Education Tours and Workshops at Lisburn Museum
How to book for your school or group..
Visit us to make your curriculum come alive! Our collections celebrate Lisburn, linen, Egyptians, science and much more! With a wide choice of facilitated sessions, free self-guided visits and much more, we have something for everyone at the museum.
The museum’s education team encourage access and interest in the arts, culture and science. We want to open the museum’s collection to the widest audience possible. Our tours and workshops are offered free of charge, and we tailor them for the needs of your group.
We work with pre-schools, primary schools, secondary schools, further education colleges, university groups, community groups, church groups, special needs groups, special interest, mothers’ union, Scouts, Brownies, youth church societies, hospital groups, home education groups, families and many more!
How to book a tour or workshop for your group?
If you want to book a visit contact the museum’s reception on T: 028 9266 3377 or email us. If you want to discuss your group’s needs, or for further information on bringing your group and designing a preferred format and content please contact our Assistant Education Officer: Emma Breadon, Telephone: 028 9266 3377 or email.
Once you have given your details, we will send you out a booking form, which you will need to fill in and return. Included will be our child protection and photography policies for you to keep and read. Note: your booking will not be confirmed until we receive the returned booking form.
Ahead of booking, what do we need to know?
- What tour or workshop interests your group?
- The date you wish to visit (with alternatives if possible)
- What time you will arrive and depart? School groups, are you having any breaks? We can offer rooms to have packed lunches in.
- The group number (school groups; age and ability of your students)
- Are there any learning styles that best suit your group?
- Primary contact details.
What to expect from a visit?
During your visit, you will be hosted by one or more of our expert gallery assistants. They will lead the group on its tour or deliver the workshop. We offer the following facilities:
- Accessible toilet access on Ground, First and Second Floors.
- Accessible toilet/baby changing facilities located on ground floor
- The Museum Shop is at street level and sells a range of high-quality linen and gifts as well as items at pocket money prices!
- Lisburn is bustling, and we’re surrounded by cafés and restaurants serving delicious local food!
- Coach parking is available nearby.
What do we offer?
Flax to Fabric: the story of Irish linen
Tour our award-winning, and journey through Ireland’s rich linen heritage, featuring live spinning and weaving demonstrations, artifacts from ancient Egypt (including Tutankhamun’s tomb), historic machinery, and stories of local industry. Guided by experts, visitors learn about flax cultivation, preparation (retting, scutching, hackling), and the transformation into world-famous textiles.
What to Expect at the Tour:
- Comprehensive History: From flax sowing and harvesting to the Industrial Revolution and beyond, covering its cultural and economic impact.
- Live Demonstrations: Watch skilled craftspeople spin yarn and weave on traditional looms, bringing the history to life.
- Interactive Elements: Visitors can try spinning wheels and explore exhibits on local history, like the Huguenot settlement.
- Artifacts: See fine damasks, costumes by famous designers (like Sybil Connolly), and linen from ancient tombs.
- Local Focus: Explore the history of Lisburn and the Lagan Valley
Castle Garden Tours
We offer guided tours of Castle Gardens, on of Lisburn’s most historic open spaces. Once the site of Lisburn castle, a 17th-century fortified manor house first built by the Conways, the landlords of Lisburn, in the 1620s, the house and its contents were destroyed by the great fire of Lisburn in 1707 and not rebuilt. The estate continued in the hands of descendants of the Conway family, including Sir Richard Wallace (of Wallace Collection fame!). After his death and that of Lady Wallace, the gardens were gifted in 1903 to Lisburn for use as a public park.
Temporary Exhibitions
In response to our temporary exhibition programme, the team offer guided and self-guided tours of the galleries. Recently, visitors have explored VE Day in Lisburn, learnt about Egyptian Hieroglyphs, explored WWI or viewed incredible 18th-century linen damasks!
Curriculum-led Tours and Workshops
School sessions are very active and hands on, led by our experienced education team. Learning is driven by curiosity and discovery, and we use the museum’s collection to inspire.
Flax to Fabric is our permanent exhibition. On the tour, you can learn about the history of linen from the ancient Egyptians through to the period of the cottage industry and see skilled demonstrations of spinning and weaving.
Tours last 45mins/90mins. Why not compliment the tour with a free workshop? Popular workshops include paper weaving (KS1) or card/peg loom weaving (KS2&3) (add on 45minutes for workshop).
Our Castle Gardens tour of the restored 17th and 19th-century gardens take pupils back to historic Lisburn! Learn about a duel that was fought over a marriage proposal; hold onto your stomachs as you hear about medical remedies used to cure a sore head. There is even a story about a body being preserved in spirits of wine!
Tours last 45mins/60mins. Curriculum link: The World Around Us.
On our Ancient Egyptian Tour Learn how the ancient Egyptians used to live, including how they valued linen and the various processes involved in processing it. Gaze at our ancient piece of linen straight from the tomb of Tutankhamun. Careful of the curse of the mummy! This is an add on to our Flax to Fabric tour (60mins/90mins inclusive). Why not compliment the tour with a free workshop – make an Egyptian headdress or work with clay to make a canopic jar (add on 45minutes for workshop)
Curriculum link: The World Around Us.
Take a Town Trail around the historic parts of Lisburn. Learn about the great fires of Lisburn and see what parts of the town survived. Complementing The World Around Us curriculum, children identify characteristics of specific changes in time period, town structure and civic roles in society. The tour takes in Lisburn’s famous monuments, Lisburn Cathedral and graveyard, Castle Gardens and the Historic Quarter. Complete the worksheets by observation, investigation and discussion. (Trails take 45-90 minutes).
Our WWII workshop is interactive, as children discover how local people in Northern Ireland adapted during WWII. Using artefacts from the Museum’s collection, topics include rationing, living in a blackout and evacuation. The 60–90-minute workshop finishes with a look at our very own air raid shelter (the last remaining in Lisburn). Why not compliment the workshop with a ‘make your own gas mask’ craft workshop (add an extra 45minutes)?
In our Victorian Workshop come and experience first-hand what it would have been like to go to school in the Victorian days. Lessons include penmanship, embroidery, making a Thaumatrope and ‘guessing the object’ handling session. Discover the classes that were for girls and which were for boys. If your group comes dressed up, so does your guide! Prizes for the best dressed! Workshops take 90 minutes and can be adapted for each group.
Download our workshop brochure here.