Ulster Folk and Transport Museums

The Ulster Folk and Transport Museums stand side by side in Cultra, eleven kilometres east of Belfast. The Folk Museum shows how people in Northern Ireland lived in the early 20th century, while the Transport Museum traces the history of travel by land, sea and air. Together they form two of the four museums run by National Museums NI. The Folk Museum was created by a 1958 Act to save rural life from disappearing. Its 55-hectare site was once the estate of Sir Robert Kennedy and opened to the public in 1964. Visitors walk past re-erected cottages, farms and the recreated Ulster town of Ballycultra. Regular demonstrations include open-hearth cooking and traditional crafts. The museum also holds Northern Ireland’s main film, photographic and sound archives, including the BBC Northern Ireland collection and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta recordings. The Transport Museum began as a small display in a Belfast engine shed in the 1950s. Today it houses Ireland’s largest railway collection, with steam locomotives and carriages alongside interactive exhibits. A highlight is the Great Southern Railways Class 800 locomotive No. 800 Maedb. The Road Transport Galleries feature a DeLorean car built in Belfast and racing memorabilia from Stanley Woods and Joey Dunlop. A Titanic exhibition links the ship’s Harland & Wolff origins to the site, while the Short SC.1 aeroplane recalls Northern Ireland’s role in vertical flight.