Reading an article recently that during excavations for a new subway station in Rome I was amazed to read that the excavators unearthed some old antique pipes and cables which meant that the ancient Romans had running water and primitive telephone lines.
During my last Lisburn visit I viewed the excavations in the Castle gardens and the digger driver told me they had found no cables. That would mean that the Lisburn people then were well advanced as they must have used mobile phones!
Have a nice weekend all
Donald

Nice one, Donald. I DO miss the craic!

Donald,
One wonders what will be found when they get round to digging up the Hilden Mill area.
The Lord himself only knows ( and I do not mean Downshire.

Thanks Low Roader for the comments .

Was Barbours mill and the Hilden Mill owned by the same people.???? Or one of the same.????
Curious as I would not like them to EXCAVATE and find my old UNCLE SAM who worked for Barbours a lifetime. Lord Downshire.

Hilden mill was owned by Barbour, then it became part of the Eltico group in the fifties. My family have connections running back for over 2 centuries, Watters and Mateer. I think Wiliam Barbour came from Scotland and started buisness around the plantation area
Donald

Thanks Donald For that info.

If the Barbours were " Scotch " . That explains why a bit of it rubbed off on old Uncle Sam .!!!!!

Lord Downshire

Sir Milne Barber owned Hilden Mill, he lived opposite Hilden Halt on the Hill behind the bus stop for Belfast, he built a hall in Hilden called the E.M.B. opposite the wee park, this was named after his daughter Elsie Milne Barber , hence E.M.B., the hall was cared for by Andy Brodie and Wife, both were from Scotland, Andy ran the Boys Club in the Hall, also the hall was used as Sunday School. Andy had 2 sons, Billy ( who was killed in action in a Bomber over Germany) Davey was killed in a cyling accident.Andy and family used to live in # 4, Delacherois Ave.

Fraser
I,m almost sure you are mixing up Sir Milne with Sir Ivan Ewart, also a Belfast mill owner .The house you mention was owned by Sir Ivan . Milne Barbour lived in Hilden house facing Delaceros Ave, now Hilden Brewery. Sir Ivan,s house and grounds were taken over by either the UDR or Territorials .
Donald

Donald and Fraser,
I am afraid you both have it wrong.
Sir Milne Barbour lived at Conway House just under the bridge at Derriaghy.
The house was later converted to a Hotel and kept the name "Conway". The large housing estate on the right hand side going to Belfast was also named "Conway".
I believe the hotel was fire bombed during the troubles but I could be wrong. I am sure someone reading this can confirm/deny this fact.

The house facing Hilden/Delacherois Avenue, now Hilden Brewery, was owned by the Gordon Family and was in fact named Hilden House.
Malcolm Gordon took a great interest in the Boys Club and a trophy in his name was presented to the best all round member annually.
The estate opposite Hilden Halt and a lot of other land on the Lisburn Road was indeed part of the Ewart estate. Sir Ivan, as you rightly point out Donald, was the owner of the Ewart engineering group.

The EMB hall, was, in fact built by JD Barbour in honour of Elise Milne Barbour (his wife or sister, I am not too sure which).
It nominally belonged to Railway Street church, that did, as you say Fraser, have a Sunday school there.
The hall was also, as you have noted before Donald, used a lot in the afternoons by the children who used The Wee Park(if it was wet or snowy).
JD as he was known lived on the Belsize Road and was responsible for the Artesian well on the road that ran past Thiepval barracks (Kirkwoods Road?)

Another brother, James Barbour, was very good to the pupils of Hilden school and donated prizes for pupils who did well at different things - art and poetry being two that come to mind

Andy Brodie founded the Lisburn Boys Club in the canteen of the Mill on the front street in Hilden in 1941 and the first displays were held there. The club moved to the EMB (which was gifted to Railway Street church) when Andy became caretaker. He lived in a house attached to the hall and took no part in running the club after about 1955/56.

At some time in the recent past the hall was transferred, I believe, to Lambeg church. The hall as I /Donald knew it no longer exists although there is a hall on the site behind the houses which are built there now belonging I believe to Lambeg Parish church..

I think I have got my facts right but, as ever, stand to be corrected.
In conclusion I should think that young Leamington may have something to contribute to this discussion.

