Northern Ireland Ancestry Tour

Family Ulster have been in touch to ask me to mention a Northern Ireland Ancestry Tour planned for 2014, from May 12th-20th, 2014. The following is the itinerary (abridged from press release):

Day 1: Monday
Arrive in Dublin, proceed to Belfast, Northern Ireland, pick ups from Belfast Airport or the seaports coming from Scotland by ferry also possible.

Day 2: Tuesday
Tour of the Titanic Quarter and visit the Titanic Experience. Free afternoon to take a stroll through the city. Visit City Hall and see the beautiful stain glass windows and staircase, Belfast University and the Botanical Gardens or take time and go shopping in Donegal Square, Victoria Square and Castle Court indoor shopping center.

Day 3: Wednesday
Doagh Famine Village is located in Inishowen in the County of Donegal, offers a large selection of attractions portraying life in Ireland from the 1840’s until present day. The village is built around and includes original thatched cottages which were still inhabited until 1983. You will visit the Orange Hall, Mass Rock and Hedge School, the Presbyterian Meeting House, an Irish Wake, the Republican Safe House and the Haunted Rooms. We will stop for lunch and a brief visit to Derry on the way back to Belfast to see the wall city.

Day 4: Thursday
Research Day - You will be able to do research at PRONI with assistance from a local genealogist. The Proni Office is open late today so you will have more time for research. Look up church records, property records, and other historic documents pertaining to your family research. If you aren’t doing research for a small extra amount you may take an optional trip to your family home or just enjoy the sights and sounds of Belfast.

Day 5: Friday
Research Day - Another day to enjoy researching your family history at the Proni Office with the assistance from a local genealogist. For those not doing family research we have included a trip to Belleek and Lakes of Fermanagh, including a visit Belleek Pottery.

Day 6: Saturday
Just outside the town of Omagh is the Ulster-American Folk Park, the best open-air museums of its kind in Ireland. The Folk Park was established around the restored boyhood home of Judge Thomas Melon of the Pittsburg banking dynasty. The Park’s permanent exhibition, called “Emigrants”, examines why two million people left Ulster for America during the 18th and19th centuries. Exhibits of both those who did well and those who did not make it, including the grim lives of indentured servants and the 15,000 Irish vagrants and convicts transported to North America in the mid-18th century. The park has more than 30 historic buildings, some of them originals, some replicas. There are settler homesteads, including that of John Joseph Hughes, the first Catholic Archbishop of New York, churches, a schoolhouse and a forge, some with craft displays, all with costumed interpretatives guides.

Day 7: Sunday
Scenic Touring - Giants Causeway & Antrim Coastal Tour
Among Ireland's most unforgettable beauty spots is the Causeway Coast that stretches from Belfast to Derry along the North Eastern region the Island. Soon we enter the Nine Glens of Antrim as they drop majestically from the Antrim Plateau to the ocean below. Touring the northernmost coast will encompass the beautiful highlights of this unique coast that includes Dunluce Castle and Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge as it hangs precariously over the North Atlantic Ocean. The Giants Causeway is a UNESCO World Heritage site rated as one of the Natural Wonders of the World.

Day 8: Monday
Research Day. Your last day to finish up your Family Research at PRONI.
If you aren’t doing research for a small extra amount you may take an optional visit to your ancestor home. You will also have a chance to finish up your shopping or just relax enjoying Belfast.

Day 9: Tuesday
HOMEWARD BOUND: We leave Belfast early this morning to catch your flight home.

COSTS:
£850 GBP per person based on double occupancy.
£1,145 GBP per person for a single room
Deposit: To secure your place a deposit of £200 is due no later than 5 Jan 2014 to guarantee reservation.
Final Payment due no later than 5 Apr 2014.

For more information and to register go to: info@familyulster.com or you can call 708-805-8848.

(With thanks to Brian Watson)

Chris

My new book, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet, is now available from Pen and Sword. My Scottish land and church records ebooks are available at http://www.gen-ebooks.com/unlock-the-past.html, whilst my next Pharos Scottish course, Scottish Research Online, starts Sep 4th - see http://pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. Time to smash a few brick walls...!