Classes & Workshops
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Plagues & Pox: medicine and society in early modern Britain and Ireland
Starts Tuesday 23 Sept 2025
10 week course
7pm - 9pm, Queen’s University
If you've ever wondered how syphilis was treated before the discovery of antibiotics, why no one really understood what happened during pregnancy and childbirth or just how people in the past managed to survive the plague, this course explains all of these and more.
By considering how health and sickness affected the lives of those living from the sixteenth century to the turn of the nineteenth century, we will discover how physicians, patients and society in general responded to medicine. This course will consider how people understood their own bodies, how society reacted to the threats of disease and how medical knowledge evolved over time.
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Ten Radical Belfast Women
Starts Thursday 25 Sept 2025
10 week course
7pm - 9pm, Queen’s University
Belfast’s history is full of women who refused to conform to society’s expectations. This course delves into the lives of these women and how they changed the world around them. Each week will look at one remarkable woman and explore the issues she cared about. Not only will you learn more about these individual lives but you will also gain a wider understanding of life in nineteenth-century Belfast and beyond.
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Love in the time of Jane Austen
Saturday 15 Nov 2025
10am - 1pm, Queen’s University
2025 marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of Jane Austen. Her works and their adaptations give a glimpse into Regency society and the conventions of love and courtship. This half-day workshop delves into the history of love, marriage and sex in this period in England. It will place classics like Pride & Prejudice and more recent hits like Bridgerton into their historical context. Through looking at contemporary sources, the class will discover the reality of courting, elopements, seductions, marriages and even what happened “between the sheets”. We will also look at why the Austen concept of romance and marriage still endures and how her legacy continues centuries later.
Tours & Talks
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The Great Hunger in Belfast
Wednesday 18 June
7pm
ÁRAS UÍ CHONGHAILE
James Connolly Visitor Centre, Belfast
Despite the long-standing myth, Belfast was dramatically affected by An Gorta Mór, the Great Hunger. This talk uncovers how and why Belfast suffered in the late 1840s and delves into the specifics of how organisations and institutions like the hospitals and the workhouse tackled the problems facing the town.
Free tickets but booking required
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Trailblazing Women of Belfast - Walking Tour
Wednesday 16 July
7pm - 8.30pm
This is a circular tour route led by historian Dr Robyn Atcheson. This tour introduces you to some remarkable women from the 19th and 20th centuries and the ways in which they rebelled against societal norms. The route takes in their homes, their businesses, their schools and tells their stories in their terms. You'll meet women who fought for the poor and oppressed, for the rights of women, the medical pioneers & the brilliant earliest female students at Queen's.
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Pox, Plagues & Paupers: Horrible Histories of Belfast Walking Tour
Saturday 19 July 2025
1pm - 2.30pm
Come join historian Dr Robyn Atcheson for a journey through the dark and gruesome past of Belfast, beginning at Gate C, Belfast City Hospital, Donegall Road. Discover the little-known history of the Belfast workhouse and its role in shaping healthcare. Uncover the untold stories of medical care for the poorest in society, the illnesses that plagued the city and what happened to the bodies of the poor. The tour finishes at Friar's Bush graveyard with an opportunity to see one of Belfast's mass burial pits for victims of cholera and 'famine fever'.
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Book a Private / Group Tour
A range of tours can be arranged to suit small groups
Minimum group size: 2
Maximum group size 20
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Book a Talk
Book a private talk for your group by getting in touch.
Full list of available talks on request. Examples of recent talks below.
Recent events
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The Great Hunger in Belfast
Wednesday 18 June 7pm
ÁRAS UÍ CHONGHAILE
James Connolly Visitor Centre, Belfast
Despite the long-standing myth, Belfast was dramatically affected by An Gorta Mór, the Great Hunger. This talk uncovered how and why Belfast suffered in the late 1840s and showed the specifics of how organisations and institutions like the hospitals and the workhouse tackled the problems facing the town.
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Belfast Women & The War
Thursday 8 May 2025 3pm
The MAC, Belfast
This talk marked the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, honouring the often overlooked contributions of women during World War II. The experiences of women in Belfast who played pivotal roles in their community during the Belfast Blitz and beyond were shared, shedding light on their untold stories.
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Remarkable Women of Belfast
Wednesday 5th March 1pm
Belfast City Hall
To mark International Women’s Day, this talk celebrated the women who were honoured one year ago with the unveiling of their statues on the grounds of Belfast City Hall, Mary Ann McCracken and Winifred Carney.
This talk, led by Dr Lauren Smyth and myself, featured the stories of Mary Ann, Winnie and other remarkable women from Belfast’s history.
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The Great Famine in Belfast: Exceptionalism versus experience
Thursday 20 February, 1pm
Clifton House, Belfast & Online
The Great Famine, An Gorta Mór, was the watershed moment of the nineteenth century, shaping Ireland and beyond through the high death toll and mass emigration. This talk uncovers how and why Belfast suffered in the late 1840s and delves into the specifics of how institutions like the Belfast Poor House, hospitals and the workhouse worked together in an attempt to ease the problems facing the town.
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The Belfast Workhouse
Talk at Koinonia Belfast
13 February 2025
Gilnahirk Ladies’ Group
25 November 2024
This talk covers the origin and history of the Belfast workhouse and its evolution into one of the biggest hospitals in modern Northern Ireland.
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Public Health in 19th-century Ulster
Stormont Probus
11 March 2025
Carryduff Historical Society
14 October 2024
An overview of what healthcare was available for people in Ulster in the nineteenth century.
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Paupers & Public Health: Belfast Charitable Society & the sick poor
Clifton House, Belfast & online
Mon 29th April 2024
Since opening its doors 250 years ago, the Poorhouse was the first to offer free medical relief for the sick poor of Belfast. As the town grew, the role of the Belfast Charitable Society remained central to the expanding network of charities, institutions and hospitals providing different kinds of medical care. This talk explores how the Society treated the sick within its own walls and how it endeavoured to respond to various public health issues. The Society played a key role in the provision of maternity care and the establishment of a lunatic asylum as well as dealing with epidemics of infectious and venereal diseases.
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The Workhouse System in Ireland
Ballymena Family History Society - Public Talk
Thursday 25th April 2024
This talk explains the background to the workhouse system in Ireland and demonstrates what life was like in an Irish workhouse. The story of the local workhouse is also discussed.