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LISBURN |
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LISBURN , eight miles southwest of Belfast, is the administrative
centre of Northern Ireland's second-largest local authority and its busy,
pedestrianized shopping streets and packed car parks indicate recent
commercial success, perhaps unknown since its days as an important linen
town. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, which removed
French and Dutch Huguenots' freedom of worship, large numbers of them
were persuaded to come to Ulster, where they founded the local linen
trade. Bleach greens were set up along the banks of the River Lagan, the
first of which started in 1626 at Lambeg , a mile downstream from
Lisburn. Lambeg has given its name to the big drums which appear in the
Orange marches, deriving from the military drums of Prince William's
army.
Lisburn's one major attraction is the Irish Linen Centre and Museum (Mon-Sat
9.30am-5pm; free), situated in the eighteenth-century assembly rooms in
the Market Square. A permanent exhibition, "Flax to Fabric", recounts
the industry's history and you can watch weavers plying away in the
purpose-built hand-loom workshop. The museum typically collects items
and artefacts of essentially local interest. The building's modern
annexe contains the tourist office (same times; tel 028/9266 0038), plus
a café and shops, and there are often art displays and lunchtime
recitals. There's been a Tuesday market in Lisburn since 1627, but
little of architectural note survived a catastrophic fire in 1707. The
seventeenth-century cathedral opposite the Linen Centre was rebuilt
after the fire and you'll find a number of Huguenot graves in its
churchyard. Nowadays, the fourteen-screen Omniplex cinema on Governor's
Road tends to be a more popular draw.
A mile northeast of Lisburn in the village of Hilden, the Hilden Brewery
(Tues-Sat 10.30am-4pm; tours 11.30am & 2.30pm; £2.50, includes glass of
ale) is one of only two real-ale breweries in Ireland (the other is
Whitewater in Kilkeel, County Down). It was established in 1981 in the
courtyard of a former linen baron's mansion. A visit is an olfactory
treat, the whiff of malted barley and hops leaving you eager to slake
your thirst with a taste of the amber-coloured ale or the dark, malty
Special Reserve. You can lunch here, too, in the attached Tap Room
restaurant.
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