List of museums in Northern Ireland explained

This list of museums in Northern Ireland contains museums which are defined for this context as institutions (including nonprofit organizations, government entities, and private businesses) that collect and care for objects of cultural, artistic, scientific, or historical interest and make their collections or related exhibits available for public viewing. Also included are non-profit art galleries, university art galleries and interpretive centres linked to sites of interest. Museums that exist only in cyberspace (i.e., virtual museums) are not included. Many other small historical displays are located in the country's stately homes, including those run by the National Trust.

NameImageTown/CityCountyTypeSummary
Belfast City
Contemporary photography
Victorian-era prison under restoration as a museum
website, contemporary art
Contemporary art
History and artefacts of the Provisional Irish Republican Army
Exhibits of art, history and culture from its collections
Known as the MAC: Art centre and performance venue in the Cathedral quarter of Belfast; opened in 2012, the building has received several architectural awards
Contemporary art, part of Queen's University Belfast
Commemorates the fallen of World War I and World War II, life during the 1941 Belfast Blitz
Contemporary art
Photography gallery, also known as RBG Belfast
Regimental uniforms, badges, medals, memorabilia
website, Edwardian-era pump house & dry-dock with exhibits on shipbuilding in Belfast, Harland & Wolff, launch of the RMS Titanic
a visitor attraction and monument to Belfast's maritime heritage; it tells the stories of the ill-fated Titanic and her sister ships.
Fine art, decorative arts, natural history, archaeology, Ancient Egypt, world cultures, geology, history
website, science-based exhibits with an emphasis on ""play""
County Antrim
Open by appointment, restored 18th-century home of President Andrew Jackson's parents.
Restored late-18th-century-period ancestral home of Chester A. Arthur, the 21st President of the United States
website, birthplace of John Ballance, Premier of New Zealand from 1891–1893
website, NIarchive local history, culture
NIarchive, local history, culture, art, motorcycling - Joey Dunlop and the Armoy Armada
website, history, arts and culture, includes the Mid-Antrim Museum and Braid Arts Centre
website, information, open by appointment, farm artefacts
Operated by the NIEA, Norman castle with military uses until the 1920s, exhibits about it history and use
website, local history, art, archaeology
information, 1920s period school, structure designed by Clough Williams-Ellis
Operated by the NIEA, marine and natural history, environment and local history
website, restored coal gasworks and appliances
Operated by the National Trust, new visitor centre to open in 2011 with exhibits about the geology and natural history of the basalt columns and coast and also has a railway
website, Irish linen industry and city history and culture
Local history, culture, art
website, operated by the National Trust, historic spade mill
Heritage railway and museum at the Whitehead Excursion Station
information, documents island life and the history & geography of the island
website, 19th-century farmhouse: Victorian costume and artefacts
website, open for groups by pre-arrangement, aircraft and articles relating to Northern Ireland's aviation heritage, located in a hangar of RAF Long Kesh
website, restored house dating back to the 16th century
County Armagh
website, operated by the National Trust, 17th-century farmhouse with 18th-century interior, working farmyard with animals
website, operated by the National Trust, early-19th-century Irish gentry house with late-19th-century interior
Local history, natural history, culture, archaeology, costumes
Constructed in 1780 and closed in 1986; due to be refurbished as an hotel; public tours available
Collection of large telescopes used for observations since the 18th century; other astronomical instruments and artefacts
Planetarium and science museum featuring physics, space and astronomical exhibits inside the museum and on the grounds
website, local history, agriculture, linen industry, culture
website, website, 18th-century thatched cottage, home of Dan Winter, one of the founders of the Orange Order
Operated by the National Trust, late-18th-century thatched house
website, local history, culture, linen industry, singer Tommy Makem
website, website, natural history and environment of Lough Neagh and the Oxford Island National Nature Reserve
website
information, lockkeeper's cottage for the Newry Canal
website, history of the home of William McCrum, wealthy Irish linen manufacturer and sportsman, includes family costumes, furniture and silver
website, arts centre with two galleries
information, traditional two-roomed thatched farm house and out buildings
website, located in Bagenal's Castle, local history, trades, fishing, industry, culture
Includes Iron Age circular earthwork, replica Iron Age dwelling, exhibits and living history interpretations
website, Cold War-era monitoring bunker, open on select days
website, life and artefacts of Tomás Ó Fiaich, Archbishop of Armagh and the Primate of All Ireland from 1978 until his death