Lowroader
I stand corrected about where Sir Milne Barbour lived as I remember my Aunt Tessie telling me that once all the Hilden mill employees being invited to a garden party at Conway house, her buying a new hat for the occasion. Also I remember reading that Sir Milne,s father walked from there to his "work " at Hilden mill along the Lagan towpath quite often. Hard to imagine today.
Jackie Bain was Sir Milne,s chaffeur and drove him each morning to his appointments. He,( Sir Milne ) died sometime in the fifties. He had a brother or son named Jack Barbour who drove a flashy sports car sometimes up the front street.
In the Conway grounds , visible from the train was a totem pole which some of the Barbours brought back from America. As boys returning on Saturday from the Ormeau baths we used to all crowd to the train windows to get a glimpse. As already mentioned here, his daughter married Colonel Smith and lived in Brynsford near Newcastle and attended our annual Christmas and summer concerts in the EMB and Hilden park. Andy Brody taught us to sing for him " When Johnny comes marching home again " All the mill workers children were invited once a year to their home in Brynsford. we were transported in buses and each child was given a packed lunch with sandwiches spread with jam and mayoniase, ( different sandwiches ) buns and a small lemonade. A treat in those days. Then Miss Smith and her husband would show us around their grounds and serve tea and more sandwiches.
Sir Ivan Ewart used to travel sometimes from Hilden halt in the train ( first class of course ) to Belfast, there was a foot passage to his house from the Belfast bus stop alongside which grew bamboos which we used to "borrow" he wore a patch over one eye if my memory serves me right. He owned Ewarts spinning and weaving mill in Belfast.
Donald

Just thought you would like to know that, courtesy of google map/satellite/hybrid, I've just had a stroll along the Lagan banks. Not being the brightest spark at navigation, it took me a while to get my bearings, but it gave me great pleasure to nip down to my sister's house, and then dander in both directions along the old canal.

Hallo Dabbler
A wee dander down memory lane. Did you see the " Lagan Belle"? Pity it didn,t catch on or that the council did not take it over as a tourist attraction. I sometimes take the " dander " also on Google from the Union bridge down to Hilden, up past the school, through the wee park and past Barley hill to the civic centre where once the Island mill was. If I really want to be sentimental I play at the same time Barnbrack,s song about the Lagan "From Lisburn down to Hilden, Lambeg and then Shaws Bridge " etc etc.
Bring tears to a stone
Have a nice weekend and no doubt all will be queuing over the weekend at the Ulster Bank for the George Best fivers which will be distributed on Monday
Donald

Hiya Donald
I have itunes, and often listen to a medley of songs and songsters; anything from Al Jolson to Pavarotti, through Pat Boone to Ronnie Carroll. Danny Boy always sets me blubbering. Enjoy the weekend, and the memory of people we knew.
Joe

Dabbler
Pity we didn,t meet 50 years ago
Donald

Donald,

Old friend sorry to correct you, but "My Lagan Softly Flowing" was written by a Lisburn man Noel Mc Master and recorded by his own group "Bakerloo Junction". We have to give credit to our own.

Beano

Hi Beano
Didn,t know who wrote it but Barnbrack have it in their selection " A taste of home ". Also quite a few good ones , such as " Mickey Marley,s roundabout", " If we only had old Ireland over here ", but to name a few. But thanks for the info, I will try to get a copy of the original version.

Donald

Donald,
The original version is on an LP called, funnily enough, "My Lagan Softly Flowing".
The writers are as Beano says, Noel McMaster and a chap called Keery whose first name escapes me. They were, of course, "Bakerloo Junction"
They both have roots in the Low Road although I believe the song was written in London, hence the Bakerloo in their name.
I actually prefer the Barnbrack version.

Lowroader, Fraser
Look what I found in the web, apparently the Barbours did live once in Hilden House
Donald


History of Hilden Brewery

Hilden Brewing Company was established in 1981 by Seamus and Ann Scullion. This was somewhat of a revolution in Ireland being the first brewery to reintroduce real ale and is consequently Ireland’s Oldest Independent Brewery.

