Architecture of The United Kingdom - Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

The first known dwelling in Northern Ireland are found at the Mount Sandel Mesolithic site in County Londonderry and date to 7000 BC. Counties Fermanagh and Tyrone are especially rich in Stone Age archaeology. Early Christian art and architecture is found throughout Northern Ireland, as well as monastic sites, gravestones, abbeys, round towers and Celtic crosses.

Northern Ireland has some of the largest and finest castles in Ireland, the earliest of which date back to the Norman invasion of Ireland. Examples of Norman architecture in Northern Ireland include Carrickfergus Castle. Other medieval castles include Greencastle, Jordan's Castle, Dunluce Castle, Dundrum and Harry Avery's Castle. Enniskillen Castle dates back to early modern Ireland. Fortified homes and bawns continued to be built well into the 17th century, a result of the Plantation of Ulster; examples include Benburb Castle, Castle Caulfield, Monea Castle, and Castle Balfour. Much of the architecture of Derry dates from the Plantation of Ulster, including its defensive walls. St. Columb's Cathedral....

Northern Ireland in the 18th and 19th centuries produced two varieties of architecture, constructed along the divide of societal privilege; "sumptuous" manor houses of the landed gentry include Castle Ward and Hillsborough Castle; for many however, domestic life was restricted to "humble cottages". The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty and the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum maintain and conserve farm and village buildings of historical interest, including many of the ancestral homes of the 17-plus Presidents of the United States who have Ulster ancestry. The city of Armagh has Georgian architecture by way of the Armagh Observatory and the city's Georgian quarter; the Catholic St Patrick's Cathedral and Anglican St Patrick's Cathedral are two landmarks in Armagh.

During the Victorian era, Belfast flaunted its economic prowess with "splendid" Victorian architecture, among them Belfast City Hall, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast Castle, the Belfast Botanic Gardens, Albert Memorial Clock, and the ornate Crown Liquor Saloon. Early 20th century landmarks include a number of schools built for Belfast Corporation in the 1930s by R S Wilshere. Notables include the severe, sturdy, 1936 brick built Belfast School of Music on Donegall Pass and the Whitla Hall at Queen’s University Belfast, designed by John McGeagh. Belfast has examples of art deco architecture such a such as the Bank of Ireland and Sinclair’s department store on Royal Avenue and the Floral Hall at Bellevue. Many of Belfast's oldest buildings are found in the Cathedral Quarter. Prominent Northern Irish architects include R S Wilshere and McGeogh, cinema architect James McBride Neil, and Dennis O’D Hanna, part of the "Ulster Unit" group of self-consciously modern artists and craftspeople, promoted by poet and curator John Hewitt.