Belfast, parliamentary and municipal borough, manufacturing and seaport town, and the principal town of Ulster, chiefly in Shankill parish, county Antrim, but partly also in Holywood and Knockbreda parishes, county Down, at the influx of the Lagan to Belfast Lough, 113 miles N. of Dublin by rail, 129 from Glasgow, and 160 from Liverpool – municipal borough, 5991 acres, population 208,122. On the land side the city is bounded and sheltered by a lofty and picturesque ridge of hills, which ends abruptly in the basaltic eminence of Cave Hill (1185 ft.). It presents a clean, prosperous, and business-like appearance, and possesses wide and regular streets, elegant and substantial buildings, and beautiful environs. An insignificant vil. in 1612, when Scottish and English colonists first settled there, Belfast is now the chief seat of the trade and manufactures of Ireland, and the second port next to Dublin. Of its numerous educational institutions, the most important is Queen’s College, opened in 1849; it has professorships in arts, law, medicine, and science, including engineering and agriculture. The staple manufactures are linen and cotton; and bleaching, dyeing, and calico-printing are extensively carried on. Some of the flax-mills are very large. There are flour and oil mills; chemical works; iron foundries; breweries, distilleries; alabaster and barilla mills; shipbuilding (on Queen’s island), rope, and sailcloth yards. Pork curing is an important branch of trade. The docks and wharfage have become very extensive. Steamers sail daily to and from Liverpool, Glasgow, Fleetwood, Barrow, and Ardrossan; and once or twice a week to Dublin, Cork, Bristol, London, Havre, &c.
– John Bartholomew, Gazetteer of the British Isles (1887)
36th (Ulster) Division Memorial Association
209 Woodstock Road
Belfast BT6 8PQ
Community based organisation established to recall with dignity and pride the actions of our forefathers. Secondly we wish to educate as much as possible using the arts, publications and exhibitions.
Fernhill House: the People’s Museum
Glencairn Road, Glencairn
Belfast BT13 3PT
01232 715599
www.fernhillhouse.co.uk
Fernhill House was finished in 1864 by John Smith, the first resident and the house has little changed since than. The house is traditional in its Irish mid-Victorian appearance; it is a mixture of the Classical and Italian Renaissance architectural styles.
Linen Hall Library, The
17 Donegall Square North
Belfast BT1 5GB
028 9032 1707
The Linen Hall Library is a truly unique institution. Founded in 1788, it is the oldest library in Belfast and the last subscribing library in Ireland. It has a radical and ‘enlightenment’ foundation, and ever since has prized its independence and has maintained the principle that its resources are owned by the community for the community.
Collections: Library holdings range from its comprehensive collection of early Belfast and Ulster printed books to the 250,000 items in the Northern Ireland Political Collection, the definitive archive of the recent troubles.
Police Museum
Police Service of Northern Ireland Headquarters, Brooklyn, Knock Road
Belfast BT5 6LE
0845 600 8000 ext. 22499
The police museum was set up in the 1980s to explain and illustrate Northern Ireland’s unique and often contentious policing history. Our collection includes police uniforms, equipment, medals and archives from the early 1800s to the present day and also weapons used against the police over the years. The police museum is located in a former sergeant’s married quarters at Police Headquarters, Brooklyn.
Royal Ulster Rifles Museum
5 Waring Street
Belfast BT1 2EW
028 9023 2086
The museum houses an extensive collection of uniforms, badges, medals and regimental memorabilia covering the history of the regiment and the campaigns in which it has fought since its formation in 1793.
Schomberg House Cultural Heritage Centre
368 Cregagh Road
Belfast BT6 9YE
028 9070 1122
Schomberg House welcomes organised parties for tours and talks. You can also view the many interesting artefacts, some dating back to the 1690s and also access a unique documentary resource in our library. The heritage centre tells the story of Orangeism and its role in society not only in Northern Ireland but across the world and has on display artefacts from the Williamite period together with such diverse items as the ceremonial robe of the famous ‘Grand Old Duke of York’ of nursery rhyme fame and stone carvings by Native American members of the Orange Order in Canada.
Sentry Hill Historic House & Visitor Centre
Sentry Hill, 40 Ballycraigy Road
Newtownabbey BT36 8SX
028 9083 2363
Sentry Hill is a 19th century farmhouse in the Parish of Carnmoney, County Antrim. The house and its contents provide a rare insight into life in rural Ulster during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Sentry Hill was the home of the McKinney family, who came to Ireland from Scotland in the early 1700s.
Titanic Belfast
1 Olympic Way, Queen’s Road, Titanic Quarter
Belfast BT3 9EP
028 9076 6386
Titanic Belfast extends over nine galleries, with multiple dimensions to the exhibition, drawing together special effects, the Shipyard Ride, full-scale reconstructions and innovative interactive features to explore the Titanic story in a modern and insightful way. Explore the shipyard, travel to the depths of the ocean and uncover the true legend of Titanic, in the city where it all began.
Ulster Museum
Botanic Gardens
Belfast BT9 5AB
0845 608 0000
Northern Ireland’s treasure house of the past and present. Take 8,000 square metres of galleries, add rich collections of art, archaeology, local history and natural sciences, mix them with a constantly changing programme of temporary exhibitions and events, and you have all the ingredients for a fascinating voyage of discovery. From ancient Ireland to the South Pacific, from masterpieces of modern art to rare flowers, the museum is a window to the north of Ireland and a window on the world.