History Archives - Dead Centre Tours

The Belfast Workhouse and the Famine

Mark Wylie — Thu, 04 Jul 2024 15:09:02 +0000

A look at the history of the Belfast Workhouse and how the city was affected by the famine in 1845-46, followed by the typhus epidemic in 1847 and the cholera epidemic in 1849.

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The Belfast Suffragettes

Mark Wylie — Sun, 12 May 2024 21:02:51 +0000

Our grannies’ grannies lived in interesting times. While the main political issue in Belfast leading up to World War I was definitely Home Rule, the campaign for equal votes led some women to launch attacks on Unionist homes and public properties.

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The 1974 Ulster Worker’s Strike, Fifty Years On

Mark Wylie — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 12:38:52 +0000

There will undoubtedly be a lot written about the Ulster Workers’ strike this year, as we mark its fiftieth anniversary. I was interested in looking at it from a civilian perspective, because that’s what we do at DC Tours. Most of us were young children when it happened, and of course we felt far [...]

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Thomas Hart, a Titanic mystery

Mark Wylie — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 13:11:38 +0000

Two names on the Titanic Memorial at Belfast City Hall have asterisks against them - John Horgan and Thomas Hart. But what are the asterisks for? I did a bit of digging and here's what I found out.

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Sir Charles Brett – the man who recorded Belfast’s built heritage

Mark Wylie — Sat, 26 Aug 2023 14:22:28 +0000

If you have any interest in Belfast architecture you will have heard of Sir Charles Brett (1928-2005), whether as the author C.E.B. Brett, or Charlie Brett. He was a fascinating figure, a solicitor who was variously a politician, historian, artist, journalist, writer and conservationist.

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Frederick Douglass statue unveiled in Belfast

Mark Wylie — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 14:46:02 +0000

We have a new statue in Belfast! It stands in Lombard Street and commemorates Frederick Douglass, the American author, anti-slavery campaigner and early champion of women’s rights.

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Cleaning up Belfast’s Forgotten Memorial

Mark Wylie — Thu, 13 Jul 2023 14:45:37 +0000

The only public memorial to victims of the troubles in Belfast was defaced by graffiti last year. After six months nothing had been done to restore it, so we cleaned it up ourselves.

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Our free self guided tour of the Titanic Quarter has been updated!

Mark Wylie — Tue, 04 Jul 2023 13:20:00 +0000

We have updated our free self guided tour of the Titanic Quarter just in time for the summer holidays.

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Steering Us Through The Conflict

Paul Donnelly — Mon, 18 Jul 2022 12:38:04 +0000

Very simply being a civilian bus driver or conductor here was an incredibly dangerous job. And just being a passenger on a bus could be a very dangerous ‘activity’.

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Belfast & Branagh

Paul Donnelly — Fri, 04 Feb 2022 14:02:47 +0000

The DC Tours phone rang on Monday, and I answered professionally and courteously as usual. Nadia, a pleasant woman with a posh London accent, quickly explained that BBC Breakfast wanted to interview me as a Belfast tour guide and historian about the Kenneth Branagh film ‘Belfast’.

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