Crumlin Road Gaol
HMP Belfast, also known as Crumlin Road Gaol, is a former prison situated on the Crumlin Road in north Belfast, colloquially known as the Crum.[1] It ceased to be an operational prison in 1996. It is a grade A listed…
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Belfast Waterworks
The Belfast Waterworks were established in the early 1840s by the Belfast Water Commissioners. The site supplied water to the city’s factories and residents. It became redundant after the city got new supplies from the Mourne Mountains in the late…
SS Nomadic
SS Nomadic, or Steam Ship Nomadic, was a tender to the Olympic class liners of the cruise ship operators The White Star Line. This company operated the famous Titanic along with the other ships in its class, the Britannic and…
Visit to Balance House, Antrim
Very pleasant visit to Balance House yesterday. This is the restored birthplace of John Ballance, 14th prime minster of New Zealand. He was in office between 1891 to 1893 and introduced universal suffrage for men and women. Further details are…
Jaffe Memorial
The iron fountain was a memorial to Daniel Joseph Jaffe erected by his son Offo Jaffe in 1874. Daniel Jaffe was a German industrialist who founded the linen exporters of Jaffe Brothers of Hamburg, Dundee, Belfast, Liepzig and Paris. He…
Custom House steps
The steps of the Custom House became the an unofficial ‘speakers corner’ of Belfast. They became a location where religious, political and trade union speakers would speak, preach and lecture to open air crowds.[1] The Custom House was built in…
The Jewish community in Belfast
The first Jew recorded living in Belfast was a Manuel Lightfoot, a tailor, who was resident in the city in 1652. Jewish immigration into the city started in the mid-19th century. Daniel Jaffe and his brothers were among the first…
The 1919 Belfast Engineering Strike or General Strike
This strike is often known as the ‘engineering’ strike but is better described as a ‘general strike’ as around 60,000 of the city’s workers took industrial action. It is cited by labour historian John Gray as the most ‘formidable’ strike…
Clifton Street Orange Hall
The Belfast Orange Hall in Clifton Street was opened in January 1885. The figure of King William on his horse was added to the top of the building in 1889. From the tip of King Billy’s sword to the ground…
Belfast Waterfront
The Belfast Waterfront borders the river Lagan and consists of the area north and south of the modern Lagan Weir on the County Down side. Known as Donegall Quay, this areas was dominated by docks as Belfast was a global…