Recent & Past Events

  • Comber in the Second World War Walking Tour

    with Michael Burns

    Saturday 30th May 2026

    2pm - 4pm

    Comber Square

    £15

    Join award-winning historian Michael Burns and delve into Comber's rich wartime history on this unrushed 2 hour walking tour.

    Over 86 years since the beginning of the Second World War, join Michael Burns to explore the wartime history of Comber, Co. Down.

    Explore the rich wartime history and surviving heritage of Comber, covering topics such as the Blitz, evacuation, the American presence in NI as well as the stories of those from Comber who made the ultimate sacrifice.

    The tour will last around 2 hours at a gentle pace.

  • Dirt, Disease & Death - A walking tour of Comber’s Medical History

    with Dr. Rebecca Watterson

    Saturday 30th May 2026

    11am - 1pm

    Comber Square

    £15

    Take a walk back in time with award-winning historian Dr Rebecca Watterson and discover how Comber people in the past faced disease, death, and the Doctor! From smallpox to cholera, surgery to quackery, this tour covers birth, death, and everything in between!

    This expertly guided tour will tell you the stories of those people who lived in this once-rural town learning to face the ever-changing landscape of disease that came with the Industrial Revolution.

    Disease outbreaks, poverty, and dangerous working conditions were a part of the daily life of the people of Comber. On this gently paced 2 hour walking tour we will examine questions like:

    • Without the NHS, exactly how did this community manage ill health?

    • Where did women give birth?

    • Where did people get their medicine?

    • What diseases were ravaging the town?

    • Did working conditions have an impact on people’s health and illness?

    • What did they die from?

    • Did they have funerals?

    • Did class and economic circumstance have an impact on how people experienced illness and medicine?

  • The History of the Belfast Workhouse

    with Dr. Robyn Atcheson

    The History Collective presents a new talk by Dr. Robyn Atcheson - History of the Belfast Workhouse

    Saturday 30th May 2026

    11am

    Pembroke Street Halls, Donegall Road, Belfast

    £10

    For a century, the Belfast workhouse oversaw the growth & expansion of the city of Belfast. This is its story.

    The Belfast Union Workhouse opened its doors in 1841 as a last resort for the destitute and sick of the growing industrial town. Over a century, tens of thousands of people passed through the building and its associated hospital. Many died there and were buried in the workhouse burial ground on the Donegall Road.

    Dr Robyn Atcheson has spent over a decade researching the Belfast workhouse and successfully campaigned for the final resting place of so many workhouse residents to be marked. This talk recreates what life was like in the workhouse and why so many people were afraid of ending up within its walls. You will discover why the workhouse evolved into a hospital and why its graveyard was quietly forgotten.