Welcome to Mountmellick

Mountmellick a settlement in the fifteenth century. Situated on a narrow river called the Owenass (river of the falls) with an encampment on its banks at Irishtown. Over looking this valley with its trees and wild life was a small church called Kilmongan (Ivy Chapel) which was closed by Penal Laws in 1640.

To this setting the Society of Friends (The Quakers) came in 1657 led by William Edmundson, they saw a future for this settlement and built it into a town. This town was to grow to eight thousand people. With twenty-seven industries which included Breweries, Distillery, Woollen Mills, Cotton, Tanneries and Glass, it was a boomtown in the late nineteenth century.

The Woollen Mills employed two thousand people, thus Mountmellick became known as the Manchester of Ireland. In 1851 the first Sugar Beet Factory in Ireland opened in Mountmellick.

Today the factories are gone, Mountmellick has a population of circa 3,000, and this growing family town has a powerful community spirit enhancing and preserving the quality of life in Mountmellick. The town is small enough to retain the charms of Irish rural life, while large enough to provide many "urban" services such as transport, education and sports facilities. Mountmellick remains a safe and peaceful place to live.

The above photograph is an aerial photograph taken circa 1950. More historic photographs can be seen in the History pages.