‘1798- A Belfast Rebellion’ City Centre Walking Tour

The tour tells the story of the origins and formation of the United Irishmen in Belfast, through to the doomed 1798 Rebellion. They will lead you through the important sites that remain today and introduce you to those who fanned the flames of Rebellion.

The tour starts and finishes at the front gates of City Hall. They use their Vox headsets, so you won’t miss out on anything, and the route is less than two miles and completely flat.

You will learn what life was like for the Presbyterians of early Belfast, who were successful merchants and yet excluded from political influence. Come and learn how these enlightened sparks lit a flame that set Ireland on fire.

From the City Hall, they will take you back in time over two hundred years to imagine a Belfast that was beginning to expand through its shipping trade with the outside world.

Linen, cotton, shipbuilding and ropeworks were in their infancy and Belfast citizens were attracted by the exotic imports of tobacco, rum, sugar, wine and port. The citizens of the town began to improve their living conditions by putting their money and energies into the formation of commercial and cultural associations that would give Belfast every advantage.

The Society for Promoting Knowledge (later to become the Linen Hall Library) was one such cultural step forward in the form of a lending library. Former soldier, leading United Irishman and librarian, Thomas Russell, was arrested on their premises in 1796 in an effort to prevent the Rebellion.

You will visit St Mary’s Church, Belfast’s first Roman Catholic Church. It opened in May 1784, accompanied by a guard of honour from the mainly Presbyterian Belfast Volunteers.

From there, it’s only a short distance to Rosemary Street where there used to be three large Presbyterian Meeting Houses, as well as the family home of the McCracken family. You will understand how the Presbyterian beliefs and democratic church structures contributed to their ability to reach out and support their Roman Catholic fellow citizens.

Just a little further are the Exchange and Assembly Rooms, where important town meetings were held – few more important than the court martial of Henry Joy McCracken, following the failure of the Battle of Antrim. Having been found guilty, he would be hung later the same day and you will explore the site of this grisly event in High Street.

Other highlights include the Muddlers Club, St George’s Church and Joy’s Entry, an experience that will make it easier to imagine a busy and charged atmosphere of a bustling Georgian town.

You will return to City Hall and consider the impact that the Rebellion had on Irish History and its context in the most recent “Troubles”. You will learn how it became a story which was misremembered and shunned, almost with a sense of shame.

Yet it offered hope for a future of equality, liberty and fraternity well ahead of our current expectations of fairness and Human Rights, now incorporated in the Good Friday Agreement.

Highlights include:

• Go back in time over two hundred years to imagine Belfast in Georgian times and discover hidden remnants.
• See the Linen Hall Library, where leading United Irishman Thomas Russell was arrested in 1796.
• Visit St Mary’s Church, Belfast’s first Roman Catholic Church, which opened in May 1784.
• See Rosemary Street, where the family home of the McCracken family once stood.
• View the Exchange and Assembly Rooms, where Henry Joy McCracken was court martialed.
• Visit the site on High Street where McCracken was hanged on the same day he was found guilty.

See the sights of Georgian Belfast

The Georgian architecture and history of Belfast is not so well known, but there’s a wealth of hidden gems to be discovered, along with the story of the United Irishmen and the doomed rebellion of 1798. Come with us and find out more about this fascinating period in Belfast’s history.

Find out more>>