Home » Places » Ligoniel – The Village by the River
Ligoniel Park near Boodles Dam
Ligoniel Park near Boodles Dam

Source of the Ligoniel River

The Ligoniel River is not one of Belfast’s better known waterways but it did play an important role in the development of the northern outskirts of Belfast and in the town itself.

Ligoniel River rises from a number of springs leaking through the peaty soil of Wolf Hill. The water flows eastwards though deep fissures cut into the limestone. This is how the river and district acquired its name from the Irish Lag an Aoil ‘hollow of the lime’. The river crosses the Antrim Plateau for a distance of 150m before joining the Forth River.

The Naming of Wolf Hill

The hill on which the Ligoniel rises is named after a notable hunt in 1692.

Clotworthy Upton, of Castle Upton in Templepatrick, was out hunting with his dogs when they captured and killed the last wolf in Ireland.

Hence the name Wolf Hill. The nearby Squire’s Hill was named after Upton.

Ligoniel Village Sign
Ligoniel Village Sign with Wolf Hill

The Antrim Plateau

The area of the Antrim Plateau has a long history of human habitation. The fertile soils, abundant streams and the plentiful supply of flint have attracted folk from around 2,000BC.

On Squire’s Hill and Wolf Hill are numerous examples of Megalithic burial sites, cairns and standing stones. Neolithic pottery has also been found as well as raths (ring forts) and souterrains (man-made underground chambers).

“The low forts….are found in extraordinary numbers in this parish. They are most frequently situated between the town of Belfast and the mountains and are particularly numerous at the foot of Squire’s Hill. In general they are low and circular, either surrounded with trenches, or retaining marks of having been formerly possessed of such defences, which remain, in some cases, so complete as to be yet filled with water”

George Benn A History of the Town of Belfast 1823

The Growth of Linen Industry

Over the years a ‘road’ developed from the ford at Belfast parallel with the Ligoniel River leading north to Templepatrick and Antrim. This facilitated the travel of people and cattle and the transport of goods. This road is still one of Belfast’s arterial routes to this day.

The original Ligoniel Village that grew up on the banks of the river was small and isolated. The men worked the land while the women were employed in home-spinning. However, with the advent of water-powered factories for the production of linen, the potential of the Ligoniel River was soon recognised.

“The power of the Ligoniel River and its tributaries, as well as the reliability of the flow, attracted linen manufacturers to the slopes of Wolf Hill”

Des O’Reilly Rivers of Belfast 2010

In order to maximise and control the speed of the current a number of weirs, mill ponds and mill races were constructed along the course of the river.

Ligoniel Park - Pond View
Ligoniel Park – Pond View

Trees along the river banks were removed to make room for bleach greens. This is where the wet linen cloth was spread out on the grass to whiten in the sunlight.

In 1770 John Sinclair laid out a bleach green on the banks of the Ligoniel. He was followed by other linen manufacturers such as John Ferguson at Ballysillan and Stewart and Cunningham at Mountain Green on the north side of the Ligoniel Road.

The Men behind Ligoniel’s Industry

The Ewarts at Ligoniel

In 1852 William Ewart opened new business premises on the Ligoniel River, Glenbank Bleachworks. The Ewarts were already a successful firm of linen manufacturers. They had begun as cotton producers in Ballymacarrett but had diversified into flax by the 1840’s.

In 1859 the company, as well as its mills on the northern outskirts of the town, had a large warehouse at 11 Donegall Place. Ewart senior was succeeded by his only son, also William, in 1873. Six years later the Bedford Street Weaving Company and the Mountain Mill at Ligoniel were added to the family business.

By 1899 the company employed over 5,000 workers and was one of the largest manufacturers and exporters of Irish linen in the world.

The Ewart family had a long history in the textile industry.

The Ewart Dynasty

Thomas Ewart of Carnreagh in County Down owned 20 acres of land and in 1716 began a small damask-weaving business. His son Thomas and his grandson, the aforementioned William, continued and expanded the family trade.

William was born in 1779 in Hillsborough. In 1810 he married Mary Ann Rossman. They had three children William, Sarah Jane and Eliza. The family lived at beautiful Glenbank House overlooking his factory’s bleach greens.

The garden was planted with trees and ornamental shrubs and had a pond built in the shape of Lough Neagh.

