In 1680 all Ireland did not export
more than 6000L. worth annually. Drogheda was then of greater
importance than Belfast. But with the settlement of the
persecuted Hugnenots in Ulster, and especially through the
energetic labours of Crommelin, Goyer, and others, the growth of
flax was sedulously cultivated, and its manufacture into linen of
all sorts became an important branch of Irish industry. In the
course of about fifty years the exports of linen fabrics
increased to the value of over 600,000L. per annum.
It was still, however, a handicraft manufacture, and done for the
most part at home. Flax was spun and yarn was woven by hand.
Eventually machinery was employed, and the turn-out became
proportionately large and valuable. It would not be possible for
hand labour to supply the amount of linen now turned out by the
aid of machinery. It would require three times the entire
population of Ireland to spin and weave, by the old
spinning-wheel and hand-loom methods, the amount of linen cloth
now annually manufactured by the operatives of Belfast alone.
There are now forty large spinning-mills in Belfast and the
neighbourhood, which furnish employment to a very large number of
working people.[20]
In the course of my visit to Belfast, I inspected the works of
the York Street flax-spinning mills, founded in 1830 by the
Messrs. Mulholland, which now give employment, directly or
indirectly, to many thousand persons.
Pages:
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357