At Ireland's oldest castle built by the Norman Crown in 1185, the mill has been there just as long.  In 1869 it was transformed from a mill that fed and clothed knights to a mill that clothed gentlemen.

John Mulcahy led this vision.  Ardfinnan had a strong tradition of wool spinning and weaving in the cottages surrounding the castle, but no organised industry.  By converting the castle's flour mill he gave employment to the skilled villagers and supported the shepherds.  In days gone, the original mill on the bridge was patronised by the charitable Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller who could banquet with fresh bread in the round tower above.  The Knights Templar introduced cloth fulling at the mill in the 13th century, explaining the continuous history of weaving traditions among the locals of Ardfinnan.  One such local named William le Teynturer (William the Dryer/Tenterer) is recorded in the village in 1295.  The strategic crossing between Eastern and Southern Ireland was also on the River Suir, one of the best trout and salmon fishing rivers in the British and Irish Kingdoms, naturally ideal for washing wool with its soft mountain water.

John Mulcahy's family had started the Dripsey Woollen Mills, Bluebell Woollen Mills and Glanworth Woollen Mills in Cork, with a dynasty that went back to the old fulling mills. There's a story that he fell in love with the familiar picturesque scene of the medieval bridge and elevated castle as unique to Ardfinnan as Glanworth.  The Ardfinnan hills were still flocked with the sheep breeds cultivated by the knights of old for their finest fleece and the locals were ready to be employed in the woollen industry once again as the flour industry was in decline.  His dream having come to fruition at Ardfinnan, John retired to the castle in 1921 but sadly his wife had just passed away, followed by his first son and then himself the following year.  His grandsons were sent to Yorkshire to study textiles and return to lead the legacy.  Having begun selling blankets of the finest fleece in the land, growing to supply tailoring houses in New York, London and Paris by the 1920s, it matured into the only woollen mills in Ireland completing all stages of woollen manufacture, from fleece to tailored suits in the 1940s.

The hydropower from the mills electrified the village in an age of candlelight, providing lighting to its worker's new cottages and street lamps.  An agricultural co-operative was set up for local farmers and a GAA club was supported for the locality.

Ardfinnan tweed was the most fashionable choice for suits in the region, with the Duke of St. Albans, writer Molly Keane, dancer Adele Astaire, Duke of Devonshire, Field Marshal Montgomery, Duchess of Westminster, Count de la Poer, Earl of Donoughmore and Lord Waterford being just a few patrons of note.  The suits and overcoats of Éamon de Valera, which he wore to the League of Nations at Geneva, were also proudly made of Ardfinnan cloth.  Perhaps most uniquely, King Edward VII, had his warmest motoring coat made out of the unique waterproof Galtee Cloth patented and woven at Ardfinnan.  The King visited the mills en-route to his stay at Lismore Castle, indeed the sister castle of Ardfinnan.  R.J. Mecredy, first Director of Dunlop Tyres, also wore a Galtee Cloth motoring coat.

In 1922 Ireland was declared a Republic and became the Irish Free State, with the mills of Ardfinnan becoming a Free State Woollen Mills, given the great task of making fabric for the new Irish army and an expanding civil service.  While de Valera may have been a patron ever since having gone to the same school as the Mulcahy's of Ardfinnan, the state was patron to the mill into it's latest years and so too was the Irish airline Aer Lingus.

Mulcahy, Redmond & Co. let it's employees go in 1973 after 104 years of harmony, due to a competitive disadvantage, largely arising from Ireland's admission to the European free market in association with the onslaught of synthetics.  It's workers protested for the first time, blaming the government.  Ardfinnan Kntting Wool and knitted goods were exported abroad in the wake of the collapse of Irish woven textiles.  Ardfinnan Knitting gained renown as the yarn used in the aran jumpers worn and populaised by Tipperary born American folk revival band The Clancy Brothers.

Six generations from its establishment, Mr. Mulcahy leads the legacy of Ardfinnan in view of ever more sustainable and handmade Irish manufacturing principles.  Still weaving and knitting small scale, we maintain our values to source a selection of Irish wool from real Irish sheep, crafted into soft scarves or fancy tweeds and finally "baptised" (milled/fulled) in the waters of the River Suir.  Our generational knowledge of fabric, colour, style and lifestyle is something we feel we have a duty to share and in doing so we support and collaborate with a variety of Irish crafters to share the Ardfinnan story.