Belfast Linen Trade in the Nineteenth Century

Belfast owes much of its importance to the increase of the linen trade of Ulster, of which it is now become the grand depot. In 1830 a very extensive mill was erected for spinning linen yarn upon the same principle as in the chief houses at Leeds, in order to meet the increasing demand of the manufacturers; and, in 1832, a large cotton-mill was adapted to the spinning of the refuse flax of the linen-mill, for the use of the canvas weavers. In these two mills more than 700 persons are employed, and, since their erection, a linen cloth manufactory has been established on a very large scale at Ligoneil, two miles distant, which is the first of the kind in this part of the country. Seven more spinning mills, containing 48,000 spindles, and affording employment to more than 5000 persons, were built in 1834, and several others have been erected since; they are all of brick, roofed with slate, and are mostly five stories high. The celebrated Ardoyne damask manufactory was established in 1825; and the elegance of the fabric soon extended its reputation, and obtained royal patronage, an extensive order for his Majesty being at present under execution. Linens and sheetings of the stoutest fabric, for the London market, are likewise manufactured in this establishment, the proprietor of which, Michael Andrews, Esq., obtained the gold medal of the Royal Dublin Society for specimens of his productions, shewn at their exhibition of national manufactures, held in Dublin, in May 1835.

The business of the linen trade of the whole kingdom was for a long time transacted solely in Dublin, by agents resident there; but the serious inconvenience experienced by the numerous bleachers in the province of Ulster, in consequence of the remoteness of the principal mart, prompted them to the establishment of a linen-hall at Belfast, and in 1785 a spacious and handsome quadrangular building was erected in the centre of Donegal-square, by public subscription, and called the White Linen Hall, which affords great facility for making up assorted cargoes for foreign countries; great quantities are exported to America, the West Indies, and various other places, and nearly all the London merchants are supplied by factors resident here. The Brown Linen Hall, erected about the same time, is an enclosed space on the south side of Donegal-street, containing several detached platforms, where the merchants attend every Friday for the purchase of brown webs from the weavers, who assembled here from the surrounding districts. The webs brought to this mart are principally one yard in width, and of the finest quality; and so great is the quantity purchased by the merchants, who are also bleachers, that in the Belfast district, situated within a distance of six miles of the town to the west and south west and containing in all fourteen bleaching-greens (of which eleven are within the parish of Belfast), 260,000 pieces are annually bleached, exceeding by 87,000 the number of pieces bleached in the same district in the year 1822; the value of the goods finished annually in these establishments is little less than one million sterling.