ABSTRACT
Central to the architecture and landscape character of Northern Ireland is a combination of waterfront towns, sandy beaches, and the linen industry, which helped shape its social, economic, and cultural geography over three centuries. Looking at the architecture of rural Ulster, this chapter interrogates the evolution of linen mills as central elements of local social history, economy, and memory. It documents times of prosperity, growth of the built fabric, and the development of architectural elegance, followed by a period of gradual erosion and decline. The chapter describes these ups and downs through an examination of small towns such as Portrush, Gilford, and Sion Mills. And it analyses the rural architecture of these places as hubs for the linen industry through historical maps, figure-ground drawings, and archival photos, from their heyday in the 19th and early 20th centuries to their present-day condition of decay and, in some cases, disappearance.
