Linen Houses of the Bann Valley

By the late nineteenth century, Belfast had developed into one of the great industrial cities in the Empire. Much of this new-found wealth was based on the manufacture of linen, principally in both the Lagan Valley and the Bann Valley. The River Bann is the longest river in Northern Ireland, flowing for eighty miles from the Mourne Mountains and eventually entering the sea north of Coleraine. The water power of the River Bann was a significant factor leading to the early establishment of the lin