Yougal Lace from the Emerald Isle

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Nov 1, 1999

Before the 1800's there is little known of lace in Ireland. But the 19th century brought an explosion of diverse lace forms to this island country. These include tatting, crochet, tape lace, decorated machine net lace, bobbin lace and several kinds of needle lace.

Much of the lace was created in homes as a cottage industry to supplement the incomes of the poor. Schools were created to improve the quality of these homemade laces. Even the nuns taught lacemaking to teach a skill to the young ladies of the town. One such convent in Yougal, county Cork, was among the places where nuns developed their own style of lace and taught it to the local people to help them survive during the potato famine of the 1840's.

It appears the source of the style of lace that was the inspiration for Yougal lace was "Point de France" with its meshwork bars and lack of the dimensionality of Venetian Lace. But Yougal has it's own distinctive artistic flair, loaded with flowers and fruits of the region. It is truly an "Irish Lace".

Unlike the coarser homemade laces, Yougal lace is finer and more desirable to the wealthy. But it had to compete with the even finer Belgian laces and did not travel much beyond the British Isles for many years. This is why Yougal lace is harder to find today and not commonly found in lace collections in America.

As with most lace, designs changed throughout it's development. During the last quarter of the 19th century a designer named Alan Cole had much to do with the quality and workmanship of Yougal lace as we know it today. He had many criticisms of its "uncouth" design and strove to improve it into world class lace. Art and Design schools in Ireland and the approaching Arts and Crafts movement of design influenced the lace and it began to win awards beyond it's island home.

But as with many laces in Europe, World War I brought the beginning of the end of this fine lace. Between the world wars Yougal continued to be made on a limited basis and in 1960 the last nun died who held it's secrets. Today we have books on needle lacemaking which help us reproduce some of the look and feel of this wonderful lace and maybe a new lace will develop from its study just as Yougal descended from Venetian and Point de Paris.