Certainly a developer, but not quite the inventor, Greg. Watt's contribution to progress was the separate condenser. By cooling the used steam outside the main cylinder he quadrupled power output. He also developed a rotary engine so that power output could be harnessed to drive (for instance) linear motion as well as to pump out coal mines.

If you're ever in the north Greg (I recall you were in Cork recently), the story of Belfast linen is encapsulated in a splendid museum at Lisburn, about ten miles along the A1 from Belfast. Well worth a visit. I don't remember seeing anything that might remotely have been applied to uilleann pipes manufacture, but I will be honest and say that such potential connections were far from my mind at the time. I have read a fair amount of Belfast history and spent many an hour in the city's magnificent treasure, the Linenhall Library, but I've never seen any suggestion that Belfast had any significant role in the development of uilleann pipes.

Where there certainly is a direct connection between a local traditional industry and the pipes is in Sheffield, the home of steel, precision engineering and cutlery. There is a pipemaker there, Brian Howard, who learnt his engineering skills with local tool-makers and who makes full use of many workshops around him that have lingered on.

I know, and he is the first to admit, that his reputation is not great with some of the Milltown Malbay afficionados. He can certaily put backs up, but part of the problem is the conservatism that objects when people put 12 volt electrics on Vincent motorbikes so so they can see where they're going. It can't be denied that some of the innovative Howard "patches and upgrades" for the pipes, derived directly from engineering-shop principles, actually do work, and render the things more dependable.

Article about Brian Howard's uilleann pipes and local engineering influences.

If anyone's interested and happens to be round my way, Papplewick pumping station, about five miles north of Nottingham, boasts two James Watt beam engines - almost certainly the last two to be built - which are under steam most weekends. These would be a bit bigger than the uillean pipes on which Watt cut his teeth.