placenamesMaryborough West
Port Laoise Thiar
Lewis distinguished Mountrath’s factory spinners from its larger network of home weavers.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Port Laoise Thiar · Irish · main form · non-validated name
- Maryborough West · English · main form
Place & story
Mill work and household weaving
At Mountrath in 1837, Samuel Lewis recorded Mr Greenham employing 150 people in cotton-spinning mills and about 500 weaving calico in their own homes. Output averaged between 200 and 250 pieces a week. This account distinguishes factory employment from work distributed through households. Lewis placed the cotton manufacture after an earlier phase of ironworking which had ended when nearby woodland supplies were consumed for fuel. [2]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Maryborough West. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Mount-Rath, Laois: A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837) · Samuel Lewis
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.