Annual Outing: Saturday 28 June 2025
Dear Members
The Lecale and Downe Historical Society’s annual outing is on Saturday 28 June 2025. The main part of the day will be a visit to Clifton House in Belfast where we will be shown around the Belfast Charitable Society’s Poor House (established 1774) and visit the adjacent New Burying Gound, wherein are interred some of Belfast’s most celebrated citizens (such as the botanist John Templeton, shipbuilder William Ritchie, social reformer Mary Ann McCracken, her brother Henry Joy McCracken, and the political radical Dr William Drennan). After lunch we hope to make a brief visit to the Rademon Estate to view at close hand the memorial to the reforming MP, William Sharman Crawford who was the subject of the Society’s first lecture in 2025 by Professor Peter Gray.
Itinerary
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9.00am
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Bus departs Down County Museum
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10.00am
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Coffee and shortbread at the Auld House, Moneyreagh
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11.00am
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Arrival at Clifton House: guided tours of the Poorhouse and the New Burying Ground
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1.45pm
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Lunch (soup and sandwiches) at Horatio Todd’s gastropub, Belfast. Please indicate if you have any dietary requirements when booking.
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3.30pm
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We hope to view the William Sharman Crawford obelisk at Rademon
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4.30pm
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Return to Down County Museum
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The cost of the trip is £30. This includes transport (Classic Coaches), coffee, lunch and the admission charges to Clifton House.
There are only 37 seats on the coach and booking will be on a first-come-first served basis. Please reserve your place or places by emailing the Secretary, Mr Ken Morrison at Ken_Morrison14@yahoo.co.uk or by ringing 07802794517.
Cheque and cash payments can also be made at the Annual General Meeting on 29 May. Cheques can also be posted to:
Mr K Morrison
18 Magherascouse Road
Comber
BT23 5RT
