His name
was Christy Kelleher.
Young Christy began work at the mill as an apprentice machinist and worked there for 22 years. He became a
supervisor with responsibility for the day to day running and maintenance of the heavy industrial machinery. He was always
very proud of the fact that during the war years when machine parts were not available, he improvised so well that 'his' machines
never stopped.
In 1951 Christy left to work with an insurance company in the city so that he could better provide for his
family, But he was never a man to stand still and always had a little business going on the side. All of his seven children
were encouraged to help him run his various ventures. He purchased the local cinema and turned it into a dance hall at weekends.
He ran a hackney service and also had a 'vegetable round'.
In 1967 he started a small souvenir shop in Blarney which he and some friends built as he did not have enough
money to buy a property. (This 'thatched cottage on wheels' is on display in the grounds of the mill today.)
Meanwhile, business at the Old Mill had started to decline and it finally wound down production and closed
its doors in 1973. The huge stone buildings became bare and empty and the machines were dismantled and removed. Five hundred
people lost their jobs. For two years the great mill lay silent and derelict. Nobody wanted it. Christy visited the site many
times and slowly the germ of an idea began to grow - he would buy the buildings he had worked in as a boy and turn the mill
into a visitor centre!
He 'did a deal' with the auctioneers and placed a deposit on the Mill only to discover that the financial
institutions did not share his enthusiasm. His request for funds were refused. What a dilemma! The family agreed that drastic
steps were necessary and between them raised the funds to purchase the Mill and later persuaded the banks to provide the working
capital. Christy Kelleher was now the proud owner of the Woollen Mills where he had started his working life. One of the first
things he did was to remove the big iron gate which stood between the mill and the main road. All the employees of the Old
Mills had only been allowed to enter through a side gate, and Christy was determined that the ordinary people would now be
able to go through the main entrance.
The souvenir business from the thatched cottage was transferred into the Mill and the remainder converted
into an hotel which was appropriately called Christys.
The fact that the business prospered is a testament to Christy's dogged enthusiasm and entrepreneurial spirit.
He was always there, with a kind word for everyone, welcoming the visitors and encouraging the staff. Nowadays more than one
million visitors pass through these old stone buildings each year.
Christy Kelleher, this great man of vision, died in 1991 aged 76. He left behind him a thriving family company
which still retains that Blarney spirit that made it all possible in the first place.