Hilden Brewery is a family run microbrewery located in Hilden outside the City of Lisburn, Co. Antrim. The brewhouse was once the stables of Hilden House, the former residence of the Barbour family. The brewery is situated behind the old Barbour Threads Linen Mill, one of the last surviving working linen mills in Northern Ireland, an industry that N. Ireland is renowned for. Sadly this has just stopped production in July 2006.

The brewery is now managed by Seamus and Ann’s son Owen who is a qualified and full time brewer. The brewery now produces five ales covering the full spectrum of tastes including a porter, a blonde, a premium red and two amber ales. In addition to these the brewery also produces two bottled beers and is planning to expand to produce the full range.

Trips are made to the mainland UK every other week to personally deliver the beer to the door of the discerning drinker at free houses far and wide.

The Scullion’s introduced Ireland to its first beer festival and these beer festivals are now undergoing something of a revival. Now in its 25th year, the brewery is running a beer and music festival on the bank holiday weekend in August.
The Tap Room Restaurant
Organising a Beer Festival?
Quality Beer ad

Hilden Brewery - Kegs
Hilden Brewery - Garden
Hilden - Malt and Hops

Another one.
Donald


History of Hilden

A brief history

Hilden is a village on the outskirts of Lisburn in the parish of Lambeg. Of its early history little is known. In the seventeenth century settlers, mainly from England, moved to the Lisburn area. A map from the 1650s shows ‘Landbeg Towne’ with its ironworks by the Lagan. Hilden became a site of some importance in 1701 when Louis Crommelin established here what is said to have been the first mass bleaching establishment in Ireland. Crommelin was the leader of the French Huguenot community which settled in the Lisburn area from the late seventeenth century. In the eighteenth century another Huguenot, Samuel Delacherois, made Hilden his family home and operated a bleach green there.

The family most associated with Hilden were the Barbours. Originating in Scotland, the Barbours moved to the Lisburn area in the late eighteenth century and established a thread factory at The Plantation. In 1824 William Barbour bought the former beach green at Hilden and built a thread factory. Barbour’s industrial venture prospered and by the 1830s Hilden was described as the ‘seat of the most extensive thread factory in Ireland’. The factory buildings were described as follows:

The stove house and water mill stands 3-storeys high, the boiling house, office and yarn stores 2-storeys high. All other houses occupied in the business is [sic] 1-storey high and the entire building slated.

The factory was then engaged in preparing, bleaching and dyeing yarn for different types of thread. Over 300 people were employed here, both men and women and from all age groups. Near the factory Barbour had built twenty houses to accommodate employees and their families. When William Barbour arrived in Hilden he found the old home of the Delacherois family in a dilapidated state. He, therefore, built a new house, the present Hilden House. Hilden House and its grounds were described in 1837 in the Ordnance Survey Memoir of the parish of Lambeg in the following terms:

The house is a very commodious, square building, 2 storeys high and slated. The yards are well enclosed, the offices extensive, all slated and chiefly 2 storeys high. The garden, containing about 2 English acres, is enclosed by a stone and lime wall about 12 feet high and well stocked with fruit trees. It is tastefully laid off in every particular and contains a handsome glass-roofed greenhouse, where good grape and a variety of cape flowers are annually reared and other glasshouses or hot beds for melons. It also contains a sundial, a good garden house, a good metal pump and water engine for watering the garden.

The business expanded rapidly and according to Bassett’s 1888 directory of County Antrim William Barbour & Sons was deservedly ‘ranked as the largest manufacturers in the world of tailors’ thread and shoemakers’ thread for hand and machine sewing’. By this time there were 300 houses for workers which were described as ‘neatly kept’. In 1875 a school was opened inside the Barbour factory which provided both religious and secular education for the families of both mill employers and employees. The present school – a listed building – was built in 1913. In November 1932 the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) visited Hilden Mill, generating much excitement. Today there is little indication of the industrial activity of the scale of past times. Changes in the world textile industry have had a devastating effect on local firms. The factory at Hilden closed very recently, its workforce having been latterly reduced to less than 100. Linen manufacturing no longer continues in the village, unfortunately this ceased to trade in July 2006, however Hilden has a new trade with the establishment of Hilden Brewery in 1981.

Many thanks to William Roulston of the Ulster Historical Foundation for writing this for us.

Hilden Brewery - Kegs
Hilden Brewery - Garden
Hilden - Malt and Hops