"Express delivery

When Bridget Byrne from Donegal married John Desmond and settled in Claudy, she opened a shirt making business in 1885. Every week she travelled to Derry in her pony and trap to collect the cut cloth for her workers to make up at home. She later moved her girls into her family residence and when all the rooms were full, built her first factory in the village.

A family affair

Older residents remember working in Desmond's new factory in the 1930s. The hours were long. 'In the cutting room you went back in two nights a week and you worked till half past one on a Saturday.' 'No canteen, no central heating. You brought your own lunch.' In a close-knit community everyone knew each other. 'The family were all approachable: you could talk to them anytime.'

Fair days

Claudy has been a farming community for over 4000 years. By the early 19th century the village had eight fairs a year, held in the Cow Market and around the Diamond (market place). Twice a year farmers hired workers at the fair, spotting likely young men by the bundles of clothes they carried. These hiring fairs continued until the 1930s. There was a lot of sport and a lot of craic. There were three or four eating houses - we would have one or even two fries.'

Strange hangings and scrapings

Many people worked for the 'big house' at Cumber. 'The landlord's name is Ernest Browne, and he owns the town of Claudy.' The devil is supposed to haunt a hollow tree in the grounds. A priest had banished a family ghost from the house by drawing a circle at the foot of a tree and ordering the ghost inside it. Since 1972 Cumber House has been the headquarters of the local Gaelic football club and the surroundings are a riverside park."