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Lisburn ( ; ) is a city in
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
. It is southwest of
Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
city centre, on the
River Lagan The River Lagan (; Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster Scots: ''Lagan Wattèr'') is a major river in Northern Ireland which runs from the Slieve Croob mountain in County Down to Belfast where it enters Belfast Lough, an inlet of the Irish Sea. The ...
, which forms the boundary between
County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...
and
County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...
. First laid out in the 17th century by English and Welsh settlers, with the arrival of French
Huguenots The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...
in the 18th century, the town developed as a global centre of the linen industry. In 2002, as part of
Queen Elizabeth Queen Elizabeth, Queen Elisabeth or Elizabeth the Queen may refer to: Queens regnant * Elizabeth I (1533–1603; ), Queen of England and Ireland * Elizabeth II (1926–2022; ), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms * Queen B ...
's
Golden Jubilee A golden jubilee marks a 50th anniversary. It variously is applied to people, events, and nations. Bangladesh In Bangladesh, golden jubilee refers the 50th anniversary year of the separation from Pakistan and is called in Bengali language, ...
celebrations, the predominantly unionist borough was granted
city status City status is a symbolic and legal designation given by a monarch, national or subnational government. A municipality may receive city status because it already has the qualities of a city, or because it has some special purpose. Historically, ci ...
alongside the largely
nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...
town of
Newry Newry (; ) is a City status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, standing on the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Down, Down and County Armagh, Armagh. It is near Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border, the border with the ...
. With a population of 45,370 in the 2011 Census. Lisburn was the third-largest city in Northern Ireland. In the 2016
reform of local government in Northern Ireland Reform of local government in Northern Ireland saw the replacement of the twenty-six districts created in 1973 with a smaller number of "super districts". The review process began in 2002, with proposals for either seven or eleven districts made ...
Lisburn was joined with the greater part of Castlereagh to form the
Lisburn City and Castlereagh District Lisburn and Castlereagh is a local government district in Northern Ireland. The district was created on 1 April 2015. It consists of the combined area of the City of Lisburn with the Borough of Castlereagh, but not including "the localities of ...
.


Name

The town was originally known as ''Lisnagarvy'' (also spelt ''Lisnagarvey'' or ''Lisnagarvagh'') after the
townland A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...
in which it formed. This is derived . In the records, the name ''Lisburn'' appears to supersede Lisnagarvey around 1662. One theory is that it comes from the Irish ''lios'' ('ringfort') and the Scots ''burn'' ('stream'). Some speculate that ''-burn'' refers to the burning of the town during the
Irish Rebellion of 1641 The Irish Rebellion of 1641 was an uprising in Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland, initiated on 23 October 1641 by Catholic gentry and military officers. Their demands included an end to anti-Catholic discrimination, greater Irish self-governance, and ...
, but there is evidence of earlier use. An English soldier later recalled the rebels having entered the town of Lisnagarvy at "a place called Louzy Barne". In the town's early days, there were possibly two ringforts: Lisnagarvy to the north and Lisburn to the south, and the latter may simply have been easier for the English settlers to pronounce.


History


Early town

Lisburn's original site was a fort located north of modern-day Wallace Park. In 1609
James I James I may refer to: People *James I of Aragon (1208–1276) * James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327) * James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu * James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347) *James I of Cyprus (1334 ...
granted Sir Fulke Conway, a Welshman of
Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...
descent, the lands of Killultagh in southwest County Antrim. In 1611
George Carew, 1st Earl of Totnes George Carew, 1st Earl of Totnes (29 May 1555 – 27 March 1629), known as Sir George Carew between 1586 and 1605 and as The Lord Carew between 1605 and 1626, served under Elizabeth I during the Tudor conquest of Ireland and was appointed Pre ...
remarked: "In our travel from Dromore towards Knockfargus, we saw in Kellultagh upon Sir Fulke Conway’s lands a house of cagework in hand and almost finished, where he intends to erect a bawn of brick in a place called Lisnagarvagh. He has built a fair timber bridge over the river of Lagan near the house." In 1622 the first impressions of Sir Fulke's brother and heir, Edward Conway, was of "a curious place ... Greater storms are not in any place nor greater serenities: foul ways, boggy ground, pleasant fields, water brooks, rivers full of fish, full of game, the people in their attire, language, fashion: barbarous. In their entertainment free and noble." Management of the Conways' Irish estate fell largely to George Rawdon, a Yorkshire man, who laid out the streets of Lisburn as they are today: Market Square, Bridge Street, Castle Street and Bow Street. He had a
manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...
built on what is now Castle Gardens, and in 1623, a church on the site of the current cathedral. In 1628, King Charles I granted a charter for a weekly market, which is still held in the town every Tuesday. To populate the town, Rawdon, hostile to the Presbyterian Scots already moving into the area, brought over
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...
and
Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...
settlers. In 1641 the Irish, rising in the first instance against English, and not Scottish, settlers, were driven back three times from the town. A herd four hundred head of cattle driven against the gates failed to batter them down. The town nonetheless burned. In 1649 the town was secured by forces loyal to
Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially a ...
's
English Commonwealth The Commonwealth of England was the political structure during the period from 1649 to 1660 when Kingdom of England, England and Wales, later along with Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland and Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, were governed as a republi ...
, routing an army of Scots
Covenanters Covenanters were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. It originated in disputes with James VI and his son ...
, and their
Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gove ...
allies, in the Battle of Lisnagarvey. The Presbyterians, despite their loyalty to the
Crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, parti ...
, upon its Restoration continued to be penalised as "dissenters" from the established Anglican church, the
Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...
. It was not until 1670 that they were permitted a meeting house in town, and that had to be of "perishable materials ..dark, narrow and devoid of any pretensions to art and comfort. Their support for
King William King William may refer to: People Bimbia * William I of Bimbia * William II of Bimbia () Britain and Ireland * William of England (disambiguation), multiple kings * William I, King of Scots (–1214), also known as William the Lion German Empir ...
(whose forces wintered in the town) and the "Protestant cause" in 1690 likewise failed to win them equal standing. Like the Roman Catholics, who had to wait another 60 years for a "Mass House", Presbyterians were discouraged from exerting their presence. The First Presbyterian Church built in 1768 was screened (until 1970) from Market Square by shops. The town was destroyed once again in 1707: the accidental conflagration giving rise to the town's motto ''Ex igne resurgam'' --"Out of the fire I shall arise". Conway's
Manor House A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...
was not restored (part of the surrounding wall and its gateway with the date 1677 engraved still stands on the south and east side of Castle Gardens). The Anglican church, designated by Charles II as Christ Church Cathedral in 1662, was rebuilt retaining the tower and the surviving galleries in the nave. The distinctive octagonal spire was added in 1804. One of the few buildings spared in the fire of 1707 was the Friend's Meeting House. Quakerism had been brought to the town in 1655 by a veteran of Cromwell's army, William Edmundson. In 1766, a prosperous linen merchant, John Hancock, endowed what is now the grammar school known as Friends' School Lisburn.
John Wesley John Wesley ( ; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a principal leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies ...
first visited Lisburn in 1756, and thereafter he returned to preach biannually until 1789. The first Wesleyan Methodist Preaching House was established in the town in 1772.


The Huguenot and the linen trade

Lisburn prides itself as the birthplace of Ireland's linen industry. While production had been introduced by the Scots, the arrival in 1698 of Huguenot refugees from France brought more sophisticated techniques, and government support. Even as it raised
duties A duty (from "due" meaning "that which is owing"; , past participle of ; , whence "debt") is a commitment or expectation to perform some action in general or if certain circumstances arise. A duty may arise from a system of ethics or morality, e ...
on Ireland's successful woollen trade (with the concurrence of the subordinate Irish Parliament), the
English Parliament The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advised th ...
removed them on all Irish articles of
hemp Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a plant in the botanical class of ''Cannabis sativa'' cultivars grown specifically for industrial and consumable use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest ...
and flax, and the government gave
Louis Crommelin Samuel-Louis Louis Crommelin (1652–1727) was a French Huguenot exile, who became director of an Irish linen business. Life Crommelin was born in May 1652 at Armandcourt, near Saint-Quentin, Aisne, Saint-Quentin in Picardy, into a family of lan ...
, "overseer of the royal linen manufacture of Ireland", money to promote their production. The Huguenot retained their own place of worship, the "French Church" in Castle Street, until 1820. The last of its pastors, Saumarez Dubourdieu, was 56 years Master of the Classical School of the Bow Street. His students subscribed to his memorial and bust on the south interior of the cathedral. Large scale manufacture began in 1764 when William Coulson established his first linen looms close by is now the Union Bridge. His mill supplied
damask Damask (; ) is a woven, Reversible garment, reversible patterned Textile, fabric. Damasks are woven by periodically reversing the action of the warp and weft threads. The pattern is most commonly created with a warp-faced satin weave and the gro ...
to the royal courts of Europe and, in the early nineteenth century, was to draw celebrity visitors, among them Grand Duke Michael of Russia, Crown Prince Gustaf of Sweden, Louis Napoléon Lannes duc de Montebello, the
Duke of Wellington Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they ar ...
and
Lord John Russell John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (18 August 1792 – 28 May 1878), known as Lord John Russell before 1861, was a British Whig and Liberal statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1852 and again from 1865 to 186 ...
. To carry the town's new trade, construction of the Belfast-Lisburn section of the
Lagan Canal The Lagan Canal was a canal built to connect Belfast to Lough Neagh. The first section, which is a river navigation, was opened in 1763, and linked Belfast to Lisburn. The second section from Lisburn to Lough Neagh includes a small amount of r ...
began in 1756. Despite problems of low water levels during the summer, the canal (extended in 1794 to Lough Neagh) continued to carry bulk cargoes until 1958. In 1784, the Scotsman John Barbour began spinning linen thread, and in 1831 his son William moved production to what had originally been Crommelin's
bleach green Bleach Green is a railway junction located in Newtownabbey where the Belfast to Larne railway line diverges from the Belfast to Derry route. The Bleach Green Junction is the only burrowing junction in the whole of Ireland. History Bleach Green ...
at Hilden. By the end of the century Barbour's Linen Thread Company was the largest mill of its kind in the world employing about 2000 people to work 30,000 spindles and 8,000 twisting machines. The company had built a model village for the workers, with 350 houses, two schools, a community hall, children's playground and a village sports ground.


