By the late 19th century, Belfast had developed into one of the great industrial cities of the Empire. Much of this new-found wealth was based on the manufacture of linen. The opulent lifestyle that came to be so characteristic of the great linen barons is reflected perhaps best of all in the houses they built. Many travelled from their imposing mansions in the Lagan Valley into the city on the new Great Northern Railway. Others lived in equally resplendent houses near the linen works they had already established on the River Lagan. This book provides an illustrated and informed commentary on the major linen families and the magnificent houses they built along the Lagan Valley. The images-exterior views of the actual houses, interior scenes of the stately rooms and portraits of the families themselves-present tantalising and poignant glimpses of a bygone age, when Belfast was justifiable know as "Linenopolis."