Ireland Guide
Belfast
Linen Hall Library
Address: At the northwest corner of Donegall Square
Telephone: 028/9027 0456
Website: www.linenhall.com
Opening time: Mon– Fri 9.30am–5.30pm, Sat 9.30am–1pm
Belfast's oldest library is the Linen Hall Library, established in 1788. The library has latterly been substantially revamped and is now entered via 52 Fountain St, just around the corner from the square. It has a huge array of Irish literature, language and reference books as well its Political Collection: a unique accumulation of over 100,000 publications reflecting every aspect of Northern Irish political life since 1966. This encompasses numerous election posters, and documents ranging from party political ephemera to doctoral theses sent in from all over the world; also here are prison letters smuggled out of Long Kesh which, in its more widely used name of the Maze, was the scene of the 1981 hunger strike. The Linen Hall is an independent institution and visitors are free to examine its collection: there's a computerized catalogue on the first floor, use of which is free, though a donation is welcome. The library also boasts excellent facilities for tracing family trees, a café, and stocks all the daily newspapers.