Irish Volunteers, Croppies and Orangemen

Mechanisation, tied first to water, and then to steam, power, drove the growth of industry, but displaced independent weavers. In 1762, over 300 paraded through Lisburn brandishing blackthorn sticks as a protest against the threat of unemployment. In the 1780s they were gripped by the spirit of "combination"—the formation, in defiance of the law, of unions to press for higher
piece rates Piece work or piecework is any type of employment in which a worker is paid a fixed piece rate for each unit produced or action performed, regardless of time. Context When paying a worker, employers can use various methods and combinations of m ...
. This brought workers into a sometimes uneasy relationship with the Volunteer militia. The Volunteer militia movement, formed in response to the defence emergency caused by French intervention in the
American War of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
, served the town's merchants and tradesmen as an opportunity to protest (with their kindred in the American colonies) the restrictive English Navigation Acts and to insist on the independence of the Irish Parliament in
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
. In 178
William Todd Jones
a captain of the Lisburn Fusilier Corps of Volunteers, took this patriot programme (approved at a convention in Dungannon) a step further. He successfully challenged the parliamentary nominees of the town and district's principal landlord, the Hertfords, on a platform of a representative reform to include votes for Catholics. In the wake of the French Revolution the cause of religious equality and representative government for Ireland was taken up in a still less compromising form by the
Society of United Irishmen The Society of United Irishmen was a sworn association, formed in the wake of the French Revolution, to secure Representative democracy, representative government in Ireland. Despairing of constitutional reform, and in defiance both of British ...
. The society won support of working men in the town, and of its leading Catholic family, the Teelings of Chapel Hill, wealthy linen manufacturers.
Bartholomew Teeling Bartholomew Teeling ( – 24 September 1798) was an Irish military officer and nationalist who was the leader of the rebel forces during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and who carried out an act of bravery during the Battle of Collooney. He ...
(destined to hang) and his brother
Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...
, were an important connection between the largely
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
"United men" and Catholic
Defenders Defender(s) or The Defender(s) may refer to: * Defense (military) * Defense (sports) ** Defender (association football) Arts and entertainment Film, television, and theatre Film * ''The Defender'' (1989 film), a Canadian documentary * ''The D ...
in rural areas. It is likely, however, that the greater strength in the district was the fraternal
Orange Order The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protestants. It also has lodges in England, Grand Orange Lodge of ...
, newly formed in defence of the Protestant hurch of IrelandAscendancy. In 1797 the Order paraded 3000 loyalists in the town before the British commander
General Lake Gerard Lake, 1st Viscount Lake (27 July 1744 – 20 February 1808) was a British general. He commanded British forces during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and later served as Commander-in-Chief of the military in British India. Background He was ...
. The neighbouring military camp at Blaris, ensured that when in 1798 the United Irishmen, decided upon insurrection, there could be no rebel demonstration in the town. Blaris supplied troops that helped ensure defeat for the forces of the "Republic" to the north of the town at the
Battle of Antrim The Battle of Antrim was fought on 7 June 1798, in County Antrim, Ireland during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 between British troops and Irish insurgents led by Henry Joy McCracken. The British won the battle, beating off a rebel attack on Ant ...
on June 7, and to the south at the
Battle of Ballynahinch The battle of Ballynahinch was a military engagement of the Irish Rebellion of 1798 between a force of roughly 4,000 United Irishmen rebels led by Henry Munro and approximately 2,000 government troops under the command of George Nugent. After ...
on June 12 where the "
Croppies Croppy was a nickname given to United Irishmen rebels during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 against British rule in Ireland. History The nickname "Croppy" was used in 18th-century Ireland in reference to the cropped hair worn by Irish national ...
" had been under the command of the Lisburn linen draper, Henry Munro. For over a month, the severed heads of Munro and three of his lieutenants were displayed on pikes, one on each corner of the Market House.


The Victorian Town

The county-by-county record of pre-
Famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food caused by several possible factors, including, but not limited to war, natural disasters, crop failure, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenom ...
Ireland, ''Hall's Ireland: Mr and Mrs Hall's Tour of 1840'', found Lisburn recognisable as the settlement Rowden had formed more than two centuries before. Believing that between Drum Bridge and
Lough Neagh Lough Neagh ( ; ) is a freshwater lake in Northern Ireland and is the largest lake on the island of Ireland and in the British Isles. It has a surface area of and is about long and wide. According to Northern Ireland Water, it supplies 4 ...
the people were "almost exclusively" of English and Welsh extraction, the Halls ventured that in no town in Ireland were "the happy effects of English taste and industry more conspicuous". With the formation in 1836 of the
Lisburn Cricket Club Lisburn Cricket Club is a cricket club in Lisburn, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, playing in the Premier League of the NCU Senior League. Established in 1836, the club is the oldest in Northern Ireland. It is also one of the most successful, h ...
, the Halls might have noted that English taste also extended to sport and leisure. To the visitors the town still appeared in 1840 to consist "principally of one long street" (Bow Street) at the Market Square end of which stood the cathedral. An "interesting and picturesque church", it contained "two very remarkable monuments". One is of "the great and good
Jeremy Taylor Jeremy Taylor (1613–1667) was a cleric in the Church of England who achieved fame as an author during the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell. He is sometimes known as the "Shakespeare of Divines" for his poetic style of expression, and he is fr ...
" (1613–1667), sometime Bishop of Down and Conor (reputed "Shakespeare of the Divines" and former chaplain to
Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...
). The other is to the memory of Lieutenant William Dobbs killed in the capture of his vessel, HMS ''Drake'', by the American privateer
John Paul Jones John Paul Jones (born John Paul; July 6, 1747 – July 18, 1792) was a Scottish-born naval officer who served in the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War. Often referred to as the "Father of the American Navy", Jones is regard ...
(an engagement in
Belfast Lough Belfast Lough () is a large sea inlet on the east coast of Northern Ireland. At its head is the city and port of Belfast, which sits at the mouth of the River Lagan. The lough opens into the North Channel and connects Belfast to the Irish ...
in 1778 that spurred formation of the Volunteer movement).   The Halls would have been able to proceed the eight miles to Belfast on the newly completed
Ulster Railway The Ulster Railway was a railway company operating in Ulster, Ireland. The company was incorporated in 1836 and merged with two other railway companies in 1876 to form the Great Northern Railway (Ireland). History The Ulster Railway was au ...
line. The line from Belfast was continued to
Portadown Portadown ( ) is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town is based on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population ...
and, with the completion of the
Boyne Viaduct The Boyne Viaduct (), a railway bridge, or viaduct, that crosses the River Boyne in Drogheda, carrying the main Dublin–Belfast Rail transport in Ireland, railway line. History The viaduct was designed by the Irish civil engineer Sir John ...
, connected with Dublin in 1855. A junction out of Lisburn at Knockmore, established further service to
Banbridge Banbridge ( ) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Bann and the A1 road and is named after a bridge built over the Bann in 1712. It is in the civil parish of Seapatrick and the historic barony of Iveagh Upper ...
and
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...
and to Antrim and
Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...
. Lisburn's present railway station, built for the Great Northern Railway Company, dates from 1878. The new transportation links encouraged further industrial growth. In 1889, newspapers reported a rival to Barbour's factory: a "splendid new mill" by Robert Stewart & Son to employ over a thousand hands, with the novelty of electric lighting and "toilets on every floor". As had other Protestant-majority districts, Lisburn quickly reconciled to the union with Great Britain that followed the
1798 rebellion The Irish Rebellion of 1798 (; Ulster-Scots: ''The Turn out'', ''The Hurries'', 1798 Rebellion) was a popular insurrection against the British Crown in what was then the separate, but subordinate, Kingdom of Ireland. The main organising force ...
. Support for the Union, seen both as a guarantee of free trade and as security against Catholic-majority rule, spurred the further growth in the town of the
Orange Order The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protestants. It also has lodges in England, Grand Orange Lodge of ...
and helped return Hertford-approved
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
candidates to the Westminster parliament. The political loyalty of tenants (who were to enjoy a secret ballot only from 1871) was further secured by the relative beneficence of the 3rd Marquess of Hertford. Despite a reputation of being "the most thoroughgoing rove in the kingdom" and spending almost all of his life on the continent, when cholera struck in 1832 Francis Seymour-Conway (1777–1842) erected a hospital and distributed medicines, blankets, clothing and other necessities throughout the estate.