Regimental artefacts and memorabilia
website, exhibits about Armagh's historic pagan monuments and history, St Patrick and the Book of Armagh, and author Jonathan Swift’s book Gulliver’s Travels and the fictional nation of Lilliput.
website, heritage animal breeds, farm tools and equipment
County Down
Restored windmill and miller's house, operated by the NIEA
website, planned museum of local history and culture
information, exhibits about Patrick Brontë, the father of the Brontë sisters (Charlotte, Emily and Anne), who taught in the church and school
information, local history, culture
Operated by the National Trust, 18th-century eccentric house with two distinctly different styles, classical and Gothic
website, information, 1910 period typical fisherman's dwelling
website, located in an 18th-century gaol, local history, culture
Heritage railway and museum
website, information, works of surrealist sculptor F. E. McWilliam
website, located in Crawfordsburn Country Park, one of a pair of artillery batteries guarding Belfast Lough during both 20th-century World Wars; its twin is near the Salt Mines at Kilroot
Medieval tower-house castle
Operated by the National Trust
Operated by the NIEA, ruins of medieval monastery and visitor centre museum with exhibits
website, information, local history, culture
Displays on the life and story of Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland
information, local history, Newry Canal and the linen industry
Ireland's military history in World War I
Open air village with crafts demonstrations from the early 20th century
Transport Museum with horse-drawn carriages, electric trams, motorbikes, fire engines and vintage cars, permanent RMS Titanic exhibit
County Fermanagh
Belleek fine porcelain pieces
Country park with museum about the role of RAF Castle Archdale and coastal command based at Castle Archdale during World War II
Operated by the National Trust, late-18th-century mansion and estate
County history, culture and natural history; the Maguire family
Regimental history and artefacts of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards
Operated by the National Trust, 18th-century mansion and estate
website, includes reconstructed railway booking office and railroad memorabilia of the Great Northern Railway (Ireland), the Sligo, Leitrim and Northern Counties Railway and the Clogher Valley Railway
website, Irish lace dating from 1890–1920
County Londonderry
website, located in Ballyarnett Country Park, open by appointment, local aviation history and story of local landing of Amelia Earhart
History of the organization, story of the Siege of Derry and the Relief of Derry
Biographical, History, Localwebsite, operated by the NIEA, 17th-century fortified house and bawn with exhibits on local and natural history, the history of the Ulster Plantation and the poetry of Seamus Heaney
website, NIarchive changing exhibits of local history, culture
website, includes exhibits of visual art and crafts
website
website, rural and domestic life in the 19th & early 20th centuries
NIarchive Local history, linen and agricultural industry, rural life
website, city's maritime history
Operated by the National Trust, 17th-century thatched cottage
1960s civil rights campaign and the Free Derry/early Troubles period of the early 1970s
Multimedia arts centre for music, film, video, animation and interactive multimedia
website, operated by the Loughs Agency, natural history and ecology of the River Foyle and Carlingford Lough waterways
Operated by the National Trust, 17th-century plantation home, features costume collection
City's history, culture
website, historic workhouse, used for changing exhibits of city history and culture
County Tyrone
website, classic cars, World War II military memorabilia
website, theatre venue hosting an auditorium, art gallery and tourist information centre
information, ancestral homestead of Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th President of the United States on his mother's side
website, operated by the National Trust, 18th-century print shop in which John Dunlap learned the printing trade
website NIarchive multi-media exhibition narrating the Hill’s importance in Irish and European history, its links to the O’Neills and the subsequent Flight of the Earls and Plantation of Ulster. Also arts and performance space
Currently under restoration
information, history of sports marketer Patrick Nally, the Carrickmore GAA club and local history
Arts centre with gallery
Open-air museum; Irish rural life, lifestyle and experiences of those immigrants who sailed from Ulster to America in the 18th and 19th centuries
website, operated by the National Trust, working water-powered mill used in the processing of flax to make linen thread
information, 18th-century home of James Wilson, grandfather of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson

Defunct museums

References

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Palace Stables and Palace Demesne. https://web.archive.org/web/20120307125111/http://www.armagh.co.uk/Visitor-Information/Attractions/Place-Stables-Heritage-and-Palace-Demesne.aspx. 2012-03-07.