The Coombe, Dublin
Coordinates: 53°20′20″N 6°16′41″W / 53.339°N 6.278°W
The Coombe (Irish: An Com) is a historic street in the south inner city of Dublin, Ireland. It was originally a hollow or valley where a tributary of the River Poddle, the Coombe Stream or Commons Water, ran. The name is sometimes used for the broader area around, in which the Poddle and its related watercourses featured strongly.
In the late 17th century economic development started in order to house the clothiers who were moving into this then suburban area. Woolen manufacture was set up by settlers from England, while many French settlers Huguenots took up silk weaving, using skills they had acquired in their home country. The Dutch constructed their own traditional style of house, known here as Dutch Billies, with gables that faced the street. Thousands of weavers became employed in the Coombe, Pimlico, Spitalfields and Weavers' Square.
This was in response to legislative changes and free trade policies from the newly independent Grattan's Parliament (1782). Prior to these changes, English woolen manufacturers felt threatened by the Irish industry and heavy duties were imposed on Irish wool exports. The Navigation Act was passed to prevent the Irish from exporting to the whole colonial market. In 1699 the English government passed the Wool Act which prevented export to any country whatsoever, which effectively put an end to the industry in the Liberties by the mid-eighteenth century. Later, under the repealed legislation,late in the following century, a revival took place by importing Spanish wool into Ireland. This was helped from 1775 by the Royal Dublin Society, but the events of 1798 and 1803, in which many weavers took part, and the economic decline that set in after the Napoleonic Wars and the Act of Union, prevented any further growth in this industry in the Liberties.
...
Wikipedia