Shirt Tales Experience - History.Story.Stitch

What to Expect

Shirt Tales Experience - History.Story.Stitch is a community craft session built around Derry’s shirt-making history, once the city’s biggest employer and a defining part of its social fabric for well over a century, with dozens of factories across the city employing thousands of women at the industry’s peak. Held inside First Derry Presbyterian Church on Magazine Street Upper, itself a historic congregation dating back to the 1690s within the city walls, the session brings people together to stitch and share memories connected to the shirt factories, with a focus on the women who worked in them and the stories, working conditions and community life that have been passed down through families since the factories closed. It is a hands-on, conversational format rather than a lecture, with participants encouraged to bring their own family stitching or shirt-factory memories along, aimed at connecting local heritage to the personal and domestic history of the shirt trade rather than presenting it as a purely industrial story. The session forms part of Visit Derry’s ongoing Heritage Venue Events programme, which runs small-scale community heritage sessions across historic buildings in the city throughout the year, giving visitors and locals alike a reason to step inside buildings they might otherwise only see from the street.

Good to Know

• Saturday 15 August 2026, 10:30am to 12:00pm
• Venue: First Derry Presbyterian Church, Magazine Street Upper, Derry
• Listed under Visit Derry’s Heritage Venue Events programme
• Check visitderry.com or contact the church directly for booking and price details ahead of the date
• A good fit for anyone with family connections to Derry’s shirt factory history

Getting There

First Derry Presbyterian Church is on Magazine Street Upper, inside the city walls close to the Guildhall and Society Street. It is within easy walking distance of central Derry car parks and bus routes.