Rank and file turn out to relive history of Limerick bread mill

THE Limerick City archives have teamed up with the Hunt Museum to launch a unique exhibition focusing on one of the city’s key pieces of industrial history.

The exhibition, named Ranks - A Limerick Industry, focuses on the former Ranks flour factory which was on the Dock Road.

It is based on the stories, memories and contributions of the former Ranks workers and their families.

Ranks Flour Mills and grain ships were a crucial part of Limerick life over a span of several decades and its legacy provides an excellent example of life and work in Limerick’s recent past.

The exhibition employs interpretative panels, installations, photographs, documents, industrial equipment and memorabilia the story of the working and social life of the Ranks workers is told.

The exhibition runs until May 31 at the Hunt Museum.

When Ranks acquired the former Limerick Mills in 1930, it was hugely controversial, as the firm was based in the United Kingdom.

Despite this, the company grew to be the biggest flour mill in Ireland, employing hundreds of Limerick people.

Despite a rise in its profits in the 1960s, the mill began to lose market share in the 1970s, following the opening up of the Irish market to Europe.

Ranks eventually closed in 1983, bringing to an end 700 years of milling in the city.

But the memories live on thanks to this exhibition, which includes an oral history project, organised with the assistance of Mary Immaculate College staff and students.

Through a series of interviews Limerick City Council sought to record the experiences of those employed by Ranks.

City Archivist, Jacqui Hayes said: “Over the past year Limerick City Council have conducted a series of oral history interviews and received material from former Ranks workers including a wheat shovel, an old bastible for baking bread, a clock that was a given as a retirement present and even a ‘high Nelly’ bicycle!”

For more information or to enquire about tours, workshops and lectures contact 061-312833.

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