Miss Isabella “Ella” Barbour Pirrie (1857-1929) was a pioneering nurse in Belfast. She was the first nurse at the Belfast Union Workhouse Infirmary and founded its nursing school. Later, she became the first matron of the Deaconess Hospital in Edinburgh.…
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The park’s main attraction is the Belfast Wheel, a unique bronze map of the city donated by the New Belfast Community Arts Initiative. The wheel is divided into 12 segments, each featuring a design from different community groups, representing their…
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The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, known as the ‘new Poor Law’, reformed the system of support for the poor in August 1834. The Act grouped local parishes into Poor Law unions, managed by over 600 locally elected Boards…
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The Moravian Church on University Road was purpose-built for a Moravian congregation in 1871, designed in the Gothic style. The Moravian Church is one of the oldest Protestant denominations, tracing its origins back to the Bohemian Reformation in the 15th…
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I’m running two courses as part of the QUB Open Learning programme for 2025 In the Autum I’m looking at the social history of Belfast in the 19th century and in the Spring of 2026 I explore Belfast’s slavery past.…
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