Flower of Sion Mills

On the bank's of the River Mourne, in Co.Tyrone lies a remarkable town -- Sion Mills - and for 150 years it was at the very centre of the world's linen industry. The humble blue flax flower, which provides the main ingredient for linen production, soon became synonymous with the region after the roots of a new industry were laid in Sion Mills by the Herdman Brothers in the early 1830's. Their venture was an example of how industry and those who ran it could have a profound and benevolent effect on employees, their welfare and their town. If the Herdman's proved the guiding light for the development of a thriving and prosperous new industry, the people of Sion Mills and the surrounding towns were to become the engine house of production and provide the key to the Sion Mill's narrative