Historic County Derry linen mill enters liquidation

A County Derry linen mill has entered liquidation after its owners failed to find a buyer.

The employees of the well established firm William Clark & Sons in Upperlands were said to receive the sad news just before Christmas.

According to The Gazette Official Public Record, a meeting of creditors took place on November 29 2024. Following on from this meeting resolutions for winding up, appointment of liquidators and notice of creditors began on December 13 2024.

The company has been at the heart of the community for 300 years. They used their textile experience to produce exceptional, traditional fabric and to develop exciting new innovations.

The textile company employed 300 people at the height of its activity however numbers have declined to just 22 people.

Employees at the company were said to have been called to a meeting in November and informed that the company had been bought over by Manchester-based The Evans Group of companies in 2020 and they were searching for a buyer.

Weeks later employees were told they the company was unsuccessful in securing a buyer and due to this would be closing up and employees would be entering a redundancy process.

The company played a massive role in the local community and beyond. During the wars, they were a big supplier to the British navy with linen uniforms and parts they needed for the ships. Linen was a prized fabric at that time because of its hardwearing and comfortable properties.

In recent times the company suffered a setback with a fire destroying one of its 150-year-old buildings on its original site in 2017.

Around two years ago the company’s new owners decided to move production to new purpose-built premises just two miles away to improve efficiency and provide better working conditions for staff.

The company seemed to be flying high in April 2024 when their work made it as far as China. Their printed Irish linens were used to create beautiful skirts by Northern Irish fashion designer Sara O’Neill. A design from the collection a black and white sketched Róisín Dubh print cumulated in the company being shortlisted for 'Textile Printer Of The Year' in the Irish Print Awards. The company said in a post on Facebook “This is probably our favourite commission job to date.”

Despite this recent success it is understood that the demand for the company’s linen quickly declined and it therefore went into liquidation at the start of December 2024.