LISBURN

district, Northern Ireland. Established in 1973, the district is bordered by the city (district) of Belfast and district of Antrim to the north and by the districts of Craigavon to the west, Banbridge to the south, and Down and Castlereagh to the east. The chief town and seat of the district is Lisburn. Recently established industrial estates and residential suburbs are located at Dunmurry and around Lisburn town. Pigs, poultry, and barley are raised in rural areas. Hillsborough Castle at the town of Hillsborough, south of Lisburn town, accommodates members of the British royal family when they visit Northern Ireland. Area 171 square miles (444 square km). Pop. (1991 prelim.) 98,826. Irish >Lios Na Gcearrbhach town and seat of Lisburn district, formerly astride Counties Antrim and Down, Northern Ireland. The town, on the River Lagan 8 miles (13 km) southwest of Belfast, was a small village known as Lisnagarvey before English, Scots, and Welsh settled the site in the 1620s as part of the Plantation of Ulster scheme. The castle built there was besieged by native Irish in 1641 and destroyed by fire (together with most of the town) in 1707. French Huguenot refugees and linen workers were invited by the English government to settle in Lisburn in 1698. They quickly introduced Dutch looms and reorganized the fledgling Ulster linen industry. The town became (and continues to be) one of the United Kingdom's most important linen manufacturing centres, although linen thread is now primarily produced in combination with synthetic fibres. The village of Lambeg, 2 miles (3 km) north of Lisburn, houses a world-leading research laboratory on the uses of both natural and synthetic fibres. Other contemporary industries at Lisburn include car component and sheet metal factories. Christ Church (Anglican) Cathedral (originally built 1623) is a fine example of church architecture of the Plantation of Ulster period. Pop. (1991) 42,110.