The house and grounds remained in Ewart hands until 1920 when it was offered to Belfast Corporation as a public park.

Glenbank Park View
Glenbank Park View
Park Security
Park Security

William Ewart Junior

William’s son, William was born on 22nd September 1817 at Sydenham. He attended Belfast Royal Academy and in 1843 became a partner in the firm William Ewart and Son.

He married Isabella Kelso Mathewson on 10th December 1840 at Newtownstewart, County Tyrone. Isabella was the daughter of Lavens Mathewson. The couple had eight children – 6 sons William, Lavens, Richard, James, George and Frederick and 2 daughters Marianne and Lavinia.

The family lived at Wheatfield House to the north of Belfast. Their home ‘a gentleman’s country seat’ was described as a “large and beautifully situated dwelling house together with 26 acres

William Ewart was a well-known public figure; he was a member of Belfast Corporation for 25 years. In 1859 Ewart was mayor of Belfast and from 1878-1889 he was a Conservative MP.

William Ewart also served as a magistrate for Antrim and Belfast and was President of the Irish Linen Trade and Flax Supply Associations. In addition he was a member of the Belfast Local Marine Board.

On 13th September 1887 Ewart was rewarded for his services by being designated the 1st Baronet of Glenmachan and Glenbank.

William Ewart died in London at the Carters Hotel, Albemarle Street, on 1st August 1889. His remains were returned to Belfast and interred in the family vault in the New Burying Ground, Clifton Street.

“The firm of William Ewart and Son was undoubtedly the most extensive concern of flax spinners and linen manufacturers that Belfast has known”

A C W Merrick, Old Families in the New Burying Ground, 1991
William Ewart Obituary Northern Whig 3rd August 1889
William Ewart Obituary Northern Whig 3rd August 1889

William Thompson

Another businessman to profit from the ready supply of water from the Ligoniel River was William Thompson. He established the Bleached Flax Spinning Company at Ligoniel in 1835.

Following this success he opened the Wolf Hill Spinning Company. This firm is notable because Thompson’s mills were the first in Ireland to be illuminated by gaslight.

The Growth of Ligoniel Village

Influence of the Mills

With the industrialisation in the area attracting those seeking employment, the village of Ligoniel grew rapidly.

William Ewart had 500 houses constructed for his workers alone, including Thread Row sited opposite the mill gates. As well as the numerous mills there was also a brick yard and a nearby limestone quarry to provide jobs.

“The mill owners then commenced an extensive house-building programme for the influx of workers who came from Newry, Banbridge, Sion Mills and from as far away as Cork. The village soon assumed a busy atmosphere….”

Robbie Henderson The Last Mill Village- Ligoniel
Ligoniel - Belfast Street Directory 1865
Ligoniel – Belfast Street Directory 1865

By the mid nineteenth century Ligoniel Village had a National School and a Village National School.

Wolf Hill had a National School and a Mill National School, for the children of mill employees. It is safe to assume there were a lot of families residing in the district. There was also an Episcopal Church.

Notable Industries at Ligoniel Village

In 1865 the local industries included the Ligoniel Spinning Company, Waring & Duncan Flaxspinners and the Wolfhill Spinning Company. Other smaller businesses were Samuel Darling a grocer, Hugh Fitzpatrick a spirit dealer and Matthew Arlow postmaster, grocer and haberdasher. There was also the Glen Inn on the Upper Ligoniel Road that dated back to 1785.

Ligoniel - Belfast Street Directory 1870
Ligoniel – Belfast Street Directory 1870

Life was far from easy for the inhabitants of Ligoniel Village, especially for those who worked long hours in the dangerous conditions of the mills.

“The tall mills no longer belch with the toil of child labour and the sweat of their over-worked parents. In recent times a certain romance has grown up about mill workers….but there was no romance for the doffer, the reeler, the half-timer, and others who made up the workforce ‘among these dark Satanic mills’. There was little pleasure for the woman working until the last possible moment when the child in her womb had to be born; and there was little pleasure in watching school children grow old before their time”

Fred Heatley, The Last Mill Village – Ligoniel [introduction]

Ligoniel Village Population Growth

By the 1890’s the population of Ligoniel Village had expanded to 5,000. The village had its own courthouse at the top of the hill.