Absentee proprietors

In 1842, Captain Richard Seymour-Conway (1800–1870), the 4th Marquess of Hertford, inherited 10 by 14 mile Lagan Valley estate on which some 4,000 tenants (and many more sub-tenants) provided an income of £60,000 (or £5 million in today's money). Yet he was to visit it but once, and then with the wish that, "pray God!", he should never have to do so again. When the edge of the
Great Irish Famine The Great Famine, also known as the Great Hunger ( ), the Famine and the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of mass starvation and disease in Ireland lasting from 1845 to 1852 that constituted a historical social crisis and had a major impact o ...
reached the valley in 1847 and 1848, the Marquess declined to join the mill owners in subscribing to the relief efforts. London's
Wallace Collection The Wallace Collection is a museum in London occupying Hertford House in Manchester Square, the former townhouse (Great Britain), townhouse of the Seymour family, Marquess of Hertford, Marquesses of Hertford. It is named after Sir Richard Wall ...
, named after his illegitimate Parisian son and heir
Sir Richard Wallace Sir Richard Wallace, 1st Baronet (21 June 1818 – 20 July 1890) was a British Aristocracy (class), aristocrat, art collector and Francophile. Based on the Return of Owners of Land, 1873, Return of Owners of Land 1873, he was the 24th richest m ...
, is testimony to his chief passion, the acquisition of art. Wallace (1818–1890) was created
baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...
in 1871 and was the Conservative and Unionist Member of Parliament (MP) for
Lisburn Lisburn ( ; ) is a city in Northern Ireland. It is southwest of Belfast city centre, on the River Lagan, which forms the boundary between County Antrim and County Down. First laid out in the 17th century by English and Welsh settlers, with t ...
from 1873 to 1885 (when Lisburn was incorporated into the new South Antrim constituency). His bequests to the people of Lisburn included Wallace Park, grounds for the Intermediate and University School (later renamed in his honour, Wallace High School), and a remodelling of the Market House. (The large residence he built on Castle Street, but never occupied, today houses offices of the
South Eastern Regional College South Eastern Regional College (SERC) is a further and higher education college in the south-east of Northern Ireland. SERC was created following the merger of three institutes of further and higher education in the south-east of Northern Irela ...
). In 1872 he donated 50 "Wallace" drinking fountains (cast from a sculpture of Charles-Auguste Lebourg), to Paris (on whose humanitarian relief during the German siege of 1870–1871 he had already spent a considerable fortune) and five to Lisburn where one is still to be found in Castle Gardens and another in Wallace Park. The town responded with a memorial to Wallace In Castle Gardens. In 1852, Lord Hertford's agent, the Reverend James Stannus, the Rector of Lisburn Cathedral, had occasion to write to him suggesting a general increase in rents as punishment for the tenants both for an attack on his person and for their defiance in voting for a dissident Conservative, a free-trade "
Peelite The Peelites were a breakaway political faction of the British Conservative Party from 1846 to 1859. Initially led by Robert Peel, the former Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader in 1846, the Peelites supported free trade whilst the bulk ...
". The following year the tenants sent a delegation to Hertford in Paris in a vain protest. In 1872, charges of "high-handed management of the estate" (the arbitrary fining and eviction of tenants, interference in elections, and discrimination against non-Anglicans) prompted Stannus's son and successor to sue the Belfast paper, the ''
Northern Whig The ''Northern Whig'' (from 1919 the ''Northern Whig and Belfast Post'') was a daily regional newspaper in Ireland which was first published in 1824 in Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ir ...
'' for defamation. The Dublin jury found for the plaintiff only under pressure from the judge, fixing the damages at £100. Together with failing agricultural prices, a willingness even of Orangemen to join the
Irish National Land League The Irish National Land League ( Irish: ''Conradh na Talún''), also known as the Land League, was an Irish political organisation of the late 19th century which organised tenant farmers in their resistance to exactions of landowners. Its prima ...
helped turn the tables: in the 1880s agents were proposing to appease tenant with rent reductions. Under the later marquesses, and as their legal powers to dictate terms diminished, tenant-landlord relations improved. By the new century the
Irish Land Acts The Land Acts (officially Land Law (Ireland) Acts) were a series of measures to deal with the question of tenancy contracts and peasant proprietorship of land in Ireland in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Five such acts were introduced by ...
had effectively retired the great proprietors and their agents from the scene. In a departing gesture, in 1901,
Sir John Murray Scott Sir John Edward Arthur Murray Scott, 1st Baronet of Connaught Place (1847–1912) was a British art historian and collector. He is often referred to as John Murray Scott. He is best known for his role in the formation of the Wallace Collection. E ...
, heir of Lady Wallace, gave the Market House with its Assembly Rooms to Lisburn Urban District Council, for "the benefit of the inhabitants of the town". The Hertford Rent Office in Castle Street was closed in 1901 and became Lisburn Town Hall.


Ulster Volunteers

In July 1914, in the first of many acts of political violence Lisburn was to experience in the new century, the chancel of Lisburn Cathedral was destroyed by a bomb. It had been placed by Lilian Metge as part of a broader campaign on behalf of women's suffrage, co-ordinated by
Dorothy Evans Dorothy Elizabeth Evans (6 May 1888 – 28 August 1944) was a British feminist activist and suffragette. On the eve of World War I she was a militant organiser for the Women's Social and Political Union twice arrested in Belfast on explosi ...
of the
Women's Social and Political Union The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom founded in 1903. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership and p ...
. The previous year, explosives having been found in her Belfast apartment, Evans had created uproar in court when she demanded to know why
James Craig James or Jim Craig may refer to: Entertainment * James Humbert Craig (1877–1944), Irish painter * James Craig (actor) (1912–1985), American actor * James Craig (''General Hospital''), fictional character on television, a.k.a. Jerry Jacks * J ...
, who at that point had overseen the arming of the
Ulster Volunteers The Ulster Volunteers was an Irish unionist, loyalist paramilitary organisation founded in 1912 to block domestic self-government ("Home Rule") for Ireland, which was then part of the United Kingdom. The Ulster Volunteers were based in the ...
(UVF) with smuggled German munitions, was not appearing on the same charges. Lisburn and neighbouring communities raised three battalions of the UVF, the South Antrim Volunteers. They were a token of the determination of local people (in the words of Ulster's Solemn League and Covenant) "to stand by one another in defending for ourselves and our children our position of equal citizenship in the United Kingdom, and in using all means which may be found necessary to defeat the present
conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...
to set up a
Home Rule Home rule is the government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens. It is thus the power of a part (administrative division) of a state or an external dependent country to exercise such of the state's powers of governan ...
Parliament in Ireland". The United Kingdom declaration of war upon Germany (August 3), paused resolution of the
Home Rule Crisis The Home Rule Crisis was a political and military crisis in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland that followed the introduction of the Government of Ireland Act 1914, Third Home Rule Bill in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom ...
, and many of Lisburn's Volunteers would go on to serve with the
36th (Ulster) Division The 36th (Ulster) Division was an infantry division of the British Army, part of Lord Kitchener's New Army, formed in September 1914. Originally called the ''Ulster Division'', it was made up of mainly members of the Ulster Volunteers, who f ...
. On July 12, 1916, for the first time since 1797 there was no Orange demonstration of any kind to celebrate the Williamite victory at the Boyne. The customary midnight drumming parade was abandoned, and no arches or flags were displayed. Most of the mills and factories were closed. The town responded to the news that on the first day of
Somme offensive The Battle of the Somme (; ), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and the French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place between 1 July and 18 Nove ...
, July 1, the Ulster Division had lost 5,000 men wounded, 2,069 killed.


