Clayton’s Woollen Mills operated in Navan from 1867 until its closure in the 1960s. During that time, it was a major employer in the town and its records have the potential to contribute to an understanding of industrial, social, business and local history. 

The extensive collection is in the care of the county archive and library service. Work on the collection is ongoing with support from the wider culture team in Meath County Council. 

The collection includes financial ledgers, letter books, wage books, advertisements, bound volumes detailing patterns from the creative team and swatch samples. There are also 64 boxes of correspondence and invoices.

The priorities for 2023/2024 are to enlist a professional project archivist to catalogue the collection of business correspondence. This correspondence ranges over the century the company was in operation and gives us a better understanding of how broad their reach was. It charts their business interests, their reaction to events of the time on a global scale and their decline in the face of challenging times. 

As the project moves into 2024 it will be opened out to the public, inviting conversations on industrial heritage in the county and providing a space where people can come to remember and reflect on our industrial past.

Please note that the details of events listed above are provided by the relevant Local Authorities.