#Great Place North Belfast

During the month of remembrance, we return to the names on the War Memorial in the old Donegal Street Congregational Church. In the time since we last looked at soldiers memorialised on the War Organ Plaque, we have had the pleasure of welcoming family members of James Alexander Graham to the church, and we have […]

Last year we covered the lives of a number of soldiers who fought and died in the First World War. This research helped tell the stories of the families behind the names on various war memorials within our Cluster. During this research, a number of other soldiers were earmarked as potential candidates for future research. […]

History is full of surprises. The more you research somebody, the more you get a sense of their life, their character and their personality. That is, however, until a new piece of information comes from left field and somewhat rocks the perception that you have built up over the hours looking through records and newspaper […]

As you walk through the gates of Clifton Street Cemetery, you are overtaken by a sense of quiet. The old walls and leafy trees seem to deaden the din from the Westlink and the cacophony of traffic on the Antrim Road. It is a place where the weight of the history contained within the remaining […]

Come along to Clifton House to share your memories, stories, photograph’s and artifacts of North Belfast across the ages. On Sunday 1st September, the North Belfast Heritage Cluster will be hosting its first ever History Harvest as part of Heritage Day at Clifton House. We are looking forward to welcoming you to this unique, free, festival […]

Our recent focus on Medical History has raised a number of familiar names that are repeated in the annals of Belfast history: early experts and great philanthropists who really put Belfast on the map with their medical prowess and progressive scientific thinking. The likes of William Drennan, who was an early supporter of inoculation, as […]

On Friday 21st June, the North Belfast Heritage Cluster celebrated the launch of a place making project: Re-Creating a Great Place North Belfast. In preparation for this event, the team put together an introductory video of the cluster sites, featuring drone footage captured by Paul Carlin. You can see this video below:

North Belfast, with its vast, rich and diverse historic sites and buildings, is the jewel in the city’s heritage crown. Today, 14 of these historically significant buildings, and a cemetery, who represent the North Belfast Heritage Cluster, came together with invited guests and stakeholders to celebrate the launch of a place making project, Re-Creating a […]

Part 3: Murders, Media and Medicine This is the third and final piece of research looking at bodysnatching in the 19th century. So far we have examined why bodysnatching occurred and ways people tried to prevent it, and used Clifton Street Cemetery as a Case Study. In this final piece, we will look at the […]

Part 2: A Case Study: The prevention of body snatching In the New Burying Ground, Belfast. Whilst Belfast did not see bodysnatching on the same scale as places such as Edinburgh or London, it was still a constant concern throughout the early 1800’s. Many of Belfast’s largest cemeteries such as Milltown and City had not […]

Part 1: Belfast’s Grisliest Export. In this three part extended series where we tell the story of one of Britain’s most macabre illicit practices: Bodysnatching. Individuals would creep in to graveyards and cemeteries at night and dig up the recently deceased and sell them to medical professionals. This was due to a high demand for […]

While researching the work of Forster Green and his impact on healthcare in Belfast, there was mention of a hospital that I had not heard about in my time working with the North Belfast Heritage Cluster. Historic hospitals such as the General Hospital on Frederick Street and the Forster Green Hospital on Saintfield Road have […]

We begin this theme focusing on Medical History by looking at a man whose name may be familiar to many of you. Forster Green was a local tea merchant who, motivated by personal loss, donated generously to help ease the suffering of others. Many may recognise him from the hospital that still bears his name […]

Throughout this topic we have discussed the rivalry between Barre and Lanyon, the industrial specialist that was William Gilliland and the influential Thomas Jackson. Now, as we bring this research to a close, we turn to an architect who may be familiar to you due to events that occurred in the summer of 2018: William […]

The North Belfast Heritage Cluster is made up of some of the most storied and architecturally significant buildings from Georgian and Victorian Ireland. These historic buildings, along with others across Belfast were designed by some of the foremost minds of their day, with architects such as Thomas Jackson, and William Henry Lynn. They laid the […]

Over the summer of 2023, members of Clifton Street Orange Hall were hard at work sorting through a room on the top floor of the building. ‘Room 7’ as it is known, had been a storage room that had accumulated all sorts of historic artefacts, from Lodge Bibles and Minute books to old portraits and […]

The most prolific architects of the Victorian era often were the most sought-after mentors. Being apprenticed to one of these architects afforded you connections with some of the best names in the business. For the young apprentices it was an opportunity to learn from the most skilled individuals in the trade, whilst for the architects […]

As part of our continued research into the buildings that make up the North Belfast Heritage Cluster, we are looking at an architect who, not only designed many of the buildings of Belfast, but also played an important role within some of the cluster members. Thomas Jackson was a very flexible architect, capable of designing […]

Welcome to the fourth and final part of our November Remembrance series 2023. For this story, we return to Belfast to highlight the efforts of civilians on the Home Front and in particular a pioneering woman in Belfast’s rich history. In this piece we look at Blanche Hume; someone who overcame personal tragedy to become […]

The final soldier we are covering in this research piece is David James Sloan. Born 17th March 1891 to John Sloan and Isabella Hunter, the family lived in Moscow Street on the Shankill Road. Isabella would pass away from acute phthisis (tuberculosis) in 1893, with John later remarrying in 1894 to Agnes Spence . David […]