The Burnings and Partition

In 1920, Lisburn saw violence related to the
Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence (), also known as the Anglo-Irish War, was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (1919–1922), Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and Unite ...
and
partition of Ireland The Partition of Ireland () was the process by which the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (UK) divided Ireland into two self-governing polities: Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland (the area today known as the R ...
. On 22 August, the
Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various Resistance movement, resistance organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dominantly Catholic and dedicated to anti-imperiali ...
(IRA) assassinated
Royal Irish Constabulary The Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC, ; simply called the Irish Constabulary 1836–67) was the police force in Ireland from 1822 until 1922, when all of the island was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom. A sep ...
(RIC) Inspector Oswald Swanzy in Lisburn's Market Square, as worshippers left Sunday service in the cathedral. Swanzy was among those a coroner's inquest in Cork had held responsible for the killing of
Tomás Mac Curtain Tomás Mac Curtain (20 March 1884 – 20 March 1920) was an Irish Sinn Féin politician who served as the Lord Mayor of Cork until he was assassinated by the Royal Irish Constabulary. He was elected in January 1920. Background Tomás Mac Curt ...
, the city's republican
Lord Mayor Lord mayor is a title of a mayor of what is usually a major city in a Commonwealth realm, with special recognition bestowed by the sovereign. However, the title or an equivalent is present in other countries, including forms such as "high mayor". A ...
. Over the next three days and nights Protestant
loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...
crowds looted and burned practically every Catholic business in the town, and attacked Catholic homes.Lawlor, pp.115–121 There is evidence that Ulster Volunteers had helped organise the burnings. Rioters attacked firemen who tried to save Catholic property, and lorries of British soldiers sent to help the police. Brigadier-General William Pain (a former Ulster Volunteer leader) had troops guard the Catholic church and convent, but failed to take strong action to quell rioting elsewhere. The parochial house was looted, burnt out and daubed with sectarian slogans. Some Catholics were severely beaten, and a Catholic pub owner later died of gunshot wounds. A charred body was found in the ruins of a factory. Lisburn was likened to "a bombarded town in France" during the war. About 1,000 people, a third of the town's Catholics, fled Lisburn. Many were forced to take the mountain road to Belfast where troops were already blocking off streets with barbed wire cordons, a prelude to still greater violence. Fires soon raged across Belfast and in the next few days thirty people were killed in the city (see
Belfast Pogrom Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel. It is the second-largest city in Ireland ...
). As a result of the violence, Lisburn was the first town to recruit the special constables who went on to become the
Ulster Special Constabulary The Ulster Special Constabulary (USC; commonly called the "B-Specials" or "B Men") was a quasi-military Military reserve, reserve special constable police force in what would later become Northern Ireland. It was set up in October 1920, short ...
. In October, about thirty special constables faced charges for involvement in the "Swanzy riots".Lawlor, pp.171–176 The last
Chief Secretary for Ireland The Chief Secretary for Ireland was a key political office in the British Dublin Castle administration, administration in Ireland. Nominally subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord Lieutenant, and officially the "Chief Secretar ...
,
Sir Hamar Greenwood Thomas Hamar Greenwood, 1st Viscount Greenwood, PC, KC (7 February 1870 – 10 September 1948), known as Sir Hamar Greenwood, 1st Baronet between 1915 and 1929, was a Canadian-born British lawyer and politician. He served as the last Chief Se ...
, admitted that "some hundred special constables in Lisburn threatened to resign" in protest. Charges were not pursued. On the day that a 700-year English presence in the south of Ireland ended with the formal hand over of
Dublin Castle Dublin Castle () is a major Government of Ireland, Irish government complex, conference centre, and tourist attraction. It is located off Dame Street in central Dublin. It is a former motte-and-bailey castle and was chosen for its position at ...
to the government of the
Irish Free State The Irish Free State (6 December 192229 December 1937), also known by its Irish-language, Irish name ( , ), was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-ye ...
, 16 January 1922, Lisburn celebrated the centenary of the local "hero of the Indian Mutiny", John Nicholson (1822–1857). Under a marble relief of his final assault on Delhi's Kashmir Gate, a memorial in the Cathedral credited Nicholson with dealing a "death blow to the greatest danger that ever threatened the British Empire". For
James Craig James or Jim Craig may refer to: Entertainment * James Humbert Craig (1877–1944), Irish painter * James Craig (actor) (1912–1985), American actor * James Craig (''General Hospital''), fictional character on television, a.k.a. Jerry Jacks * J ...
, now the first prime minister of
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
, and for other dignitaries speaking at the unveiling of a new statue in Market Square, the
East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
Brigadier (depicted with both sword and gun in hand) was "a symbol of the defence of Empire in Ireland as well as India. In April the following year crowds gathered again to dedicate the Victory Memorial in Castle Gardens. Had he not been assassinated by the IRA on his London doorstep, it would have been unveiled by
Sir Henry Wilson Field marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal Sir Henry Hughes Wilson, 1st Baronet, (5 May 1864 – 22 June 1922) was one of the most senior British Army staff officers of the First World War and was briefly an Unionism in Ireland, Irish unio ...
, former
Chief of the Imperial General Staff Chief of the General Staff (CGS) has been the title of the professional head of the British Army since 1964. The CGS is a member of both the Chiefs of Staff Committee and the Army Board; he is also the Chair of the Executive Committee of the A ...
and MP for North Down.


From town to city

As the linen industry was hugely dependent on the export market, Lisburn and the surrounding area was hit hard in the 1930s by the worldwide economic depression. The pattern of unemployment, half-time contracts and reduced wages was fully reversed only by new wartime mobilisation. While some of the town and region linen mills helped produce material for uniforms, boot laces, kit bags, bandages, tents, and parachutes, others were converted to churning out munitions, with women undertaking much of the work.  The
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
struck close to Lisburn with the
Belfast Blitz The Belfast Blitz consisted of four German air raids on strategic targets in the city of Belfast in Northern Ireland, in April and May 1941 during World War II, causing high casualties. The first was on the night of 78 April 1941, a small atta ...
of April and May 1941. The town and the surrounding area was flooded by thousands of evacuees all of whom, as one member of the Lisburn Women's Voluntary Service recalled, had to be "fed, housed, deloused, marshalled, bathed, clothed, pacified and brought back to normal". In the post-war decades the demand for linen declined (precipitously after World War Two) in response to new textiles and changing fashion. With a workforce reduced to just 85, the Barbour mill in Hilden finally closed in 2006. The population of Lisburn, which in 1951 was still just 15,000, nonetheless continued to grow. In part this was a consequence of the expansion of the town boundary lines in 1973, and of a dramatic increase in public authority housing with overspill from Belfast. As stock improved, the town retained few examples of the terraced housing built by the mill owners in the nineteenth century. Development did see the loss of some historic landmarks: the Victorian Court House in Railway Street, the Sacred Heart of Mary Grammar School in Castle Street and, in Linenhall Street, the
Independent Order of Good Templars The International Organisation of Good Templars (IOGT; founded as the Independent Order of Good Templars), whose international body is known as Movendi International, is a fraternal organization which is part of the temperance movement, promoting ...
hall and the weaving factory of William Coulson. The opening of the M1 motorway in 1962 further integrated Lisburn into the greater Belfast commercial and residential area. In 1989 the new edge-of-town
Sprucefield Sprucefield is a major out-of-town retail park in the townland of Magherageery, County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the southern edge of Lisburn; about one mile from Lisburn city centre, and from central Belfast. Sprucefield is located bes ...
retail park opened. The centre was virtually destroyed in January 1991 in a
Provisional Irish Republican Army The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA), officially known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA; ) and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland ...
(IRA) incendiary attack.
Marks and Spencer Marks and Spencer plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks & Sparks or simply Marks) is a major British multinational retailer based in London, England, that specialises in selling clothing, beauty products, home produc ...
, the principal anchor was spared, but the three other major stores were destroyed. On what was once known (because of the production of sulphuric acid bleach) as
Vitriol Vitriol is the general chemical name encompassing a class of chemical compounds comprising sulfates of certain metalsoriginally, iron or copper. Those mineral substances were distinguished by their color, such as green vitriol for hydrated iron(I ...
Island in the middle of the River Lagan, the last remnants of the Island Spinning Company were demolished in the early 1990s. The Lagan Valley Island Complex was officially opened by
Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
, accompanied by the
Duke of Edinburgh Duke of Edinburgh, named after the capital city of Scotland, Edinburgh, is a substantive title that has been created four times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not pr ...
, in November 2001. A borough since 1973, Lisburn was granted
city status City status is a symbolic and legal designation given by a monarch, national or subnational government. A municipality may receive city status because it already has the qualities of a city, or because it has some special purpose. Historically, ci ...
in 2002 as part of
Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
's Golden jubilee celebrations.


Thiepval Barracks

First built in 1940,
Thiepval Barracks Thiepval Barracks is a British Army barracks and headquarters in Lisburn, County Antrim. It is also the site of the stone frigate HMS ''Hibernia'', Headquarters of the Royal Naval Reserve in Northern Ireland. History The barracks were built in 19 ...
is a large military complex on the edge of town was named after the village of
Thiepval Thiepval (; ) is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Thiepval is located north of Albert at the crossroads of the D73 and D151 and approximately northeast of Amiens. Population First World War The ...
in Northern France, the site of the Ulster Division's heaviest losses in 1916 on
the Somme The Battle of the Somme (; ), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and the French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place between 1 July and 18 Nove ...
. In early 1970 the Thiepval Barracks became home to 39 Infantry Brigade and provided the headquarters for the locally recruited
Ulster Defence Regiment The Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) was an infantry regiment of the British Army established in 1970, with a comparatively short existence ending in 1992. Raised through public appeal, newspaper and television advertisements,Potter p25 their offi ...
. From August 1969, the Brigade, as 39 Airportable Brigade, was involved in
The Troubles The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...
in Northern Ireland, eventually taking on responsibility, under HQ Northern Ireland, for an area including
Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
and the eastern side of the province, but excluding the South Armagh border region. From September 1970, it was commanded by (then)
Brigadier Brigadier ( ) is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore (rank), commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several t ...
Frank Kitson General Sir Frank Edward Kitson, (15 December 1926 – 2 January 2024) was a British Army officer and writer on military subjects, notably low intensity operations. He rose to be Commander-in-Chief UK Land Forces from 1982 to 1985 and was Ai ...
.Bloody Sunday Inquiry website—Statement of General Sir Frank Kitson. Retrieved 28 May 2008
In Lisburn's last casualties of the conflict, a soldier was killed and 31 people were injured when the(IRA) exploded two car bombs in the barracks on October 7, 1996. The barracks remain home to 38th (Irish) Brigade.


