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Industry
Industry /Commerce of 18th & 19th Centuries
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Modern Strabane originated in the late seventeenth century as an important bridging point for routes leading to and from Donegal, and benefited from the introduction of the coaching services to and from Dublin in the eighteenth century. Strabane was also to become an important station on the main Great Northern Railway line from Dublin and Dundalk to Londonderry, and branch lines radiated from it to Co.Donegal. At Castlederg, Sir Robert Ferguson (whose family gained a foothold in the Castlederg area when parts of the estate were sold off in 1745), was instrumental in securing an Act of Parliament which led to the building of the Castlederg & Victoria Bridge tramway. However, this mode of transport, like the canal which preceded it, has ceased to exist. Only small traces remain, yet the era of the railways and locomotives is still remembered affectionately.
Early industry in the district was in textiles and linen manufacture, as well as having important milling, agricultural, and printing functions (at one time the most significant outside Belfast). These and other industries were to receive a significant boost in 1793 with the completion of the Strabane canal at a cost of £12,000. The canal, about four miles in length, connected the town with the River Foyle at Leck and helped facilitate trade especially at a time when the domestic linen industry was reaching it's peak. Examples of our industrial heritage are still very much in evidence today. Restored corn, flax and saw mills exist within the Silverbrook complex at Donemana, one of the largest waterwheels in Ireland is to be found at Artigarvan and there is also Strabane's own Gray Printers. Moreover, sections of the district's industrial infra-structure as well as local employment opportunities are still dominated by textile processing. Sion Mills remains home to one of the biggest linen producers in Europe, Herdman Ltd., which had been first established by the Herdman family in 1835.
