The Ormeau Avenue Public Baths date from the late 1880s. They were designed by Robert Watt and contained two swimming pools and 36 private baths. For local people, they were an important as many working class houses lacked running water…
Miss Isabella “Ella” Barbour Pirrie was the first nurse in the Belfast Union Workhouse Infirmary, now the Belfast City Hospital, and established a nursing school there. She was born in 1857 and her father was a doctor at both Belfast City Hospital…
Delighted to announce my Exploring the Queen’s Quarter Walking Tour in south Belfast on 19 February 2022. This free walking tour introduces people to the sites, open spaces, built heritage and history of the Queen’s Quarter, centred around Queen’s University…
Campbell College in East Belfast is best known today as an all-boys grammar school but during the Second World War it was a military hospital that treated injured and sick British servicemen. Campbell College had opened in 1894 as an…
The book Sir Crawford McCullagh, Belfast’s Dick Whittington, is a biography of The Rt Hon Sir Crawford McCullagh, 1st Baronet (1868-1948) who was a draper, unionist councillor on Belfast City Council and held the position of Lord Mayor for a record 17…
Dr William Drennan was born in the manse of First Presbyterian Church, Rosemary Street, Belfast, in May 1754 where his father was minister. William then studied medicine in Glasgow and Edinburgh and briefly practised as a gynaecologist. He is credited…
Brian Griffin’s book the Bulkies is a social history of the Belfast city constabulary that operated as a municipal police force from 1800 to 1865. It focuses on the policeman as a ‘working man’, explores the crimes he had to…
Located on Great Victoria Street, near Shaftsbury Square, this building was originally constructed as the Belfast Ophthalmic Institution in the 1860s. The building was designed in the gothic style by architect William Joseph Barre for Lady Johnson, in memory of her…
Brian M. Walker’s book is an excellent chronological institutional history of St George’s church located on High Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland. It was written to mark the church’s 200th anniversary in 2016. The book starts by considering the previous structures…
The aerodrome was located in the south of the city off the Malone Road on the site now occupied by the Taughsmonagh housing estate. The land for the site was purchased by the council in the early 1920s and flights…
