The Linen Hall

The Linen Hall Library sits behind a heavy sandstone facade, distinguished by the large, arched windows that allow light into its reading rooms. It is the oldest library in Belfast, founded in seventeen eighty-eight by a group of local merchants who wanted to cultivate literature and science in their town. When the United Irishmen were active here, their leader, Henry Joy McCracken, hid in the library to avoid capture by British soldiers. His fellow members left their own books and records in the collection.