Historical Belfast

Last month I was extremely privileged to join with a panel of 6 esteemed historians in a meeting with HRH The Prince of Wales in Belfast City Hall. The location was significant because almost exactly 100 years previous, King George V (Charles’ great grandfather) visited Belfast to open Northern Ireland’s first parliament in the same building. Charles was acutely aware of his great grandfather’s co...

The first in a new mini-series dedicated to the history of the Sandy Row area in South Belfast. This mini-series is brought to you in collaboration with Belfast South Community Resources and also with the support of the South Belfast Urban Village Initiative. There will be 10 episodes in total covering various themes from Sandy Row orangeism, to the formation of Linfield Football Club, the infamou...

This month’s episode of the Historical Belfast Podcast is brought to you in conjunction with the Northern Ireland War Memorial museum on Talbot Street who have kindly given me access to their oral history archive. I am also extremely grateful for the research and writing of the late historian Jonathan Bardon on this subject and, as such, this episode is dedicated to Dr Bardon. 80 years ago, in the...

One Saturday Before the Great War, thirteen players from Glentoran Football Club, industrial workers to a man, each of them living in the cramped housing of Ballymacarrett, became the unlikely heroes of a tale which is scarcely believable. Those not familiar with the story are to be forgiven for thinking that Sam Robinson, a writer and Glentoran fanatic, has let his imagination run wild during the...

When we think of Sir Winston Churchill we might think of cigars, Gallipoli, the Second World War, fighting on the beaches, and accolades such as 'Man of the Century' and the United Kingdom's greatest ever leader. More recently, Churchill's name came to the fore during the Black Lives Matters protests, accused of being a racist, while his statue in London was afforded protection...

For Episode 10 of the Historical Belfast Podcast I’ve been chatting to Professor Richard Grayson, head of history at Goldsmiths University London. Richard Grayson has many publications to his name, too many to list here certainly, but I will mention two in particular: Dublin’s Great Wars  - The First World War, the Easter Rising and the Irish Revolution , published in 2018 and one that I know list...

Tim McGarry has become a familiar face on our tv screens over the last 20 years or more. He is perhaps best-known for his role as a fictional Sinn Fein spokesman ‘Da’ in the evergreen comedy series ‘Give My Head Peace’. These days he might best be described as a comedian, actor, broadcaster, and as his Wikipedia page points out, a fan of Cliftonville Football Club… Having said all that, I haven’t...

To the sound of church bells at 9am on Sunday morning of 21st November 1920, as the IRA’s ‘Bloody Sunday’ hit squads moved towards their 15 victims, a desperate search for an East Belfast military man was underway in a remote area of County Cork.  This is the story of Captain Joseph Thompson, an Intelligence Officer for the Manchester Regiment, executed by the IRA in Ballincollig, County Cork on 2...

A couple of years back I was asked to lead some historical tours of Campbell College school in Belfast. The school, situated on the Belmont estate near Stormont was primarily a boarding school and a firm favourite of prominent families in Belfast such as Davidson of Sirocco Works, Jaffe of Strandtown, Sharman Neil the jeweller, and also of clergymen who received a discount on their fees. C.S. Lewi...

As we approach the centenary of the covert operation to bring home the body of The Unknown Warrior on behalf of the nation at the end of the First World War, new research has unearthed a fascinating story which suggests that a Belfast man was at the heart of it. In this episode, Jason Burke chats to Mark Scott who is the author of the soon-to-be published book 'Among The Kings' which tel...

On Saturday 14th September 1912, two weeks before Ulster Day and the signing of the Ulster Solemn League and Covenant, Linfield and Belfast Celtic clashed on and off the field at Celtic Park as the Home Rule crisis gathered momentum. In this episode, Jason Burke takes a closer look at what happened on that fateful day in Paradise and how it proved to be the beginning of the end for the greatest ri...

Episode 4 is on the forgotten poet and Irish rebel Joseph Campbell who penned the words to the traditional airs My Lagan Love and The Gartan Mother’s Lullaby. Not only that, Campbell was a founding member of the Ulster Literary Theatre (c.1904) and the Irish Volunteers (1913), he took part in the Easter Rising (1916), became a Sinn Fein Councillor in 1921, and was interned by pro-treaty forces dur...

In Episode 3 of the Historical Belfast Podcast, going out on 1st July, Jason Burke talks to Dr Jonathan Evershed who has spent several years researching how the Battle of the Somme is commemorated in Northern Ireland. Use discount code '14SUM20' for 40% off Jonathan's book 'Ghosts of the Somme' at the following link: https://undpress.nd.edu/9780268103859/ghosts-of-the-somm...

In Episode 2 of the Historical Belfast Podcast, Jason Burke takes a look back at the lesser-known engineering strike of 1919 which brought the city to a standstill for a period of four weeks in an attempt to secure a shorter working week. Podcast theme music via Jason Shaw at www.audionautix.com  Cover image produced using the A R Hogg Collection: PRONI Ref: LA/7/8/HF/3/9 Support the show

In Episode 1 of the Historical Belfast Podcast, Jason Burke takes a closer look at how VE Day was celebrated in Belfast in 1945. From burning effigies of Adolf Hitler, to all-night parties on the Shankill Road, the people of Belfast marked the occasion in style. This episode is intended to coincide with the 75th anniversary of VE Day. Podcast theme music via Jason Shaw at www.audionautix.com  Cove...