Bus Tours
Dr. David Hume is a keen historian and his fields include local history, Irish and Scottish history.
He can devise and development bespoke bus tours from one day to several days duration, both in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and also Scotland and England. Tours can also be offered further afield such as the United States and Canada. Bespoke tours will differ in price depending on locations and duration.
In terms of non-bespoke tours which can be offered, the following are current;
Ulster Scots Heritage in East Antrim
From Carrickfergus with its ancient links to King Fergus of Dalriada to more modern connections to Scotland, this tour will take groups from Carrickfergus to Ballycarry, where the first Presbyterian congregation in Ireland was established in 1613 and along the coast to Larne and Ballygally, where the castle built by James Shaw in 1625 is outstanding as testimony to Scottish architecture in the local landscape. There will also be a visit to the Ulster-American memorial in Larne, which commemorates 300,000 emigrants who set sail to the New World. The tour take you further back in time to the invasion in 1315 by an army of 5,000 Scots and you will view the ruins of Olderfleet Castle, one of the sites associated with the invasion. Larne’s three seafront memorials with links to Scotland also feature as does the memorial to a Confederate leader during the American Civil War, whose ancestors were from Larne.
Presbyterian Heritage Tour
The history of the Presbyterian tradition in Ireland owes much to the East Antrim area. The first Presbyterian minister in Ireland, Rev. Edward Brice, came to Ballycarry in 1613, while the first purpose-built Presbyterian Church was built in nearby Carrickfergus. In 1642 the Army Presbytery attached to the Scots Covenanter army sent to Ulster to protect the Plantation settlement, established the first formalised Presbyterian structure. With such a wealth of history this is a tour spoilt for choice, so expect to enjoy:
The Home Rule Heritage Trail
The issue of Home Rule was a dominant in the final years of the 19th and early decades of the 20th century. Larne was a centre of much of the activity surrounding the debate, by virtue of its port status. Learn about the pivotal visits through Larne of Lord Randolph Churchill, Winston Churchill and Andrew Bonar Law as well as the drama of the 1914 gunrunning. Visit sites associated with the gunrunning including a visit to Drumalis House, where the planning and execution of the event took place.
The tour includes a visit to the grave of William Chaine, located inside an ancient Irish rath, now in one of Larne’s public parks. He was one of the key local planners of the gunrunning. And on the other side of the argument, visit the site where Joe Devlin, the Ulster nationalist leader, once addressed a crowd opposing the possibility of conscription in Ireland.
This trip includes a visit to Larne Museum for a reading of letters written during the period by Betsy Galt Smith of Kilwaughter Castle to her mother in the USA and to view some artefacts from the period.
East Antrim Coastal Route
The East Antrim coastal route is one of the most distinctive in the world and our tour takes us from Carrickfergus to Whitehead, which was developed as a tourist town by the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway Company. We then travel north along the shores of Larne Lough to Larne, visiting the harbour, developed in the 19th century and a key centre for industrial links to Scotland and shipbuilding industry. The tour takes in the Princess Victoria Memorial, which commemorates the worst seafaring disaster in Northern Ireland’s history as well as the distinctive memorial to James Chaine MP, the man who developed the short sea route to Stranraer in Scotland in the 19th century. The tour then takes us along the coast for a pit stop to allow everyone to enjoy a leisurely stroll in the grounds of Carnfunnock Country Park, which is a major visitor attraction on the coast road. The Walled Garden, sundials and maze in the shape of Northern Ireland are all worth seeing.
We travel next to Ballygally, past the famous 17th century castle of James Shaw of Greenock, and then along the stretch of coast road to Glenarm before we turn inland off the coast road in order to get a view of the coast above Cairncastle that most tourists never see, travelling through an ancient landscape and overlooking the North Channel.
The Battle Bus Tour
The Battle Bus takes visitors to battlefield sites relating to historical periods;
Dead Famous: The Cemetery Tour
The ‘Dead Famous’ tour takes groups to sites where famous figures in Irish history are buried. The tour focuses on specific locations or cemeteries and includes some lighter relief such as shopping or café breaks! Examples of the Dead Famous tour include;
For full details on itineraries and costs on any tour please contact us.
Case Studies
Dr. Hume has organised bus tours in the past to Londonderry, the Boyne Valley, County Monaghan, East Antrim and elsewhere. He has even organised a small group tour to the United States. His historical themed tours have included the 1798 Rebellion, Home Rule period, Williamite Wars, Ulster-Scots history, Ulster-American interest and others. These have been for community groups and historical societies.
He has organised tours for American tour groups, local history groups and societies and others in the past.
Dr. Hume offers tours of Scottish Covenanter historical sites in Scotland, Ulster-Scots history tours in Scotland and Williamite and Jacobite War tours in Ireland for Authentic Ulster as well as his own tours.
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