Petty Sessions were held on the first and third Wednesday of the month. The judge stayed over at Everton House on the Ligoniel Road. The village boasted 3 churches – Ballysillan Presbyterian Church (1839), St Mark’s Church of Ireland (1852) and St Vincent de Paul Catholic Church (1898).

St Mark's Church of Ireland
St Mark’s Church of Ireland
Ballysillan Presbyterian Church
Ballysillan Presbyterian Church
St Vincent De Paul Church Entrance
St Vincent De Paul Church Entrance

There was also a Dispensary Station and a Constabulary Station and Wolfhill Reading Room manned by librarian Richard Coggins.

Dispensary House
Dispensary House

Notable inhabitants in 1897 included

  • William J Campbell at Wolfhill Cottage
  • Philip Diamond at Ligoniel House
  • Thomas Cochrane at Ligoniel Cottage
  • John Fitzpatrick at Glenview
  • Hugh Morrison at Ligoniel Villa

Occupations among the villagers included

  • Samuel Toland – boot and shoe maker
  • Robert Burns – carpenter
  • Isaac Greenaway – flaxdresser
  • William Heron – pawnbroker and draper
  • Hugh Sherrard – blacksmith

Living Conditions

The majority of Ligoniel folk lived in rows of cramped and often damp mill-workers cottages. There was no indoor sanitation just an outdoor shared ‘privy’

In 1901, eleven members of the Wallace family, Presbyterians, lived in a 4-roomed, stone built house with 2 front windows in River Street. Nearby, at 2 Finlay Street, the Catholic O’Neill family included the mother, father, 5 adult sons and 3 grandchildren residing in a similar house with 4 rooms in total.

These workers’ homes were seen as an improvement to the previous houses in the district. In 1873 Dr Robert Newett, Ligoniels Medical Officer, summed up the houses that he had inspected as

“newly erected houses which ….are not fit to afford shelter to domesticated animals, much less our fellow creatures”

Robert Newett, 1873

The Ligoniel Public Bath House

In 1911 a public bath house was constructed on the Ligoniel Road, which meant that at least locals could have a bath. It was designed by James Gardner Gamble in the High Victorian style. Gamble, from Derry, was the principal city architect for Belfast Corporation. The red-brick building was gable-fronted with projecting glass roof insets.

The public baths was closed after the Second World War and subsequently, in 1946, was converted into a public library. Unfortunately the library closed in June 2010 and the building remains empty, apart from its well-known ghost, that is!

Ligoniel Public Bath House
Ligoniel Public Bath House
Ligoniel Public Bath House then Library
Ligoniel Public Bath House then Library

Public Transport

In 1888 horse-drawn trams connected the Shankill Road to Ligoniel to facilitate the workers. In the late nineteenth century the Ligoniel Tramway Company ran trams as far as St Mark’s Church.

“The mill village of Ligoniel always considered itself as being independent from Belfast and for many years kept itself to itself”

Mike Maybin, Belfast’s Lost Tramways, 2003

However, in 1905 Belfast City Tramways introduced electric trams and extended the tramlines a half a mile further to Ligoniel Village. Due to the steepness of the road and concern over the brakes, Wolfhill Spinning Company allowed the new terminus to be constructed on their property on level ground at Mill Ave.

Ligoniel Today

Even into the twentieth century Ligoniel seems to have felt itself apart from Belfast.

“Although it was incorporated in the city of Belfast as long ago as 1897, Ligoniel has never lost its friendly village atmosphere. With its steep streets and white-washed houses and its quaint row of cottages known as ‘the city’ Ligoniel has both personality and charm. To enter it is to step back into the past”

Belfast Newsletter, 11th May 1956

Today Ligoniel is a busy working-class district of Belfast. Redevelopment has levelled the mill- workers houses and streets. The mills with their towering chimneys are no more. However, the area does still retain a distinct ‘village feel’ Perhaps because it is surrounded by green mountains it seems a place apart.

View from Ligoniel Park
View from Ligoniel Park

The curve of the Ligoniel Road almost seems like a signpost to a different place.

