Back from the brink

Christopher Stocks applauds a remarkable renaissance

BELFAST may have, for many, melancholy associations with RMS Titanic and The Troubles, but for much of its modern history it was a money-making town. In the 19th century, it was the centre of global linen production and had the biggest shipyard in the world, Harland and Wolff, employing 35,000 men. Large fortunes were created and its captains of industry built fine houses for themselves. As were many of the city’s most successful businessmen, James Combe was a Scot, who moved to Belfast in 1845 and opened a foundry off the Falls Road, making equipment for the rapidly expanding railways and inventing a flax-carding machine.

By 1866, he was rich