Classes & Workshops
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Saint, Sinner, Mother, Witch; Exploring Female Archetypes Through History
5 Week Course
Starting Wednesday 15th April
7 - 9pm
Templemore Baths
£50
Each week of this course will take a different female archetype and break down what each role really meant throughout the centuries with stories about a range of women throughout history.
Participants will receive a primary sourcebook full of the words of women from centuries ago which will help shape each week's discussion. No prior knowledge is necessary.
This course is not just about learning something new from an expert in women's history but also about connecting with women in the past, sharing stories and chat with each other and uncovering the hidden history of women all around us.
Tea & coffee provided.
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The Belfast Workhouse in the Nineteenth Century
5 Week Course
Starting Tuesday 5th May
7 - 9pm
Queen’s University
£50
This course covers the history of one of Belfast’s most important institutions and the most feared destination for the working classes - the workhouse. We will track the introduction of the workhouse and its story over the nineteenth century, looking at the people who lived and worked there as well as scandals from within the walls. The role of the workhouse in providing healthcare will be studied, bringing its history into the twentieth century and its transfer to the new National Health Service. We will also look at why the history of the workhouse is experiencing a revival and what new developments are unfolding.
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Even More Horrible Histories for Grown Ups
5 Week Course
Starting Thursday 7th May
7 - 9pm
Queen’s University
£50
This brand new course brings even more history you didn’t learn in school. Each week’s class will be on a different theme, showcasing a broad range of topics from true crime cases in Victorian society to looking at supernatural beliefs in modern British and Irish history. We will also explore some of history’s most disgusting and scandalous occupations and what previous generations loved and loathed to consume. Using real contemporary sources, we will unpick what life was really like - warts and all.
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Something Old, Something New - A Social History of Weddings and Marriage
Saturday 9th May
10am to 1pm
Queen’s University
£25
Where do wedding traditions come from? How important are royal weddings when it comes to trend setting? Where did brides get something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue?
This workshop takes you through a brief history of weddings and marriage from the Tudors right through to today. It will look at wedding traditions through the centuries and give examples of famous marriages in British and Irish history - the good, the bad and the shocking. Using contemporary sources from all walks of life, this class will lift the veil on how modern weddings and marriages came to be.
Tours & Talks
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Famine & Fever in Friar's Bush Graveyard
Saturday 11th April 2026
2pm
£15 (booking essential)
A special tour of Friar’s Bush graveyard focused on the 19th Century.
The story of Friar's Bush is the story of Belfast. We begin with haphazard burials at a tiny religious settlement beyond the small town of Belfast and progress to an organised,19th-century graveyard.
You’ll learn about the struggles the people of Belfast had with disease, epidemics, bodysnatching and the effects of the Famine.
This is a small group tour, limited to 20 people and taken at a sedate pace. There will be an opportunity at the end to roam, explore and take pictures.
Suitable for all ages, but parental discretion advised.
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Finding Jane: Fallen Women in Victorian Belfast
Imagine! Festival of Ideas & Politics
Saturday 28th March
10am - 12noon
Lecture Theatre 2, QUB Medical Biology Centre, Lisburn Road
£12
This talk tracks one woman in 19th-century Belfast, the “notorious Jane McCance”. Historian Dr Robyn Atcheson takes us through the little glimpses into Jane’s life from the local press. Was Jane a criminal, a drunk, an abandoned wife, a con artist, a sex worker, or all of the above?
In recreating Jane’s life in Belfast, we will see the ways in which women were treated when they didn’t live up to society’s expectations. Jane’s story will lead to a discussion of the expectations and rules put upon women and the ways in which the Victorians sought to rescue women who had fallen. You’ll also get a peek behind the curtain into a historical investigation, following the process of reclaiming stories like Jane’s which were not championed and are usually missing from the historical narrative.
After the talk there will be time for discussion, using primary sources as a guide.
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Trailblazing Women of Belfast walking tour
Saturday 11th April 2026
11am
Starting at Queen’s University Belfast
£15
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
Saturday 25th April 2026
1pm
Starting from Belfast City Hospital
£15
Pox, plagues, cholera – all just part of life for people in 19th-century Belfast. How did they cope with the constant outbreaks of disease? How did doctors treat the sick? Where did all the dead bodies go? This tour introduces you to the stories of the poor of Belfast and their experiences of health and sickness as well as their fears of the workhouse, hospitals and the dreaded body-snatchers.
