Derry’s shirt factories: ‘You can still see the imprints of the factory girls’ feet on the concrete stairs’

Known for their skill, camaraderie and resilience, the factory girls were the first unionised group of female workers in Ireland and, with high male unemployment in Derry, often the main breadwinners in their families. “I always say I was part of the factories when I was in the womb, as my mum worked in the Herdman linen mill [in Sion Mills, which stopped spinning linen in 2004] when she was pregnant. It was in the Tower Museum’s archive that Una Carlin, designer and goldsmith at Derry’s Faller the Jeweller, spotted a black-and-white photo of an elegant young woman working in the City Factory.

Author: Jeananne Craig

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