Beauty to Last

From the collection of

Northern Ireland Screen's Digital Film Archive
Launched in 2000, Northern Ireland Screen’s Digital Film Archive spans from 1897 to the present day and currently contains an ever-expanding catalogue of 13,000 items. It comprises material from a variety of depositors including feature films, sport, documentaries, animation, amateur footage, light entertainment, and a significant proportion of broadcast material from the UTV Archive.

Beauty to Last


Let curiosity tempt you and come take a nosy around some of the National Trust's Northern Irish treasures. A beautiful and turbulent past is written in the rocks and stately homes.

This curious travelogue weaves ancient myth with anthropology, architecture and geology. Meet the National Trust caretakers, skilled in crafts that stretch back to prehistoric times. Watch brave men assemble and cross the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. Admire the dramatic hedges of Mount Stewart created for pleasure and posterity. But this film warns us that if it is to last for future generations then we too need to be the caretakers of this beauty we have inherited.

Originally produced by the Northern Ireland Tourist Board this film comes from the collection of National Museums Northern Ireland. This government department had their own staff that documented the region through stills and moving images and the films they created capture various facets of life in Northern Ireland. The Northern Irish Tourist Board was particularly busy in the mid-1950s to late 1960s, creating films that aimed to sell the region as a holiday destination. This material captures an alternate vision of Northern Ireland at an intriguing time, it emphasises continuity, care and beauty in a year when sporadic violence and rioting plagued the region.


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