The Troubles

With communities across Northern Ireland, from the end of the 1960s Lisburn suffered through three decades of political violence, "
The Troubles The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...
". For Lisburn the first killings came in 1976: in the course of the year, five Catholic residents died as a result of gun and bomb attacks by the
Ulster Defence Association The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 as an umbrella group for various loyalist groups and undertook an armed campaign of almost 24 years as one of t ...
and (a new)
Ulster Volunteer Force The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is an Ulster loyalism, Ulster loyalist paramilitary group based in Northern Ireland. Formed in 1965, it first emerged in 1966. Its first leader was Gusty Spence, a former Royal Ulster Rifles soldier from North ...
, loyalist paramilitary groups that subsequently entered their own feud. In 1978 the IRA murdered a
Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the ...
officer at his home in front of his family. It was the first in a series of targeted assassinations of security-force personnel in the town that culminated in the
1988 Lisburn Van Bombing On 15 June 1988 an unmarked military van carrying six British Army soldiers was blown up by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) at Market Place in Lisburn, Northern Ireland. The explosion took place at the end of a charity marathon run ...
: five off-duty British soldiers killed at the end of a charity run in Market Square."Bomb at Northern Ireland 'Fun Run' Kills 5 Soldiers, Hurts 10". ''Los Angeles Times''. 16 June 1988
Retrieved 20 February 2012
The Troubles in the town claimed a total of 32 lives.


Lisburn in the 21st century

As elsewhere, private investment in Lisburn has shifted employment away from traditional industries toward services. Just under 10% of the town and district's workforce remains in manufacturing, but it is a dynamic sector that includes precision-engineering exporters. Recent decades have seen very considerable public investment and new public service jobs, now accounting for a third of the district's overall employment. After receiving city status in 2008, in the 2016
reform of local government in Northern Ireland Reform of local government in Northern Ireland saw the replacement of the twenty-six districts created in 1973 with a smaller number of "super districts". The review process began in 2002, with proposals for either seven or eleven districts made ...
Lisburn was combined with residential areas of broadly similar social and political complexion bordering Belfast to the south and east. The fusion produced
Lisburn City and Castlereagh District Lisburn and Castlereagh is a local government district in Northern Ireland. The district was created on 1 April 2015. It consists of the combined area of the City of Lisburn with the Borough of Castlereagh, but not including "the localities of ...
. According to measures devised by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, the district ranked among the least socially and economically deprived in the province. In the third election to new 40-seat Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council, in May 2023, the twelve seats representing Lisburn returned a reduced unionist majority: four seats for the DUP (a loss of one) and two for the UUP (a loss of two) and an independent unionist. The cross-community Alliance Party held gained one to hold three; the moderate nationalist
SDLP The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP; ) is a social democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland Assembly ( MLAs) and two members of Parliament (MPs ...
retained a seat, and for the first time Lisburn returned a
Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...
councillor. Following the election, in June 2023 Gary McCleave, who was re-elected to represent the Killultagh DEA became "the first ever Sinn Féin councillor to hold a mayoral position in Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council": he was named deputy mayor. Following the decision of the sitting DUP MP and party leader,
Jeffrey Donaldson Sir Jeffrey Mark Donaldson (born 7 December 1962) is a Northern Irish former politician, who served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 2021 to 2024 and leader of the DUP in the UK House of Commons from 2019 to 2024. He was t ...
, not to stand in the
2024 United Kingdom general election The 2024 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 4 July 2024 to elect all 650 members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons. The opposition Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer, won a lan ...
, Lisburn's Lagan Valley constituency returned for the first time a non-unionist, a woman, and a person from a Catholic community background, the Alliance Party's
Sorcha Eastwood Sorcha-Lucy Eastwood is a Northern Irish politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Lagan Valley since 2024. A member of the Alliance Party, she previously served as a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Lagan Valle ...
.


Administration

Lisburn is the administrative centre of
Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council Lisburn ( ; ) is a city in Northern Ireland. It is southwest of Belfast city centre, on the River Lagan, which forms the boundary between County Antrim and County Down. First laid out in the 17th century by English and Welsh settlers, with t ...
area. In elections for the
Westminster Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...
the city falls mainly into the Lagan Valley constituency. Two District Electoral Areas cover the city and surrounding areas. Lisburn North (Derriaghy, Harmony Hill, Hilden, Lambeg, Magheralave, Wallace Park) and Lisburn South (Ballymacash, Ballymacoss, Knockmore, Lagan Valley, Lisnagarvey, Old Warren). In the 2023 local elections the following were elected to represent the two DEAs: The headquarters of the
British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
in Northern Ireland at Thiepval Barracks and the headquarters of the
Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) is the statutory fire and rescue service for Northern Ireland. The NIFRS is overseen by the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service Board, which in turn is subordinate to the Department of H ...
are located in the city.


Demography


2011 Census

On Census Day (27 March 2011) the usually resident population of Lisburn City Settlement was 45,370 accounting for 2.51% of the NI total. * 97.51% were from the white (including Irish Traveller) ethnic group; * 22.24% belong to or were brought up Catholic and 67.32% belong to or were brought up in a 'Protestant and other (non-Catholic) Christian (including Christian related)' and * 67.65% indicated that they had a British national identity, 11.32% had an Irish national identity and 29.04% had a Northern Irish national identity. Respondents could indicate more than one national identity. On Census Day, in Lisburn City Settlement, considering the population aged 3 years old and over: * 3.72% had some knowledge of Irish; * 6.51% had some knowledge of
Ulster-Scots Ulster Scots, may refer to: * Ulster Scots people * Ulster Scots dialect {{disambig Language and nationality disambiguation pages ...
; and * 3.25% did not have English as their first language.


2021 Census

On Census Day (2021) the usually resident population of Lisburn City Settlement was 51,447: * 26.84% (13,808) belong to or were brought up Catholic and 56.37% (29,003) belong to or were brought up in a 'Protestant and other (non-Catholic) Christian (including Christian related)', 1.84% belong to other religions and 14.95% and no religious background * 43.55% (22,406) indicated that they had a British national identity, 13.32% (6,856) had an Irish national identity, 20.04% (10,312) had a Northern Irish national identity, 11.04% (5,680) had a British and Northern Irish only, 1.29% (664) had an Irish and Northern Irish only, and 1.78% (917) had a British, Irish and Northern Irish only.


Schools and colleges

The Classical School in Bow Lane, founded 1756 and mastered for fifty-six years by the Huguenot and Anglican cleric and scholar Saumaurez Dubourdieu, was the first school of note in Lisburn. Friends' School, founded for Quaker children, followed in 1774. Comparable grammar-school education was not provided for Catholic children until the Convent of the Sacred Heart of Mary started boarding pupils in a house in Castle Street in 1870, and not for other children in the town until 1880 when Sir Richard Wallace founded the Intermediate and University School on the Antrim (renamed Wallace High School in his honour in 1942). The first Lisburn school which did not ask pupils whether they attended church, chapel or meeting was that founded on the Dublin Road by John Crossley in 1810. Known then as the Male Free School, it was the first free school in Ulster to be based on the Bell and Lancaster monitorial system. A school for poor children, established by Jane Hawkshaw in 1821 with the support of the 3rd marquess, taught no catechism and made no attempt at religious instruction. It adopted that principle that "while so great diversity prevails on this subject, it sbest to separate religion from the instructing in reading, writing, arithmetic and sewing". Religious instruction was to be left to "the parents, with the assistance of their respective teachers". It is a principle that the government tried, but in the face of church opposition failed, to realise in its original 1830 plans for an Irish system of
National Schools In Ireland, a national school () is a type of primary school that is financed directly by the state, but typically administered jointly by the state, a patron body, and local representatives. In national schools, most major policies, such as the ...
. Another exception to control by the church education authorities was Hilden School, established under mill management by William Barbour in 1829. Today, Fort Hill Primary and Fort Hill College make a conscious effort to surmount principal sectarian divide in the town through a system of "
integrated education Integrated education in Northern Ireland refers to the bringing together of children, parents and teachers from both Roman Catholic and Protestant traditions in childhood education: the aim being to provide a balanced education, while allowing the ...
". Children from Catholic and Protestant homes in Lisburn are otherwise taught, with limited exception, separately on a pattern that, by the mid-nineteenth century, had been established throughout Ireland.
Lisburn Central Primary School Lisburn ( ; ) is a city in Northern Ireland. It is southwest of Belfast city centre, on the River Lagan, which forms the boundary between County Antrim and County Down. First laid out in the 17th century by English and Welsh settlers, with t ...
() is an
eco-school Eco-Schools is an international programme of the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) that aims to “empower students to be the change our sustainable world needs by engaging them in fun, action-orientated, and socially responsible lear ...
and nursery unit. The school was established in 1934 when the first Lisburn Presbyterian Church School and the Christ Church, Church of Ireland Nicholson School united to form one school Lisburn Central was awarded a
Green Flag award The Green Flag Award is an international accreditation given to publicly accessible parks and open spaces, managed under licence from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, a UK Government department, by Keep Britain Tidy, ...
in 2023 for its publicly accessible park and open spaces. In 2012, ''Scoil na Fuiseoige'', the first
Irish-language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenou ...
-medium primary school, serving the Lisburn area, opened in Twinbrook.
South Eastern Regional College South Eastern Regional College (SERC) is a further and higher education college in the south-east of Northern Ireland. SERC was created following the merger of three institutes of further and higher education in the south-east of Northern Irela ...
is a successor to the Lisburn Technical Institute established in 1914. On its enlarged Castle Street campus, it offers courses and apprenticeships in Bio-Sciences, Computing, Electronic Engineering, Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering, Media, Music, Photography, Sport and Recreation, Travel and Tourism, Construction, Animal Management, Creative Industries and Performing Arts.


