Travels In Time: Belfast's Titanic Quarter

A short walk around Belfast's Titanic Quarter

In recent years vacant land around Harland and Wolff's Belfast shipyard has been redeveloped. The redevelopment has been named after the most famous ship to leave the yards, the area is now known as the Titanic Quarter. Much more information about the history of the shipyards can be found on theyard.info website

For this visit we started at Titanic Quarter station. This station was originally named Bridge End and replaced the nearby Ballymacarrett station in 1977 when services on the Bangor line were diverted from the Queen's Quay terminus to the new Belfast Central station. The motorway we cross on a footbridge to reach the Titanic Quarter now occupies the former terminus site. At one time countless shipyard workers would have arrived by train here.

Below - The most well known Belfast landmarks, the pair of cranes at the part of the complex still in use with Harland and Wolff. Note the gateposts

Below - Two of the centrepieces of the Titanic Quarter are the Titanic Belfast museum and the SS Nomadic, the last surviving White Star Line ship. The SS Nomadic was used as a tender to ferry passengers from Cherbourg harbour to the Titanic and her sister ship Olympic which were too big to dock at the port. Tickets for entrance to the museum and ship are available from the ticket desk in the museum entrance. More information is also available on the Titanic Belfast website. Nomadic occupies the former Hamilton Graving Dock. In the photo below the hollow caisson from the dock entrance can be seen in front of the ship.

Below - 1912 map of the Belfast docks, the Titanic Quarter occupies the shipyards east of the River Lagan along the bottom of the map. The dry docks and slipways were laid out diagonally towards the river and though some of these have been filled in now the layout can still be seen.

Below - The SS Nomadic in the former Hamilton Graving Dock.

After remaining in industrial use in Cherbourg until 1968 the Nomadic spent many years as a floating restaurant in Paris. In 2006 she was brought back to Belfast and cosmetically restored by Harland and Wolff on the same site at which she had been built.

Below - The steam powered anchor winch made by Clarke Chapman.

Below - The view from Nomadic's bridge with the Titanic Belfast museum and former Harland and Wolff offices.

Below - Nomadic's Harland and Wolff builders plate.

Nomadic was split in to first and second class areas and passengers would board through separate entrances. Access between the two sections is made through later doorways added to the bulkheads in the ship's later industrial use.

During restoration some original panelling and lino was uncovered and replicated to recreate the look of the ship during its days as a White Star Line tender.

Below - Second class accommodation.

Below - First class accommodation.

Below - Stairways for workers down in to the dry dock.

Below - The former Harland and Wolff offices, now a hotel.

Below - The former Harland and Wolff drawing offices, now the bar of the hotel that occupies the former offices.

Below - Interior of the former drawing offices, note the windows in the roof and the amount of light let in to the room. The drawing office consisted of two similar rooms, now the hotel bar and function room. Certainly worth 'having to' get a beer to check out the building.

Below - A model of the Titanic in the window of the former drawing office.

The Titanic Belfast museum contains displays about Belfast and the development of the ship building industry as well as about the Titanic. It also features a ride through a reconstruction of a shipyard scene. The building is star shaped reminiscent of the White Star Line's logo. It occupies the site were Titanic and it's sisters Olympic and Britannic were assembled.

Below - Behind the Titanic Belfast museum is used as an events venue known as the Slipways. Narrow gauge tracks can be seen running along the site.

We continued towards the Titanic's Dock and Pump House at the northern edge of the Titanic Quarter site along the waterfront. Though this part of the site is still in the process of redevelopment it did have a few more sights to see from the area's shipyard history.

One of the attractions is the Great Light, displaying a 130 year old set of lighthouse optics. More about this can be read on the Great Light website.

Remnants of some of the 5'3" gauge lines that ran within the shipyard can also be seen.

Below - Remnants of the shipyard sidings.

The former shipyard is also home to the HMS Caroline, a First World War Navy ship and sole survivor of the Battle of Jutland. At the time of our visit it was still closed to the public following the Covid 19 pandemic.

Below - The HMS Caroline

The Titanic's Dock and Pump House was undergoing restoration but it was possible to have a walk around the site.

Below - Titanic's Dock and Pump House.

North of the pump house the site is in industrial use. We returned towards Belfast along Queen's Road. East of Queen's Road the site is still largely in industrial use. One of the large hangers had been repurposed as an exhibition centre. West of the road another hanger is now a film studio, best known for work on Game of Thrones.

Below - One of the famous cranes and a former shipyard building now in use as another metal working site. Behind the building the three Thomas Smith steam cranes can just be seen. Sometimes referred to as the cranes that built Titanic, though the Samson and Goliath cranes were built in the 1960s and the steam cranes were built in the 1940s.