The Ulster Linen Triangle: An Industrial Cluster Emerging from a Proto-Industrial Region

Abstract

Whether Northern Ireland can really be regarded as an example of a successful transition into the age of industrialization is the subject of some academic debate. Researchers who take the situation of the whole country into consideration, especially focusing on the Great Famine of the 1840s, tend to a hold onto a rather pessimist view. Particularly, when the Irish development is compared to British industrialization, the effects of de-industrialization and the peripheral state are highlighted (O’Grada, 1988). A variation of this is to speak of ‘Ireland’s industrial decline in the nineteenth century, outside eastern Ulster’ (Clarkson, 1996, p.83). This view takes into account the rapid growth of the linen industry in a specific part of Ulster, the northernmost of Ireland’s ancient provinces. One cannot deny that the history of the Irish has been strongly linked to hunger and pauperism, primarily in sectors such as hand-spinning which, at a certain stage, lagged behind in productivity, thus suffering a slump in earnings (Ollerenshaw, 1985, pp.67–9). However, there might be some evidence for more optimism regarding the province of Ulster, especially when its economic performance is compared to other cases in continental Europe (Boldorf, 2003). A full comparison with other European regions is not the intention of this contribution. The optimistic perspective is assumed as a starting point, and the aim is to present a more complete view of Irish industrialization.