The Belfast Barge

The Belfast Barge is the city's latest maritime themed visitor attraction, located beside Belfast Waterfront and minutes from the city centre. This 600 ton barge moored on the river Lagan at Lanyon Quay houses a vibrant interactive museum which tells the story of Belfast's proud maritime history.  Although once the world’s biggest shipbuilding city, by the end of the twentieth century, shipbuilding in Belfast had declined to the point where the mighty Harland and Wolff, once employer of thousands of workers, consisted of little more than 100 employees and, the buildings and docks once necessary for such a huge undertaking had become redundant. Between 1999 and 2002 much of the shipyard was demolished. During this time, Lagan Boat Company discovered that a significant archive of ships engineering plans were also inadvertently being destroyed and wanted to preserve this important archive. Lagan Legacy was set up in 2002 as the charity to undertake this important task. The plans, along with video accounts of the personal stories of those with a direct involvement with the industry, are now housed on the Belfast Barge, a 600 ton barge permanently moored at Lanyon Quay, set to become Belfast’s most popular visitor attraction. The barge houses a vibrant interactive museum, which combines touch screens, interpretive panels and interactive displays, and Galley Café and a 90sqm multi-use space which can be used for temporary or visiting exhibitions, as a flexible theatre, conference, cinema and music facility. The museum opens Tuesday to Saturday from 10:00 to 16:00, and, in keeping with its ethos to celebrate the Lagan’s legacy, is accessible to all ages. Guided tours are available. Group visits and school bookings are welcome and bespoke programmes can be planned. For more information contact: info@belfastbarge.co.uk or telephone phone 028 9023 2555.

The Belfast Barge is accessible – for full details of their accessibility features, see The Belfast Barge | AccessAble