{"id":1125661,"date":"2026-08-02T08:56:42","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T08:56:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1125661\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T08:56:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T08:56:42","slug":"the-resurrection-boys-new-belfast-history-podcast-to-bring-citys-forgotten-past-back-to-life-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1125661\/","title":{"rendered":"The Resurrection Boys: New Belfast history podcast to bring city\u2019s forgotten past back to life \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A brand new history podcast is set to bring Belfast<\/a>\u2018s forgotten stories back to life, uncovering the people, traditions and events that shaped its past.<\/p>\n

Dara Barrett of Memory Lane Tours Belfast and James Rea Jr. of Belfast Bohemian Productions have teamed up to launch \u2018The Resurrection Boys\u2019, a podcast exploring the forgotten stories buried beneath our streets.<\/p>\n

The west Belfast<\/a> natives have worked together on cemetery tours for almost a decade. The new podcast hopes to bring these stories of genealogy, funeral traditions and misconceptions to a wider audience.<\/p>\n

James said the podcast is about shedding new light on the past and helping people better understand the history that surrounds them.<\/p>\n

\"From<\/a>\"Police<\/a>\"JamesDara Barrett and James Rea Jr. want to challenge misconceptions and educate people in their podcast launching next month. PICTURE: MAL MCCANN <\/p>\n

He told The Irish News:<\/a> \u201cWe are resurrecting the past and resurrecting those stories that revolve around the history of funeral directory, funeral<\/a> customs and traditions, but also about the individuals that have made their mark on Belfast. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are both very passionate about the topic. One of the things I think is intrinsic to who we are as a people is that we\u2019re curious about our past and our identity and anything that sheds light on our identity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is not just the Troubles<\/a>, but also as a history of a nation that we are, I think, pre-built as storytellers, that we\u2019re pre-built for interested in discovering and accepting who we are and the multifaceted history that we have encompasses so many different parts of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DaraDara Barrett who is doing virtual tours of the City Cemetery in west Belfast Picture Mal McCann. <\/p>\n

Dara has been leading tours of Belfast\u2019s cemeteries<\/a> for 14 years, uncovering the fascinating histories hidden within their grounds..<\/p>\n

He told The Irish News:<\/a> \u201cWe\u2019re all big into nostalgia here and we\u2019re natural storytellers. The whole process is about ending stereotypes about the orange and green and bringing people together. We go into things from First World War, Titanic<\/a>, legacy of the past.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the mid-1860s, Belfast\u2019s existing burial grounds, including Friar\u2019s Bush and Shankill Graveyard, had reached capacity, prompting the opening of Belfast City Cemetery as a non-denominational burial site.<\/p>\n

Today, the cemetery is the resting place of more than 230,000 people. Among those buried there are industrialists, victims of the Titanic and figures connected to the Troubles.<\/p>\n

The podcast is set to launch next month, and Dara hopes it will challenge misconceptions and educate people. <\/p>\n

He added: \u201cWe want to touch on important subjects, like family funerals. We have the cost of living, food poverty and fuel poverty. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut the deadliest of all is funeral poverty where people are going into debt and danger to pay for their loved one\u2019s funeral. The thing is, you don\u2019t need a funeral director, you never have needed a funeral director, and this podcast is about giving people that vehicle. How do you go about that? <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are fascinated by graveyards and cemeteries. Along this road, during the podcast, we\u2019ll be going into different graveyards, not just in West Belfast, but further afield that we want to go into and explain the history.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A brand new history podcast is set to bring Belfast\u2018s forgotten stories back to life, uncovering the people,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1125662,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5011],"tags":[142704,2348,1144,3796,16,15,94156],"class_list":["post-1125661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-northern-ireland","tag-cemetery","tag-history","tag-northern-ireland","tag-podcast","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-west-belfast"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117025086696908963","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1125661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1125661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1125661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1125662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1125661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1125661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1125661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}