Video of Harland and Wolff in 1996

You're a saint for preserving this stuff, I only just found out about all the demolitions. I'd feel majorly ripped off if I went there as a Titanic tourist and found out all the interesting old structures had been razed the way they have been.

Its amazing to see what the site looked like then all derelict on how the site looks now. To see all those iconic buildings in your video & now they have all gone, all demolished to make way for the Titanic Quarter. I was there August 2023 & I was stunned when I saw the Titanic Quarter for the first time & looked at Samson & Goliath, as we drove past in our taxi to the hotel. Ive only watched upto the Hamilton Dry Dock where Nomadic now sits (5 mins onwards) Thankyou sir for sharing this video, ive been searching for old site photos & videos. Cant wait to watch the rest of this video.

Absolutely incredible video, I wanted to get over to Belfast before they began building and demolishing, unfortunately I couldn't. I was desperate to see it all before it was modernised, thankfully you made this video, the only one of its kind. Amazing!! I visited last year finally and it looks great, the dry dock especially but would have loved to have seen it like this with my own eyes.

Nice to see that much of the site has been captured prior to almost total demolition.. I lived only a couple of miles past "The Yard" and the harbour entrance, back in the 1950's and 60's, and we could always hear the hammering from the workers day and night - the whole area lit up with arclights and welding torches at night One needed a special pass to enter, and I was fortunate in visiting it several times during the mid-60's. It was like rush hour on steroids with thousands of workers all engaged on some form of work. Steam trains and road train bogies 100 yards long carrying massive ship engines and all manner of marine parts, three-wheel Scammel lorries with Harkness or H&W name plates. I watched the launchings of the Southern Cross (1953/4), Canberra (1960), Sea Quest oil rig platform (1966) and the Esso Ulidia oil tanker (1970). If my memory serves me right, Sea Quest was the first oil rig platform to be launched successfully, when other shipyards had failed. A few of the old buildings have survived so far - probably the most important one being the Drawing Offices, now a quite grand hotel with many of "The Yard" features intact in one form or another. The old pumphouse has been retained and opened as a part museum, part lecture centre, and part cafe, with all the pumping machinery still as it was in 1911, and now also open for tourists. HMS Caroline is the last remaining survivor (light cruiser) from the Battle of Jutland, and was a local Command ship in WW2, and subsequently a training school for cadets. Having undergone a three-year refurbishment by H&W, she, also, is open for tourists (and worth every penny)! While it is sad to see such a shipyard disappear, many of the buildings were over 100 years old and long past their usefulness. The giant sheds had no further function, and so much of the 185 acres have smart new industries and tourist attractions, while the whole harbour area has been transformed into a place of leisure and calm, with a smart new marina, cycle and walking areas and attractions by the score. When I now visit the place, I feel sad about what has now gone forever, but also excited with a place ranked as one of the top five places in the world to visit, so it can't be that bad. This video is a gem in its own right, simply because it's captured something that so many people would love to have seen. It would have been nice to have had some commentary included, but I'm presuming that Mr Lee didn't have enough historical knowledge of all he was filming. Nevertheless, it is a priceless record. Perhaps Mr Lee should find some of the old Yard workers to view his video and add some narrative and possibly other interesting comments. There is only one thing that I haven't understood in the video: for some curious reason, Mr Lee seems to have formed some kind of peculiar fascination for one specific building - the building where all the giant funnels for Titanic were made. He has filmed it not once, not twice, but perhaps over a dozen times, and from every possible angle, so one must wonder why!

Amazing to think of the lengths this great shipyard went to, in its heyday, even to compete with the other major ship builders, The local Lough had to be deepened, to accommodate the soon to be built Leviathans, The huge gantry and the bigger lifting cranes to be installed, least of all the huge engines to power these huge liners. and of course the forward thinking Mr Pirie, Mr Andrews, the designer, and then the many thousands of workers, who had to sweat, and labour in the most basic health and safety conditions. When this huge undertaking was underway, it must have seemed impossible to quite a number of those involved, the whole project had never been done before, everything was bigger, and unproven, But this shipyard did it. and its now legendary across the world.

My Dad worked for Farrans when they were demolishing the Thompson Wharf. He bought so many items from the yard that our garden looked like a scrapyard for years afterwards. Pretty sure he still has the road sign seen at 18:40 in the video. I was 16 at the time and from 96-97 I went with him every Friday after school as I was crazy about the Titanic. Back then the old Drawing Offices and White Star Line Building were totally open and still had all their furniture and paperwork inside. It was like opening a time capsule.

I watched every minute of this video and just so fascinating. I currently live at the titanic arc and work in the titanic studios and my workshop is actually featured just at the back corner next to the paint hall and close to the HMS Caroline. I personally think that the regeneration of the Queens Island H&W site is fantastic. Yes they could have kept the facade of the H&W entrance gate but aside from that it has become a really pleasant place to walk and relax. Very strange to see the area without the Arc and the Odyssey but great to see these dry docks restored and appreciated. Thanks for documenting a very enjoyable piece of Belfast history.

Genius for capturing this i was there as a kid with my dad in 1994 removing the last of the engineworks machines

Thanks for preserving what the shipyard looked like before all the demolitions

Wallowing in nostalgia. Thank you so much for putting this together, I really enjoyed going down memory lane through the eye of your lens.

Cycle around here every weekend morning. Past the Nomadic, HMS Caroline and then to the Titanic dry dock. Doesn't matter how many times I see Samson and Goliath, it always looks amazing

When belfast was belfast, brilliant video

This is fantastic. Definitely captures a long gone view and mood that we can no longer experience there. Thanks for posting.

From: Sylvain Plamondon ( My wife account) : Wow! Its Historic , with that we never forget it , whats the past was!!! :) Good Job Craig

Amazing footage to see where the area has come from. Soo much has changed!

This video brings back some memories. Thanks for posting it.

Its actually heart breaking to see the state that Britain had fallen too , could you imagine people looking foreword and seeing this from 100 years ago , and seeing this is how this generation allowed their country to degenerate into a basket case .

I served my time there as an apprentice fitter 1969-1973. Sad to see it all gone

I worked on the building of the 146,000 ton Esso Ulidia in 1970 as an apprentice plumber.

Worked there in late '99 early 2000 on the Drillships they built, enjoyed my time there !!