“The Turn of the Road as the locals term the citywards connection of their approach road where it meets the Crumlin Road at a sharp T junction was, and remains, a comforting boundary keeping Ligoniel geographically isolated from its more urban neighbourhood”

Fred Heatley, The Last Mill Village – Ligoniel [introduction] 1981

The traditional industries of the area have long gone and with them the importance of the local rivers. We have all but forgotten that without our rivers as power sources Belfast could not have developed as an industrial city. But the Ligoniel River still flows and reminders of the mills surround us.

Old Mill Road
Old Mill Road
Mill Valley Road
Mill Valley Road
Weavershill Square
Weavershill Square
Spire
Spire
Ligoniel Park near Boodle's Dam
Ligoniel Park near Boodle’s Dam
St Vincent De Paul Church
St Vincent De Paul Church
Ligoniel - Belfast Street Directory 1897
Ligoniel – Belfast Street Directory 1897
Ligoniel Park view
Ligoniel Park view
The River
River View
Scotty at Glenbank Park
Scotty at Glenbank
Gated entrance
Gated entrance
Wolfhill Residents - Street Directory 1897
Wolfhill Residents – Street Directory 1897
Low Sun over Ligoniel
Low Sun over Ligoniel

Similar Posts

Ardoyne – The Story of a Village

Mill chimney - a common sight in Belfast
Mill chimney – a common sight in Belfast

Today Ardoyne is a busy working-class district in north Belfast. However it was once a village in beautiful countryside. This is it’s story.


Ballymacarrett – From a Rural Village to a Shipbuilding Giant

H&W Crane across the Lagan
H&W Crane across the Lagan

A history of Ballymacarrett from it’s rural beginnings, to a small village and subsequent emergence as a hub of Belfast industry & enterprise


If you enjoyed this article…

If you like our posts please help us to grow our readership by sharing any posts that you like using the social media sharing icons at the foot of each post.

Please Consider a Small Donation

Belfast Entries is a husband & wife hobby website featuring articles on our shared history, memories and entertaining stories of our past. To help us meet rising website hosting costs please click the coffee cup below to learn how to make a small donation. Please note that every contribution is valued and that we will not contact you directly in order to respect your privacy.

Buy Us a Coffee
Buy Us a Coffee

Donations this month 8 🙂

We had 6 donations last month


What are others reading now?

Galboly cottage view

Galboly – The County Antrim Village Lost in Time

By P&P / 30 September 2021 / 4 Comments
Mill chimney - a common sight in Belfast

Ardoyne – The Story of a Village

By P&P / 13 November 2021 / 2 Comments
Bodies Illustration at the scene Belfast Telegraph 13th March 1890

Nora’s Grave – A True Story of Love & Death

By P&P / 19 March 2022 / 0 Comments
Belfast Long Bridge crossed the River Lagan between 1688 and 1841

Unusual Laws in Old Belfast 1613 – 1816

By P&P / 11 March 2022 / 0 Comments

Cost of Living Crisis

Given the current cost of living crisis that will impact so many in coming months we have added a page signposting organisations that may be able to offer support. We have no relationship with these organisations and cannot offer financial advice but we hope that some of the links may prove useful.



Ancestry Antrim Arthur Chichester artist Belfast Belfast Entries Belfast Family belfast roots Carrickfergus Castle Cemetery Church Clifton House County Antrim County Down Department Store Donegal education. family tree Famous Folk Forgotten folk Genealogy Ghost graveyard Historical places History Hotel Ireland Irish Census Records Irish Family Irish genealogy irish roots Mary Ann McCracken Operation Overlord Otto Jaffe People Philanthropist Places to see Poor House Public Health Reformer Sailortown St Patrick Titanic Tourism United Irishmen


Belfast Entries posts & photos are our intellectual property and copyrighted to us. Where we use photos that do not belong to us, it is because we believe them to be in the public domain or shared under a Creative Commons licence with appropriate attribution. None of our content or images can be used without our consent. Note that a link to our Copyright & Takedown notice is included in the website footer on all pages.


P&P

We are a Belfast couple adding information on Belfast and the surrounding counties. Over coming months we will add a range of posts covering the people, places, products and stories that interest us and will hopefully be of interest to you. Over time we hope to build up information of use to locals & visitors alike and welcome your feedback on subjects of interest or stories that might be interest to the wider audience. Let us know what you think.

0 Comments

Leave a Reply

Avatar placeholder

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Would you like notifications of new Belfast Entries posts? OK No thanks