Hilden Mill Lisburn Co. Down Northern Ireland.

Hilden Mill Lisburn Co. Down Northern Ireland. Hilden Mill's long history dates back to 1784 when Scotsman John Barbour established a linen thread works in Lisburn. By 1823, after John's death, Barbour's Mill had been moved to the Hilden site by his son William who had bought the former derelict linen bleach green.

In 1784 John Barbour, who hailed from Scotland, established a linen thread works in Lisburn.
At the same time his son, William, bought a derelict bleach green at Hilden and set up business.
Later, the thread works were transferred to Hilden and as early as 1817 it was employing 122 workers.
In 1823 William Barbour bought a former bleach mill at Hilden and built a water-powered twisting mill.
The Linen Thread Company was founded 1898 and it quickly became a large international company.
In fact it became the largest linen thread mill in the world.
By 1914 it employed about 2,000 people.
Among the company's varied products were nets, which could be made into snares and fishing nets.
The company built a model village for its workforce in Hilden, which consisted of 350 houses, two schools, a community hall, children's playground and village sports ground.
Lisburn became the envy of the world thanks to its Linen and Thread industry and now the last remnant of that history to close its doors for the last time.In 2017. By 1890 the mill was noted to have the following:

– 30,000 spindles

– 8000 twisting machines

– And used up to 200 tons of coal per week.

In 1898 the Irish, Scottish and American Barbour companies were merged into the Linen Thread Co, Ltd. When war broke out in 1914, around 2000 people were employed at the Hilden Mill and with their help the mill produced linen thread that was used to stitch war-time parachutes, uniforms, boots and knapsacks.
The mill closed in February 2006. This marked the end of an era in linen production at Hilden mill. More recently there have been plans to reuse the land and transform the mill into houses, apartments or a hotel.
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