Lunchtime talk about the history of Kilkenny's Padmore & Barnes

An interesting talk on the history of Padmore & Barnes, who have been manufacturing shoes since 1934, will take place at their Wolfe Tone premises this Friday.

The company manufactured 25,000 pairs of shoes per week that were exported all over the globe and over 500 people were employed in their Kilkenny based plant. In addition, hundreds of people in the surrounding areas were employed part time, hand stitching the shoes in their own homes, which continued an aged old tradition of hand crafts in Ireland.

This event will be documented and will form part of the Learning and Public Engagement Program with The Butler Gallery under a cross-community exhibition titled ‘A Portrait of Our Community’ curated by artists Pauline O’Connell and Saturio Alonso which will be held at Butler Gallery from 4 - 22 October 2021. This event offers an opportunity to contribute your own personal stories to an archive of the boot factory and its community.

Tickets are free but booking is essential. For more see www.butlergallery.ie