placenamesBarnatra
Barr na Trá
The lace and knitwear industry near Barnatra provided employment across generations before former workers and supporters sought to preserve its history.
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
- Barr na Trá · Irish · main form · validated name
- Barnatra · English · main form
Place & story
From Foxpoint to Muings
The Barnatra district’s lace-school history includes an establishment at the Lodge, Foxpoint, a former landlord’s property acquired by the Congested Districts Board. Operations moved to a new building at Muings in 1914. Breege Burke became manager the following year. The local preservation project records her contribution to maintaining employment, linking the building’s history with the work of women in the surrounding community. [2]
Machines and cottage work
The Muings building was extended in the 1930s for machine-knitted Aran wear, with another extension added in the early 1970s. Hand knitting and crochet continued in local homes alongside factory production. Declining orders later brought layoffs and protests. The preservation project dates the centre’s final closure to the early 1990s, describing it as the last operating member of the former Erris lace-school network. [2]
Preserving an industrial memory
Fís na Muingi-Iorras subsequently campaigned to save the former premises for a heritage centre. At Belmullet Heritage Day in 2010, it displayed development plans alongside lace, patterns, photographs and craft demonstrations. These were proposals for a future centre, rather than evidence that the planned museum had opened. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Mayo
- Barony
- Erris
- Civil parish
- Kilcommon
- Within
- Pollagarraun
- Coordinates
- 54.22298, -9.82473 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 132902 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Barnatra. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Muings Lace School history · Fís na Muingi-Iorras, Muings–Erris Lace School Project
- Belmullet Heritage Day2010: project plans and exhibition · Fís na Muingi-Iorras
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.