List of Lisburn schools


Churches

Lisburn is notable for its large number of churches, with 132 churches listed in the Lisburn City Council area. Christ Church Cathedral (from 1708), commonly referred to as Lisburn Cathedral, is the diocesan church for the
Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...
bishopric of Connor. The principal Roman Catholic Church in Lisburn is St Patrick's on Chapel Hill dedicated in 1900. For Presbyterians the senior congregation remains that of the First Presbyterian Church, off Market Square, built in 1768, and enlarged and remodelled in 1873 and 1970. For the Methodists, it is the Seymour Street Church opened on ground donated by Sir Richard Wallace in 1875.


Transport


Rail

The
Lisburn railway station Lisburn railway station serves the city of Lisburn in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. History The station was opened on 12 August 1839 by the Ulster Railway. The station buildings were rebuilt in 1878 to designed by William Henry Mills, for ...
was opened on 12 August 1839. Express trains taking 10–15 minutes to reach Belfast's
Great Victoria Street Great Victoria Street in Belfast, Northern Ireland, is a major thoroughfare located in the city centre and is one of the important streets used by pedestrians alighting from Belfast Great Victoria Street railway station and walking into shopping ...
. The train also links the city directly with
Newry Newry (; ) is a City status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, standing on the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Down, Down and County Armagh, Armagh. It is near Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border, the border with the ...
,
Portadown Portadown ( ) is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town is based on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population ...
,
Lurgan Lurgan () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, near the southern shore of Lough Neagh and roughly southwest of Belfast. The town is linked to Belfast by both the M1 motorway (Northern Ireland), M1 motorway and the Belfast–Dublin rail ...
, Moira and Bangor. The station also has services to
Dublin Connolly Connolly station () or Dublin Connolly is the busiest railway station in Dublin and Ireland, and is a focal point in the Irish route network. On the North side of the River Liffey, it provides InterCity, Enterprise and commuter services to ...
in the city of
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
, with three trains per day stopping at the station. All railway services from the station are provided by
Northern Ireland Railways NI Railways, also known as Northern Ireland Railways (NIR; and for a brief period Ulster Transport Railways; UTR), is the railway operator in Northern Ireland. NIR is a subsidiary of Translink, whose parent company is the Northern Ireland Tr ...
, a subsidiary of Translink. The city is also served by Hilden railway station.


Bus

Ulsterbus Ulsterbus is a public transport operator in Northern Ireland and operates bus services outside Belfast. It is part of Translink (Northern Ireland), Translink, the brand name for the subsidiary operating companies of the Northern Ireland Transpor ...
provides various bus services that connect the city with Belfast city centre, which lies eight miles northeast. These services generally operate either along Belfast's
Lisburn Road Lisburn Road is a main arterial route linking Belfast and Lisburn, Northern Ireland. The Lisburn Road is now an extension of the "Golden Mile (Belfast), Golden Mile" with many shops, boutiques, wine bars, restaurants and coffee houses. The road ...
or through the Falls area in west Belfast. In addition to long-distance services to
Craigavon Craigavon ( ) is a town in north County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It was a planned settlement, begun in 1965, and named after the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland: James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon. It was intended to be the heart of ...
,
Newry Newry (; ) is a City status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, standing on the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Down, Down and County Armagh, Armagh. It is near Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border, the border with the ...
and
Banbridge Banbridge ( ) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Bann and the A1 road and is named after a bridge built over the Bann in 1712. It is in the civil parish of Seapatrick and the historic barony of Iveagh Upper ...
, there is also a network of buses that serve the rural areas around the city, such as
Glenavy Glenavy () is a village and civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is approximately 11 miles west of Belfast and eight miles north-west of Lisburn, and sits on the banks of the Glenavy river. In the 2011 census it had a population ...
and
Dromara Dromara ()Placenames NI
is a village,
Ulsterbus Ulsterbus is a public transport operator in Northern Ireland and operates bus services outside Belfast. It is part of Translink (Northern Ireland), Translink, the brand name for the subsidiary operating companies of the Northern Ireland Transpor ...
. A new "Buscentre", provided by the regional public transport provider Translink, opened on 30 June 2008 at the corner of Smithfield Street and the Hillsborough Road. It replaced the shelters that formerly stood in Smithfield Square.


Road

The city is located on the Belfast-Dublin corridor, being connected with the former by the
M1 motorway The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) motorway, A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the count ...
from which it can be accessed through junctions 3, 6, 7 and 8. The
A1 road A list of roads designated A1, sorted by alphabetical order of country. * A01 highway (Afghanistan), a long ring road or beltway connecting Kabul, Kandahar, Herat and Mazar * A1 motorway (Albania), connecting Durrës and Kukës * A001 highw ...
to
Newry Newry (; ) is a City status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, standing on the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Down, Down and County Armagh, Armagh. It is near Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border, the border with the ...
and
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
deviates from the M1 at the Sprucefield interchange, which is positioned one mile southeast of the city centre. An inner orbital route was formed throughout the 1980s which has permitted the city centre to operate a one-way system as well as the pedestrianisation of the Bow Street shopping precinct. In addition to this, a feeder road leading from Milltown on the outskirts of Belfast to Ballymacash in north Lisburn, was opened in 2006. This route connects with the A512 and permits traffic from Lisburn to easily access the M1 at junction 3 (Dunmurry) thus relieving pressure on the southern approaches to the city.


Inland waterways

The
Lagan Canal The Lagan Canal was a canal built to connect Belfast to Lough Neagh. The first section, which is a river navigation, was opened in 1763, and linked Belfast to Lisburn. The second section from Lisburn to Lough Neagh includes a small amount of r ...
passes through Lisburn. This connected the port of Belfast to
Lough Neagh Lough Neagh ( ; ) is a freshwater lake in Northern Ireland and is the largest lake on the island of Ireland and in the British Isles. It has a surface area of and is about long and wide. According to Northern Ireland Water, it supplies 4 ...
, reaching Lisburn in 1763 (although the full route to Lough Neagh was not complete until 1793). Prior to
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
the canal was an important transportation route for goods, averaging over 307,000 tons of coal per year in the 1920s. Following competition from road transport, the canal was formally closed to navigation in 1958, and grew derelict. A short stretch and lock in front of Lisburn Council offices was restored to use in 2001.


Cycling

Lisburn is served by
National Cycle Route 9 It is the lowest-numbered route on the National Cycle Network outside of Great Britain. Route The route will eventually connect Belfast and Dublin. The route is currently signposted between the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, Belfast, Queen Eli ...
, connecting the city with
Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
with
Newry Newry (; ) is a City status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, standing on the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Down, Down and County Armagh, Armagh. It is near Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border, the border with the ...
.


Shopping

Bow Street Mall, on Bow Street, houses over 60 stores, many eateries (including a food court). Sprucefield Shopping Centre and Sprucefield Retail Park are two large retail parks located just outside the city centre.


