The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland has announced another of its popular Lunchtime Lecture Series. This time, it's a five-lecture series called The Antrim Coast in the Age of Industry, 1750–1890, which will examine the arrival of Victorian technology and industrial activity in the Antrim coast and glens.
Until the 1800s much of the Antrim coast and Glens was wild and hard to access; during the nineteenth century the landscape was opened up and efforts were made to bring about an industrial revolution, like that of Belfast, in the country villages and peat-bogs.
The lectures will be held at PRONI, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast BT3 9HQ, at 1pm as follows:
Tuesday 28 April: The Industrial Heritage of the Antrim Glens, with Fred Hamond
Tuesday 5 May: The Limestone Town of Glenarm: quarries and quarrymen, with Gerard Muldoon
Thursday 21 May: The Ballintoy Project: how to organise a Local History Group, with Robert Corbett
Tuesday 26 May: William Bald and the Making of the Antrim Coast Road, 1832 to 1840, with Desmond McCabe
Tuesday 2 June: Iron and Stone: the Earls of Antrim as Victorian industrialists, with Ian Montgomery
While the talks are free of charge and open to all, booking is essential. Contact PRONI to reserve a place by email to proni@dcalni.gov.uk or telephone (+44) 028 90 534800.
