Description
A lovely small and rare green antique Donegal rug woven in Killybeg’s town in Ireland around 1890-1900. Beautiful colours and a nice wool pile, well drawn and in very good original condition.
The first Donegal carpets were made in the late 1890s when the Scottish industrialist, Alexander Morton, opened a factory in Killybeg’s. Morton was head of a textile manufacturing firm in Ayrshire. Although his factories already made machine-woven rugs, he wanted to make handmade carpets like those popular from Turkey and Persia. A chance meeting with a member of Ireland’s Congested Districts Board pointed him towards Donegal. The county had two things to offer: a ready supply of willing workers and an almost infinite number of sheep.
We offer the service of viewing any of our carpets & rugs in-situ in London, Surrey, Hampshire & anywhere else in the UK by appointment. A free, no obligation service we have offered for over 30 years.
We are happy to reserve this Donegal rug for you, and you can arrange either a home viewing or to see it at our barn showroom in Crondall, Surrey.
Interior designers you are very welcome to reserve this pretty rug for your project too, please click on reserve to request this service.
The workers, who were mostly women, hadn’t made carpets before but many of them had worked in lace-making and embroidery. The local sheep farmers, spinners and dyers got in on the act. The carpets were handwoven in the same way as Turkish and Persian carpets. They couldn’t afford the carpets that they made but the enterprise was a big source of employment. The Killybegs factory was followed by others at Kilcar, Annagry, and Crolly. By 1906, the four employed 600 between them.
Later designs used the stylised floral patterns of the British Arts and Crafts movement. Those by the architect and designer Charles Voysey were especially popular. The company also made a number of carpets in the Celtic Revival style. Donegal carpets were purchased for Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, and the White House in Washington. These early carpets are very valuable indeed.