Townlands

Townland A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...
s are traditional land divisions used in Ireland. As well as Lisnagarvy, Lisburn covers all or part of the following townlands. County Antrim: *Aghalislone () *Aghnahough (from ''Achadh na hUamha'', 'field of the cave') *Ballymacoss or Ballymacash (from ''Baile Mhic Coise'', 'MacCoise's townland') *Clogher (from ''Clochar'', 'stony place') *Knockmore (from ''An Cnoc Mór'', 'the great hill') * Lambeg (from ''Lann Bheag'', 'little church') *Lissue or Teraghafeeva (from ''Lios Áedha'', 'Áed's fort' and ''Tír Átha Fiodhach'', 'wooded land of the ford') *Magheralave (from ''Machaire Shléibhe'', 'plain of the mountain grass' or ''Machaire Léimh'', 'plain of the elms') *Old Warren *Tonagh (from ''An Tamhnach'', 'the grassy field') County Down: *
Blaris Blaris () is a civil parish covering areas of both County Antrim and County Down, Northern Ireland. It is situated in the historic baronies of Castlereagh Upper and Iveagh Lower, Upper Half in County Down and Massereene Upper in County Antrim. ...
(from ''Bláras'', a field or battlefield) *Ballintine (from ''Baile an tSiáin'', 'townland of the fairy mound') *Ballymullan (from ''Baile Uí Mhaoláin'', 'O'Mullan's townland') *Largymore (from ''An Leargaidh Mhór'', 'the big slope') *Magherageery (from ''Machaire na gCaorach'', 'plain of the sheep')


Climate

As with the rest of the
British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...
, Lisburn experiences a
maritime climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring ...
with cool summers and mild winters. The nearest official
Met Office The Met Office, until November 2000 officially the Meteorological Office, is the United Kingdom's national weather and climate service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and ...
weather station A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for measuring atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasting, weather forecasts and to study the weather and clima ...
for which online records are available is at Hillsborough. Averaged over the period 1971–2000 the warmest day of the year at Hillsborough will reach , although 9 out of 10 years should record a temperature of or above. Averaged over the same period, the coldest night of the year typically falls to and on 37 nights air frost was observed. Typically annual rainfall falls just short of 900 mm, with at least 1 mm falling on 154 days of the year. Water can be supplied from Dams and nearby rivers thanks to the rainfall and mountains. In the 19th Century,
Duncan's Dam Duncan's Dam is a dam situated in Lisburn, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, near the Thiepval Army Barracks. It was used until 1941 as a water supply for Lisburn. The dam is now open to the public - there is a path around the water and a playgroun ...
provided the town with water and now serves as a free public park.


Health care

The main hospital in the city is the
Lagan Valley Hospital The Lagan Valley Hospital is a hospital in Lisburn, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It provides services to people from Greater Lisburn, the Lisburn City Council area and other parts of South East Ulster. It is managed by the South Eastern Healt ...
, which provides Accident and Emergency services to the area. The hospital lost its acute services in 2006. Residents now must travel to Belfast for acute surgery. The Lagan Valley lost its 24-hour A&E from 1 August 2011 due to a shortage of Junior Doctors. It will now instead be open 9:00 am – 8:00 pm and will be closed on weekends. This has caused much controversy as residents of the city will now have to travel to Belfast or Craigavon. Primary care in the area is provided by the Lisburn Health Centre, which opened in 1977. The city lies within the South Eastern Health and Social Care Board area.


Sport

In November 2012 the Award of 2013 European City of Sport was officially handed over to Lisburn at a presentation ceremony at the European Parliament in Brussels.


Football

*
Lisburn Distillery Lisburn Distillery Football Club is a Northern Irish intermediate football club who are based in Ballyskeagh, Lisburn. A founder member of the Irish League, they currently play in the NIFL Premier Intermediate League, the third tier of the Nor ...
is an association football club playing in the
NIFL Championship The Northern Ireland Football League Championship (known as the Playr-Fit Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the second level of the Northern Ireland Football League, the national football league in Northern Ireland. Clubs in the Championsh ...
and based at Ballyskeagh, on the outskirts of the city. * Ballymacash Rangers F.C. play in the
Mid-Ulster Football League The Daily Mirror Mid-Ulster Football League, or simply referred to as the Mid-Ulster League, is an association football league in Northern Ireland. It contains 9 divisions. These comprise two intermediate sections: the Intermediate A and Intermed ...
. * Lisburn Rangers F.C. play in the
Northern Amateur Football League The Northern Amateur Football League, also known as the Northern Amateur League and often simply as the Amateur League, is an association football league in Northern Ireland. It contains 13 divisions. These comprise four intermediate sections: ...
. *
Downshire Young Men F.C. Downshire Young Men Football Club (often abbreviated to Downshire YM) is a Northern Irish intermediate football club playing in Division 1B of the Northern Amateur Football League. The club was formed c.late 1890's as Downshire F.C. and played ...
play in the
Northern Amateur Football League The Northern Amateur Football League, also known as the Northern Amateur League and often simply as the Amateur League, is an association football league in Northern Ireland. It contains 13 divisions. These comprise four intermediate sections: ...
.


Other sports

*
Lisburn Cricket Club Lisburn Cricket Club is a cricket club in Lisburn, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, playing in the Premier League of the NCU Senior League. Established in 1836, the club is the oldest in Northern Ireland. It is also one of the most successful, h ...
*
Lisburn Racquets Club The Lisburn Racquets Club is a sports club in Lisburn, Northern Ireland. The club was formed in 1932 by the members of Lisburn Cricket Club to keep their members together during the winter months. It played in the British Legion Hall until the lat ...
* St. Patrick's GAA *
Down Royal Racecourse Down Royal Racecourse is a horse racing venue near Lisburn in Northern Ireland. The most valuable race run there is the Ladbrokes Champion Chase, run at the Northern Ireland Festival of racing in November. The most valuable flat race to be run ...
is located near the city


People


Academia and science

*
Robert McNeill Alexander Robert McNeill (Neill) Alexander, CBE FRS (7 July 1934 – 21 March 2016) was a British zoologist and a leading authority in the field of biomechanics. For thirty years he was Professor of Zoology at the University of Leeds. Early life and e ...
(1934–2016) –
zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...
. *
David Crystal David Crystal, (born 6 July 1941) is a British linguist who works on the linguistics of the English language. Crystal studied English at University College London and has lectured at Bangor University and the University of Reading. He was aw ...
(1941 – ) – Linguist and author. * Margarita Dawson Stelfox (1866 -1971) – botanist.


Arts and media

*
Vivian Campbell Vivian Patrick Campbell (born 25 August 1962) is a Northern Irish musician. He came to prominence in the early 1980s as the guitarist of Dio. He has also been the guitarist of Def Leppard since 1992 (replacing Steve Clark after his death). C ...
(1962 – ) singer-songwriter and musician * William H. Conn (1895–1973) – Irish cartoonist, illustrator, water colourist and poster artist. *
Sam Cree Samuel Raymond Cree (1928–1980) was a Northern Irish playwright. During the 1960s and 1970s he wrote several long running and popular plays for comedians James Young and Jimmy Logan. His plays remain a favourite with Northern Ireland audien ...
(1928–1980) – playwright. *
Anna Cheyne Anna Cheyne ''HRUA'' (9 April 1926 – 10 September 2002) was a British artist and sculptor working with diverse media including batik, ceramics, papier mâché, stone, fibreglass and bronze. Cheyne was born and educated in England but moved to ...
(1926–2002) – artist and sculptor. *
Richard Dormer Richard Dormer (born 11 November 1969) is an actor and playwright from Northern Ireland. He is best known for his roles as Beric Dondarrion in the HBO television series ''Game of Thrones'' and Dan Anderssen in Sky Atlantic's '' Fortitude''. Ea ...
(1969– ) – actor. playwright, screenwriter *
Duke Special Duke Special (born Peter Wilson; 4 January 1971) is an Irish songwriter and performer based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. A piano-based songwriter with a romantic style and a warm, distinctly accented voice, he was previously known for his di ...
(1971 – ) – singer-songwriter. * Samuel McCloy (1831–1904) – Irish painter *
Stefana McClure Stefana McClure (born 1959) is an Irish visual artist. Life Stefana McClure was born in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, in 1959. She grew up in Belfast during "the Troubles". and it influences her work. She went to art college in London where she gr ...
(1959 – ) – visual artist *
Kristian Nairn Kristian Nairn (born 25 November 1975) is an actor and DJ from Lisburn, Northern Ireland. He is best known for his portrayal of Hodor in the HBO fantasy series ''Game of Thrones'' (2011–2014, 2016). He also played Wee John Feeney on the HBO M ...
(1975 – ) – film actor, DJ * Dennis H Osborne (1919–2016) -artist *
Donna Traynor Donna Traynor (born October 1964) is a journalist and broadcaster in Northern Ireland. She is best known as the former main anchor of ''BBC Newsline''. Early life and education Traynor was born in Lisburn to Kathleen and Gerry Traynor, her fa ...
(1965 – ) – television journalist *
Sir Richard Wallace Sir Richard Wallace, 1st Baronet (21 June 1818 – 20 July 1890) was a British Aristocracy (class), aristocrat, art collector and Francophile. Based on the Return of Owners of Land, 1873, Return of Owners of Land 1873, he was the 24th richest m ...
(1818–1890) – Lisburn and district landlord, MP, art collector (the
Wallace Collection The Wallace Collection is a museum in London occupying Hertford House in Manchester Square, the former townhouse (Great Britain), townhouse of the Seymour family, Marquess of Hertford, Marquesses of Hertford. It is named after Sir Richard Wall ...
, London).