Led by historian Dr Robyn Atcheson, this tour will open your eyes (and other senses) to what life was really like for ordinary people in 19th-century Belfast.
Book early as these tours sell out quick!
suitable for children 11+
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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 Private Talk
Get in touch to book a private talk for your group.
Full list of available talks on request.
Examples of recent talks in the Recent Events section below.
Recent events
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Belfast's Remarkable Women
Thursday 12th March 2026, 1pm
Clifton House & Zoom
To mark International Women’s Day, join Dr Lauren Smyth, Clifton House Historian, and Dr Robyn Atcheson, renowned social historian, as they tell you stories of Belfast’s Remarkable Women.
Hear stories of the women who called the Belfast Poor House their home such as Nancy Rice – a young girl helped by Mary Ann McCracken to become an infant schoolteacher. Learn more about Martha McTier as she championed to improve female education and health as well as being a political confident of her brother the United Irishman, William Drennan. Hear about medical pioneer and suffragette Dr Elizabeth Gould Bell and a woman who championed the welfare of working-class women in the 20th century, Saidie Patterson. All these women pushed barriers in different ways, engaging with politics and Belfast society at a time when their voices were being deliberately silenced.
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Call the Midwife! A Brief History of Pregnancy & Childbirth
Monday 16th February, 7pm
Great Hall, Queen’s University Belfast
How did you know you were pregnant before the invention of pregnancy tests? How could you avoid getting pregnant? Who did you call when it was time to give birth? Why were Caesareans so deadly?
Social historian Dr Robyn Atcheson has pondered the ways in which pregnancy and childbirth have changed over the centuries and has picked up a few real medical instruments along the way.
Join her for a fascinating deep dive into the history of pregnancy & childbirth & a chance to see some of the (often terrifying) authentic tools of the trade.
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The Night of the Big Wind
Saturday 11 January 2026, 11am
Holywood Library
Long before Éowyn and Ophelia caused havoc and tragedy across the island of Ireland, there was one storm so catastrophic people could barely call it by its name.
For this special event, historian Dr Robyn Atcheson will bring to life the circumstances of Ireland's only hurricane, the damage it caused and the unbelievable legacy it left across the country and closer to home.
Was it the devil or the fairy folk who caused this apocalyptic event? What does the science say?
And why did stories of the 'Night of the Big Wind' become so important in the 20th century?
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"Something Wicked This Way Comes": Witches in Irish History
Saturday 25 October 2025, 11am
Templemore Baths, Belfast
Get into the Halloween spirit with this entertaining look back at witches in Irish history. Historian Dr Robyn Atcheson will take you on a journey from medieval murderesses and agricultural hijinks right up to Ireland's last witch trial. We will look at what people believed, how to identify a witch and the influence of the European witch-hunting craze.
Due to content, this talk is suitable for adults and secondary school-age children.
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EHOD Lecture - The Workhouses of Ulster
Friday 12 Sept 2025, 1pm
PRONI
As part of European Heritage Open Days, this free talk explored the workhouses of Ulster from their introduction in the nineteenth century to today.
It explained how workhouses were chosen as the means of relieving Irish poverty, how they differed from their English counterparts and how they were designed to reflect the strict and regimented life within.
By using examples from across Ulster, this talk looked at how many workhouses survive and why before a discussion of how to appropriately commemorate this dark piece of our shared heritage.
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Friar's Bush Graveyard Tours
Friar's Bush graveyard tour
Friday 22 August 2025, 11am - 12.30pm
Dr Robyn Atcheson leads this special tour of Friar’s Bush graveyard through it’s incredible long history. From an unknown religious settlement beyond the small town of Belfast to a modern 19th-century graveyard struggling with the mortality rates of the booming industrial centre. This tour takes you through the history of the graveyard, introduces some key individuals buried there and tells the story of the city of Belfast. As this tour is led by Robyn, her special interests will also be covered - bodysnatching, the Famine and some horrible historic diseases.
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The Workhouse System in Ireland
Thursday 7 August 2025 7pm
Down County Museum, Downpatrick
This free talk provided historical context for the current Downpatrick Workhouse exhibition in Down County Museum. It explained how and why workhouses were introduced to Ireland, what life was like in the workhouse and how the system faced the crisis of the Great Famine in the late 1840s.
A version of this talk was presented at Ballymena Family History Society in April 2024.
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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.