By the middle of the nineteenth century, linen was the main commercial product in Ulster with industrialisation being most rapid in Belfast. As mills were built, towns such as Portadown and Belfast began to expand and people started to move there. Belfast became known as ‘Linenopolis’ and huge linen mills were built to satisfy the demand for linen. This caused a flow of workers to Belfast and the city’s population expanded from 20,000 in 1803 to 300,000 a century later. It is estimated that 32 linen mills were built in Belfast alone, some of them on the Crumlin Road but the majority in the Shankill and Falls areas.

Show the pupils Resource 3.2: Life Expectancy in Nineteenth Century Ireland (IWB) and discuss:

• what the term ‘life expectancy’ means;
• the differences between life expectancies;
• reasons why people wanted to move from the countryside to the towns during the nineteenth century despite the fact that life expectancy in an urban environment was so poor; and
• how the culture in the town was different from that of the countryside.

In small groups, pretend that you are this family and, using Resource 3.3: Reasons for Moving to the Towns (Cards) come up with four reasons why you should leave your village. Pupils should justify their reasons. Use the TS&PC Thinking Card: Consider all factors to inform your discussion.

You may decide which other TS&PC Thinking Cards you wish your pupils to focus on.

Note to the teacher

Ordnance Survey Memoirs compiled in the 1830s, reported that many Ulster-Scots people moved from the countryside to North Belfast and ‘their dialect, accent and customs are strictly Scottish’. In Carnmoney in the late 1800s it was recorded that the language of the people was ‘strictly Ulster-Scots’ and their ‘idioms and saws’ (sayings) are ‘strictly Scottish’.

1. Design a Timeline

Using Resource 3.4: Teacher Information Card and Resource 3.5: Timeline: Increase in the Population of Belfast (Template) ask pupils to produce a timeline which shows the increase in the population of Belfast over a century. Pupils may also carry out their own research and add their information to the timeline.

2. Exploring Belfast Speech

When Ulster-Scots speaking mill workers moved to Belfast they brought their own culture and language with them. However, as time passed and as spoken language became more standardised, the use of Ulster-Scots diminished. This demise accelerated in the second half of the twentieth century as teachers required pupils to speak and write using standard English. Consequently many Ulster-Scots words were lost.

Some Ulster-Scots words have remained and are still used today including:

• boak – vomit
• coul – cold
• danner – a leisurely walk
• eejit – idiot
• houl on – hold on
• keep yer neb out – mind your own business
• mingin – dirty or smelly
• poke – ice-cream cone
• tay – tea
• wee – small

Discuss with pupils the meaning of these Ulster-Scots words and phrases. Then, pupils working in pairs, should make up their own dialogue using them in an improvised activity.