Business

*
John Doherty Barbour John Dougherty Barbour JP DL (3 March 1824 – 18 June 1901) was an Irish industrialist and politician. His middle name is sometimes written as "Doherty." Born in Castle Street, Lisburn, County Antrim, the son of William Barbour, he entered th ...
(1824–1901) – industrialist and politician. * Michael Deane (1961 – ) – chef, restaurateur *
Henry Musgrave Henry Musgrave (1827 – 2 January 1922), deputy Lieutenant, DL, was an Irish businessman and philanthropist. He is perhaps best remembered for Musgrave Park, Belfast, Musgrave Park in Belfast, which he donated to the city. His portrait ...
(1827–1922) – industrialist and philanthropist *
John Grubb Richardson John Grubb Richardson (13 November 1813 – 1891) was an Irish linen merchant, industrialist and philanthropist who founded the model village of Bessbrook near Newry in 1845, in what is now Northern Ireland. Five years later he founded a maj ...
(1813–1891) – linen merchant, industrialist and philanthropist *
Alexander Turney Stewart Alexander Turney Stewart (October 12, 1803 – April 10, 1876) was an Irish Americans, Irish- American entrepreneur who moved to New York and made his multimillion-dollar fortune in the most extensive and lucrative dry goods store in the world ...
(1803–1876) – American retail entrepreneur. * William Workman (1807–1878) – Canadian entrepreneur, philanthropist.


Government and politics

*
David Adams David Adams may refer to: Government officials * David S. Adams (State Department) (born 1961), Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs * David Adams (Labour politician) (1871–1943), British Labour Party Member of Parliament, 1922 ...
(1953 – ) – senior
Ulster Democratic Party The Ulster Democratic Party (UDP) was a small Ulster loyalism, loyalist political party in Northern Ireland. It was established in June 1981 as the Ulster Loyalist Democratic Party by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), to replace the New Ulst ...
leader. * William Armstrong (1782–1865) –
U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...
from
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
* John
Milne Barbour Sir John Milne Barbour, 1st Baronet PC (NI) JP, DL, usually known as Sir Milne Barbour (4 January 1868 – 3 October 1951) was a Northern Irish politician and baronet. Background and education Milne Barbour was the son of John Doherty Barb ...
, (1868–1951) –
Ulster Unionist The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded as the Ulster Unionist Council in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist oppositi ...
, Northern Ireland cabinet minister. *
Humphrey Bland Lieutenant-General Humphrey Bland (1686 – 8 May 1763) was a British army officer. His military career began in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession and ended in 1756. First published in 1727, his ''Treatise of Military Discipline'' w ...
(1686–1763) –
Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...
*
Ernest Blythe Ernest William Blythe (; 13 April 1889 – 23 February 1975) was an Irish journalist, politician and managing director of the Abbey Theatre. He served as Minister for Local Government from 1922 to 1923, Minister for Finance from 1923 to 1932 ...
(1889–1975) –
Irish Republican Brotherhood The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB; ) was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland between 1858 and 1924.McGee, p. 15. Its counterpart in the United States ...
,
Irish Free State The Irish Free State (6 December 192229 December 1937), also known by its Irish-language, Irish name ( , ), was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-ye ...
cabinet minister. *
Samuel Cowan General Sir Samuel Cowan (born 9 October 1941) is a former Quartermaster-General to the Forces. Career Educated at Lisburn Technology College and the Open University, Cowan was commissioned into the Royal Corps of Signals in 1963. In 1980, he ...
(1941 – )
Quartermaster-General to the Forces The Quartermaster-General to the Forces (QMG) is a senior general in the British Army. The post has become symbolic: the Ministry of Defence organisation charts since 2011 have not used the term "Quartermaster-General to the Forces"; they simply ...
, writer. *
Robert Lindsay Crawford Robert Lindsay Crawford (Lindsay Crawford) (1868–1945) was an Irish Protestant politician and journalist who shifted in his loyalties from Unionism and the Orange Order to the Irish Free State. He was a co-founder of the Independent Orange Or ...
(1868–1945), first Grand Master,
Independent Orange Order The Independent Loyal Orange Institution is an offshoot of the Orange Institution, a Protestant fraternal organisation based in Northern Ireland. Initially pro-labour and supportive of tenant rights and land reform, over time it moved to a mo ...
;
Irish Free State The Irish Free State (6 December 192229 December 1937), also known by its Irish-language, Irish name ( , ), was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-ye ...
trade representative, New York. *
William Crossley William Crossley may refer to: * Sir William Crossley, 1st Baronet, British engineer and politician * William Crossley, 3rd Baron Somerleyton, British courtier {{hndis, Crossley, William ...
(1844–1911) – engineer and
Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...
MP * Jim Hanna (1947–1974) – senior
Ulster Volunteer Force The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is an Ulster loyalism, Ulster loyalist paramilitary group based in Northern Ireland. Formed in 1965, it first emerged in 1966. Its first leader was Gusty Spence, a former Royal Ulster Rifles soldier from North ...
leader * John Jeffers (1822–1890) – member of the
Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The Assembly is controlled by the Republican ...

William Todd Jones
(1757–1818) – Lisburn MP, supporter of Catholic emancipation and reform. * Gertrude Keightley (1864–1929) – first woman
Poor Law In English and British history, poor relief refers to government and ecclesiastical action to relieve poverty. Over the centuries, various authorities have needed to decide whose poverty deserves relief and also who should bear the cost of hel ...
guardian and magistrate *
Gary McMichael Gary McMichael (born June 1969) is a Northern Ireland community activist, and retired politician. He was the leader of the short-lived Ulster Democratic Party (UDP) during the Northern Ireland peace process, and was instrumental in organizing t ...
(1969 – ) –
Ulster Democratic Party The Ulster Democratic Party (UDP) was a small Ulster loyalism, loyalist political party in Northern Ireland. It was established in June 1981 as the Ulster Loyalist Democratic Party by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), to replace the New Ulst ...
leader. *
John McMichael John McMichael (9 January 1948 – 22 December 1987) was a Northern Irish loyalist who rose to become the most prominent and charismatic figure within the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) as the Deputy Commander and leader of its South Belfa ...
(1948–1987) – senior
Ulster Defence Association The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 as an umbrella group for various loyalist groups and undertook an armed campaign of almost 24 years as one of t ...
leader. * St. Clair Augustine Mulholland (1839–1910) Union officer,
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
* Henry Munro (1758–1798) – executed United Irish leader * Francis Seymour (1813 -1890) –
Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...
veteran and royal courtier. * Ray Smallwoods (1949–1994) – assassinated senior
Ulster Defence Association The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 as an umbrella group for various loyalist groups and undertook an armed campaign of almost 24 years as one of t ...
leader *
Malcolm Stevenson Sir Malcolm Stevenson (15 March 1878 – 27 November 1927) was a British colonial administrator. He served as the Governor of Cyprus, and later as the Governor of the Seychelles. Stevenson was born in Lisburn, Ireland, and educated at Met ...
(1878–1927) – colonial governor. * Batholomew Teeling (1774–1798) – executed United Irish leader *
Charles Teeling Charles Hamilton Teeling (1778–1848) was an Irish political activist, journalist, writer, and publisher from Lisburn, County Antrim, Ulster. He was the second son of Luke Teeling a successful Catholic linen merchant who in the cause of complete ...
(1778–1848) –
United Irishman ''The United Irishman'' was an Irish nationalist newspaper co-founded by Arthur Griffith and William Rooney.Arthur Griffith
and journalist * Robert Traill (1793–1847) – clergyman, relief organiser in the Great Famine. *
David Trimble William David Trimble, Baron Trimble, (15 October 1944 – 25 July 2022) was a Northern Irish politician who was the inaugural First Minister of Northern Ireland from 1998 to 2002 and leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 1995 to 20 ...
(1944–2022) –
Ulster Unionist The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded as the Ulster Unionist Council in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist oppositi ...
First Minister of Northern Ireland,
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
Peer.


Sport

*
Damien Johnson Damien Michael Johnson (born 18 November 1978) is a Northern Irish football coach and former international player. Since 2019 he has been first team technical coach & head of player development at Blackburn Rovers. He began his career with Po ...
Northern Irish The people of Northern Ireland are all people born in Northern Ireland and having, at the time of their birth, at least one parent who is a British Nationality Law, British citizen, an Irish nationality law, Irish citizen or is otherwis ...
, international footballer. * Mary Peters – athlete. *
Jonny Ross Jonathan Stewart Ross is a Northern Irish bowler who was born in Lisburn. He now represents Scotland after moving there. Bowls career He was part of the winning Irish Fours team in the 2004 World Bowls Championships held in Ayr, Scotland wit ...
, bowler *
James Tennyson James Martin Tennyson (born 6 August 1993) is a Northern Irish former professional boxer who competed from 2012 to 2021. who challenged for the IBF super-featherweight title in 2018 and the IBO lightweight title in May 2021. At regional level ...
, professional boxer * Alan McDonald
Northern Irish The people of Northern Ireland are all people born in Northern Ireland and having, at the time of their birth, at least one parent who is a British Nationality Law, British citizen, an Irish nationality law, Irish citizen or is otherwis ...
, international footballer.


See also

* Lisburn Courthouse *
List of localities in Northern Ireland by population This is a list of settlements in Northern Ireland by population, based on data published by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA), from the 2021 Census. Settlement classification NISRA's classification of settlements is a ...


References


External links


Lisburn.com
directory of shops & services with extensive history of the city. {{Authority control Cities in Northern Ireland