Crolly Dolls

A Crolly Doll Made in the 1940s

Colour photo of a doll made in the Crolly toy factory, Co. Donegal in the 1940s. The doll has a plaster face, with painted hair and features. Her legs are made from padded cotton. She is wearing a red organdy dress under a navy coat with gilt buttons. Her matching hat has a narrow, upturned brim with a gilt button at the front. She is wearing blue and red shoes.

Courtesy of Crolly Dolls, Meenacrieve, Annagry, Co Donegal.

A Crolly Doll Made in the 1940s
Courtesy of Crolly Dolls, Meenacrieve, Annagry, Co Donegal.

A Crolly Doll Made in the 1940s

Colour photo of a doll made in the Crolly toy factory, Co. Donegal in the 1940s. The doll has a plaster face, with painted hair and features. Her legs are made from padded cotton. She is wearing a red organdy dress under a navy coat with gilt buttons. Her matching hat has a narrow, upturned brim with a gilt button at the front. She is wearing blue and red shoes.

Courtesy of Crolly Dolls, Meenacrieve, Annagry, Co Donegal.

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A Crolly Teddy

Photo of a child’s teddy bear made by the Crolly toy factory, Annagry, Co. Donegal in around 1945. The bear is made of soft golden fabric known as 'gold plush'. This was a popular material used in the making of toy animals in the twentieth century, as it was soft and cuddly, and closely resembled fur.

© Stella Stenroos, 2004. Used with permission.

A Crolly Teddy
© Stella Stenroos, 2004. Used with permission.

A Crolly Teddy

Photo of a child’s teddy bear made by the Crolly toy factory, Annagry, Co. Donegal in around 1945. The bear is made of soft golden fabric known as 'gold plush'. This was a popular material used in the making of toy animals in the twentieth century, as it was soft and cuddly, and closely resembled fur.

© Stella Stenroos, 2004. Used with permission.

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The Crolly Doll factory first started making toys in Donegal in 1939. It was hoped that the new business would create much-needed jobs in the little town of Crolly.

The first dolls were handmade with a soft-filled body, a strong head and arms and legs. Their clothing was made from local fabrics and knitted garments. Soft toys for boys, like teddy bears, were also made at the Crolly factory.

This simple doll design lasted until the early 1950s, when the factory started experimenting with vinyl paste. These experiments proved successful, and the moulding and production of plastic play-dolls began in earnest.

Crolly Dolls were instantly popular due to the excellent quality of the dolls. At Christmas, people would form long queues outside stores across Ireland to get their hands on a Crolly Doll. In fact, demand was so high that there were restrictions of one or two dolls per customer.

'Kathleen', from the Crolly Doll Factory, Co. Donegal

'Kathleen', a doll made by the Crolly Doll factory in Co. Donegal. Kathleen is dressed as a potato picker, or 'tattie hoker', from the nineteenth century. At that time, many young Irish people had to migrate to Scotland to labour on farms there. Kathleen wears a brown tweed skirt with a brown linen work apron and matching headscarf. She has her Hessian potato bag around her shoulders.

www.crollydolls.ie

'Kathleen', from the Crolly Doll Factory, Co. Donegal
www.crollydolls.ie

'Kathleen', from the Crolly Doll Factory, Co. Donegal

'Kathleen', a doll made by the Crolly Doll factory in Co. Donegal. Kathleen is dressed as a potato picker, or 'tattie hoker', from the nineteenth century. At that time, many young Irish people had to migrate to Scotland to labour on farms there. Kathleen wears a brown tweed skirt with a brown linen work apron and matching headscarf. She has her Hessian potato bag around her shoulders.

www.crollydolls.ie

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The original Crolly Doll factory closed in the 1970s, after it struggled to compete with cheaper dolls from the Far East.

However, in 1993 a group of businessmen recognised that the brand was remembered very fondly by many Irish people, so they set up a new Crolly Doll company. This now produces more than forty types of doll and employs a staff of ten.

Crolly Dolls are sold in over sixty gift shops around Ireland, in the same number of outlets in the US and on a small scale in Japan, the UK and Australia. Those who make the dolls continue to be creatively inspired by the landscape within which they work and by Irish history, folklore and mythology.