Sir James Murray (1788–1871) was an Irish physician, who in 1809 discovered the stomach aid medication, Milk of Magnesia, that helped with digestion, heart burn and acid reflux. The Milk’s based ingredient, magnesium sulfate, had long been known for its benefits in digestion…
This weekend (13 &14th November) marked the second weekend of free walking tours that are being run as part of the Economic and Social Research Council’s Festival of Social Sciences. The Festival is an annual celebration of the social sciences (e.g. history,…
In 1752 the Belfast Charitable Society was founded by a group of mostly Presbyterian merchants and industrialists who sought to erect a Poor House and an Infirmary. Over 20 years later, land was donated by the local aristocrat Arthur Chichester, the…
I led the first tour of the Festival for Social Sciences around Belfast today. Despite the rain and cold, we did a range of sites. Thanks to Raymond O’Regan, the historian of the First Presbyterian Church for his hospitality and…
Saturday (6.11.21) marks the start of a series of walking tours as part of this year’s Festival of Social Science run by Queen University Belfast and Ulster University throughout November 2021. The Festival is run by the Economic and Social…
In Botanic Gardens, in Belfast’s Queen’s Quarter, stands the Gift of Life sculpture commemorating those who have given people a chance to live through organ donation. The candle-shaped memorial was placed in the Gardens in June 2016 and gifted to…
This display covers two important documents that underpin the eventual partition of Ireland in 1921, creating the Irish Free State, which later became the Republic of Ireland and what became Northern Ireland. The Solemn League and Covenant were signed on…
This cabinet tells the story of the 1798 United Irishmen rebellion. The United Irishmen were a group of mainly middle-class Presbyterian merchants who undertook violent revolution to establish an independent Irish republic free of British control. They took their inspiration…
The Girona was one of the 130 ships that sailed in the Spanish Armada that aimed to land a Spanish Army in England in 1588 to depose Protestant Queen Elisabeth 1 and restore England to the Catholic faith. The Armada…
This cabinet contains the Clonemore Shrine. It is the earliest example of Christian metalwork in Ireland dating from the seventh century AD and found in a field near Clonmore, County Armagh in 1990. It is a reliquary for the storage…
