Using new archival sources and information from some of the relatives of these forgotten activists, in her new book Rebel Women, Margaret Ward gives us a compelling account of the courageous contributions of over fifty women who were members of Cumann na mBan, or who were attached to the IRA between 1914 and 1924 in County Antrim. The book focuses on members of the Belfast branches and of branches in the isolated communities of the Glens of Antrim. Throughout this period of conflict and partition, women played an essential role in the republican movement. Not only did they organise arms dumps, shelter men on the run, hide money and documents, provide weaponry for operations, care for the wounded and organise effective communication systems, they also paid the price in terms of raids and imprisonment.

Welcome to Episode 43 of the Historical Belfast Podcast where it is 5 years (almost to the day) since Episode 1, way back in April 2020. In this new Episode I am joined by Dr Margaret Ward to discuss matters arising from her new book. I was really delighted to get Margaret onto the podcast and I began by asking her to give me a sense of Cumann na mBan particularly in Belfast and what set them apart from the rest of the island.

Rebel Women available from Beyond The Pale at the following link: Rebel Women: Cumann na mBan in Belfast and the Glens of Antrim — beyond the pale books – books on Irish society and politics

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Did you know that at Carlisle Circus in North Belfast sits a former church building which is on a World Monuments watch list that once featured other iconic sites such as the Great Wall of China and the Taj Mahal?

Well, it’s true. Carlisle Memorial Methodist Church serves as a sober reminder of the Belfast’s architectural legacy and its troubled past. Designed in the Gothic Revival style by noted architect WH Lynn and completed in 1875, the church was home to one of the largest Methodist congregations in Belfast. The sandstone and limestone exterior of the building was renovated in 1966, but the church ceased to be used as a place of worship by 1980, a consequence of the declining congregation and its location at a major interface between Catholic and Protestant populations.

At the heart of one of the most troubled parts of Belfast, the congregation shrank rapidly during the late 1960s and 1970s. The church trustees sold the adjacent Church Halls in the late 1970s and finally closed the church in the 1980s.
Since then, Carlisle Memorial has been subject to both renovation and rejuvenation from Belfast Buildings Trust and I was delighted when they reached out to me with the idea of creating an episode together for the Historical Belfast Podcast. The Trust introduced me to Emily Brando from Germany who has been carrying out extensive research on the history of the church, and I began by asking her to explain how exactly she came to be involved in researching a church building in Belfast…

So, having heard from Emily about the remarkable backstory of Carlisle Memorial Church I decided to pay the building a visit for myself to find out what’s going on there at present, but also what the future holds for the site. I was met there by Cara Jones who is the Project and Engagement Officer for the Belfast Buildings Trust and I began by asking her to give me sense of the baron years at Carlisle Memorial since the 1980s…

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On the outskirts of East Belfast is a house that might be considered as one of the most important houses in modern Irish history; Craigavon House.
Built for James Craig senior in 1870 to the designs of the Waterford-born architect Thomas Jackson it was once a glorious mansion but now sits in a state of semi-dereliction off the Holywood Road.

For me, Craigavon House evokes the imagery of the Home Rule crisis in Ulster, whether that be the unveiling of Edward Carson as the leader of Unionism in September 1911 on the lawns outside, or whether that be the footage of Carson reading the text of the Ulster Solemn League & Covenant from the steps outside to assembled journalists in September 1912, or indeed the audacious gunrunning operation by the Ulster Volunteers in April 1914 which was planned and executed from the Billiard Room of this house. This place acted as a nerve-centre for Unionist’s resistance to home rule in Ireland.

However, its history goes back much further than 1911 and I’m very grateful to have been shown around this wonderful house by Carol Walker – Director of the Somme Association – and I began by asking her about the origins of the house…

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