Lisburn

Linen is a textile produced from flax. It was produced at least 30,000 years ago from wild flax, and since 9000 years ago from a domesticated species Linum usitatissimum, which became cultivated throughout the Old World. Linen is strong and absorbent, pleasantly cool to the touch, and can be given a lustrous shine. So it's made into garments and bedding, though it's tricky to work and production is laborious. By the Middle Ages flax was grown and processed in Ireland but the leading centres were along the lower Rhine, in what is now Germany, Netherlands and Belgium. In 1685 the Edict of Fontainebleau revoked religious tolerance of French Protestants, which they had enjoyed since the 1598 Edict of Nantes. This led to the flight of the Protestants (called Huguenots) to Britain and Ireland. They included many skilled weavers and brought with them improved methods of production. Notable among them was Louis Crommelin (1652-1727), who settled in Lisburn and built up the linen industry throughout Ireland; he's buried in the cathedral graveyard. Production scaled up from rural craft through cottage industry to large mills, and Victorian Lisburn was "Linenopolis" much as Manchester was "Cottonopolis" and Dundee was "Juteopolis." (See also Banbridge for early mill automation, which paved the way for computers and robots.) In the 20th century trade withered with cheap foreign imports and the development of artificial fibres. Linen lost its mass market but continued to be used for upmarket tailoring, and Irish linen nowadays uses imported flax.

Lisburn is 9 miles southwest of Belfast, follow M1. There's a free Park & Ride at Sprucefield (M1 junction 8) mostly used by commuters into Belfast.

Trains run every 15 min from Belfast Grand Central to Lisburn (25 min), and continue to Lurgan and Portadown.

The Belfast-Dublin Enterprise trains don't stop here except once on Sunday, change at Portadown.

1 Lisburn railway station is north side of town centre. Both platforms are wheelchair accessible.

Hilden and Lambeg are two other halts at the north edge of town.

Ulsterbus 551 runs hourly from Belfast Grand Central to Lisburn (40 min), Moira, Lurgan and Craigavon.

Bus 538 also runs hourly from Belfast, and from Lisburn continues to Sprucefield, Hillsborough, Dromore, Banbridge, and occasionally to Newry.

Bus 23 runs from Belfast every two hours via Dunmurry.

Bus 109A runs hourly M-Sa from Antrim via Belfast International Airport (BFS IATA, aka Aldergrove) and Crumlin to Lisburn.

Bus 26B runs three times M-F from Newcastle via Dundrum, Ballynahinch and Hillsborough to Lisburn, taking 1 hr 15 min.

Goldliner X1 runs every couple of hours from Dublin Busáras and Airport (DUB IATA) via Newry and Banbridge, halting at Sprucefield retail park at the south edge of Lisburn on its way into Belfast. Don't take X2 or the Aircoach, which are non-stop to Belfast.

Hannon Coach runs daily from Glasgow to Belfast, Lisburn and Lurgan.

2 Lisburn bus centre is south side of town centre.