Northern Ireland

The traditional manufacturing industry in the six counties was linen. However, the presence in Belfast of Harland & Wolff underlines the importance of shipbuilding

Belfast

Home to Irish textiles. Harland & Wolff has been a longterm employer in the city and was joined in 1948 by Shorts aircraft which moved from Rochester. Read more by following this link.

Moira

Harry Ferguson began manufacturing farm machinery and tractors. I tell in How Britain Shaped the Manufacturing World of the businesses he worked with before and during the Second World War eventually to become Massey Ferguson.

Larne

Home to the AEI turbine plant that became something of a White Elephant as I write in Vehicles to Vaccines.

Carrickfergus

Courtaulds had a viscose yarn works here. Carreras manufactured cigarettes.

Ballymena

Historically the home of handloom brown linen weavers. Designated New Town in 1967. Wrightbus, set up in 1946 and in the 2000’s employ 1400 people manufacturing environmentally friendly buses. Michelin manufacture tyres and Gallagher cigarettes.

Antrim

Designated New Town in 1966. With a history of linen production. You can read more in this link.

Craigavon

Originally a linen town with major mills including Gilford Mill. Craigavon was designated a New Town in 1965 and welcomed Hyster-Yale to manufacture lift trucks. Sir Allen McClay, opened the doors of Almac his pharmaceutical development business on its Craigavon headquarters. Goodyear manufactured drive belts for DAF trucks.

Derry (Londonderry)

Home of shirt manufacture. Designated New Town in 1969. Read more by following the link.

Southern Ireland

This history covers a period very much longer than the division of Ireland into north and south.

Dublin

Linen and later cotton spinning, weaving, dying and bleaching were the business of Ireland, north and south. Before partition, Dublin handled most of the textile exports as well as having the more skilled calico printers. The main manufacturing industry was brewing, but also shipbuilding. Read more in this link

Waterford

Home to linen spinning and weaving and later to cotton. Malcolmson’s integrated spinning and weaving factory at Portlaw provided Lancashire with strong competition for half of the nineteenth century.

Waterford Glass began manufacture in 1783 and still produces fine glass today. It is owned by the Finnish Fiskars Corporation.