Well, from the moment I had a PM confirming tickets were booked to Belfast I was sure of an epic trip. Shipbuilding was my primary aim, but a report from the amazing Crumlin Road Courthouse had made the timing for the trip just right.
Arrived in Liverpool with a few hours to kill. Did some good explores and came so so close to cracking something new and epic. I'll be back to crack that one another day...
The Harland and Wolff building on Liverpool docks reminded me of the direction we would soon be heading.
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Arrived in Belfast and headed straight for the docks. Samson and Goliath were on an amazing scale and it was great to see them in the flesh. We asked at the gate if we could go and stand in the dock... "NO" of course. As it turned out asking there was an error...
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We continued to walk along the "titanic quater" to the old paint hall. Suddnly a blue BMW comes to a sudden halt just in front of us. We decide to leave the paint hall and keep walking. The driver was just staring at us, and making no secret of it! Every time we overtook him he would drive another 20 yards down the road and just stop again. Needless to say I was on edge, so we decided to leave the docks for a while
Subway and a long walk and were stuck for things to do! We had come to see the docks and it would seem we were no longer welcome there! We walked for a while to a derelict mill engine house which looked fab but it was sealed, and on our walk back we decided to spend more time around the docks.
After tea and a few beers we discussed sleeping arrangements. Where do two shipbuilding enthusiasts spend there night in shipbuilding country?
here...
:
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The barrel roll to the dock where many many great ships were built. It is cool that the titanic was built here but for some reason it's long history is just forgotten by the people who run it in favour of one ship that was afloat for just 15 days...! Needless to say we got a crap nights sleep and justb a donkey jacket did not really cut the mustard with the cold!
Our roommate
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When we awoke we were freezing. I was trying to take pics in the dock but I was dithering to much! The walk into town walmed us up and so it was on to Crumlin Street courthouse.
This was even better than I thought it would be, just an epic location to explore, and with such a colourful history. I could not believe so much graffiti survives in the cells from the troubles and we spent a good hour just photographing that.
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We then took in some murals
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Then off to the pub. Over a guinness we were talking about waht to do with the remainder of our time. I'm sure your not suprised to hear we were back off to shipbuilding terratory and that horribly branded "titanic quarter". You see there was one building I had never seen photos from... Harland and Wolff's drawing office, half disused and half converted for the quarter's office.
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It became obvious that just going in and asking to have a mooch was uselss. This needed work, and embelishment when we pleaded our case. It would take me half a hour to write the spiel I reeled off to the typical "head of estates" woman but I soon changed a flat "NO" in to a "shig, you have 10 miniutes"...RESULT
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So there you have it... all fun and games! My feet hurt SO much and we were exhausted so we headed to the airport early for a kip. I feel that we saw most of the tiny portion of what was left of Belfast's shipbuilding industry, but as with all my industrial passions, we are 10 years to late.
Arrived in Liverpool with a few hours to kill. Did some good explores and came so so close to cracking something new and epic. I'll be back to crack that one another day...
The Harland and Wolff building on Liverpool docks reminded me of the direction we would soon be heading.
View attachment 108124
View attachment 108125
Arrived in Belfast and headed straight for the docks. Samson and Goliath were on an amazing scale and it was great to see them in the flesh. We asked at the gate if we could go and stand in the dock... "NO" of course. As it turned out asking there was an error...
View attachment 108126
View attachment 108127
View attachment 108128
We continued to walk along the "titanic quater" to the old paint hall. Suddnly a blue BMW comes to a sudden halt just in front of us. We decide to leave the paint hall and keep walking. The driver was just staring at us, and making no secret of it! Every time we overtook him he would drive another 20 yards down the road and just stop again. Needless to say I was on edge, so we decided to leave the docks for a while
Subway and a long walk and were stuck for things to do! We had come to see the docks and it would seem we were no longer welcome there! We walked for a while to a derelict mill engine house which looked fab but it was sealed, and on our walk back we decided to spend more time around the docks.
After tea and a few beers we discussed sleeping arrangements. Where do two shipbuilding enthusiasts spend there night in shipbuilding country?
here...
:View attachment 108129
The barrel roll to the dock where many many great ships were built. It is cool that the titanic was built here but for some reason it's long history is just forgotten by the people who run it in favour of one ship that was afloat for just 15 days...! Needless to say we got a crap nights sleep and justb a donkey jacket did not really cut the mustard with the cold!
Our roommate
View attachment 108130
View attachment 108131
View attachment 108132
View attachment 108133
View attachment 108134
When we awoke we were freezing. I was trying to take pics in the dock but I was dithering to much! The walk into town walmed us up and so it was on to Crumlin Street courthouse.
This was even better than I thought it would be, just an epic location to explore, and with such a colourful history. I could not believe so much graffiti survives in the cells from the troubles and we spent a good hour just photographing that.
View attachment 108135
View attachment 108136
View attachment 108137
View attachment 108138
We then took in some murals
View attachment 108139
View attachment 108140
Then off to the pub. Over a guinness we were talking about waht to do with the remainder of our time. I'm sure your not suprised to hear we were back off to shipbuilding terratory and that horribly branded "titanic quarter". You see there was one building I had never seen photos from... Harland and Wolff's drawing office, half disused and half converted for the quarter's office.
View attachment 108141
It became obvious that just going in and asking to have a mooch was uselss. This needed work, and embelishment when we pleaded our case. It would take me half a hour to write the spiel I reeled off to the typical "head of estates" woman but I soon changed a flat "NO" in to a "shig, you have 10 miniutes"...RESULT
View attachment 108142
View attachment 108143
View attachment 108144
View attachment 108145
So there you have it... all fun and games! My feet hurt SO much and we were exhausted so we headed to the airport early for a kip. I feel that we saw most of the tiny portion of what was left of Belfast's shipbuilding industry, but as with all my industrial passions, we are 10 years to late.
