Culture Minister highlights museums' contribution

Culture Minister, Angela Smith has highlighted the contribution made by Northern Ireland’s museums in preserving and making accessible our cultural heritage.

The Minister was speaking at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, currently celebrating its 40th anniversary, where she was opening two new exhibits – the Omagh Presbyterian Meeting House and the Ballinderry House and Forge.

She said: “Museums play a very important part in our lives and a recent report stated that over 100 million of us throughout the UK, visit them each year. In Northern Ireland, the museums, operating under the Museums and Galleries of Northern Ireland (MAGNI), are our largest visitor attraction and last year, three quarters of a million people went through their doors.

“This is testament to their efforts to find new and innovative ways of attracting new visitors, who may have had little or no contact with museums before. Many of the exhibits interpret sensitive issues and offer answers to difficult questions. Museums are particularly relevant in Northern Ireland as they also explain our shared cultural heritage.”

Omagh Presbyterian Meeting House dates back to 1717 and is the Museum’s third church.

Originally situated on the Dublin Road in Omagh, it was built at a cost of £800 and served as a place of worship until 1895, when a replacement was constructed.

Ballinderry House and Forge dates back to around the 18th, or possibly the 17th century and is a good example of a farmhouse/blacksmith’s forge.

This low thatched building was originally situated on the Lower Ballinderry Road, midway between the villages of Upper and Lower Ballinderry in County Antrim. The Museum intends to use the Forge to demonstrate the craft of the blacksmith.

The Minister was welcomed to Cultra by the Chief Executive of the Museums and Galleries of Northern Ireland, Tim Cooke, and by the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Trustees of MAGNI, Sir Kenneth Bloomfield.

(MB)