Ardrigh was the name of his house, on the Antrim Road, under Mc Art's Fort. Joseph Campbell the poet wrote of Francis Joseph Bigger as "ah, the loveliest soul, the lordiest type of mortal Irishman it has been, or will be, my lot to know." Shane Leslie described him as a remarkable man who "under the trammels of a Belfast solicitor, kept the soul of one of the Irishmen of 1798." He was marked out by a lack of bitterness and "imbued the Orangemen with respect, if not an enthusiasm for Irish antiquities." Douglas Hyde came to visit, Casement and many others. He held open house in the early decades of this century for young people of all denominations.
In a book "Joseph Campbell, Poet and Nationalist" Norah Saunders and A. A. Kelly write of his house that "for the Nationalists of Belfast, it became a small university. "He was a bachelor, a Presbyterian with a devotion to Mary. There was a statue to the Virgin in his garden. And, says a friend, one of St Francis. He subsidised books and magazines and theatrical ventures. He was interested in native music. The Mc Peakes, the pipers, often played in his house. He went on an expedition with Herbert Hughes and John Campbell (the poet's brother) to Donegal and they came back with many traditional airs. Joseph Campbell did not go, but he put the words to what we now know as My Lagan Love, The Ninepenny Fiddil and The Blue Hills of Antrim.
Bigger resuscitated the Ulster Journal of Archaeology and his work in restoring old buildings of note was unique. He planned a series of short books on notable Ulstermen, and one, Orr, appeared. Bulmer Hobson, who researched and devilled for him, remarked that there are the bones of other works in Bigger's collection - then in the Belfast Central Library. He subsidised many young writers, too. It was Bigger who had that great slab laid on the supposed grave of Saint Patrick in Downpatrick. The late Flann Campbell, son of Joseph, in his splendid and comprehensive The Dissenting Voice (Blackstaff, 1991) pays tribute to Bigger for his great heart. He was always the man to fill a gap. The Reverend Steele Dickson, prominent United Irishman, after a term in prison led a life of penury, died in poverty and was buried in a pauper's grave. Eighty five years later Bigger had a headstone put over it. A decade or so ago, Ardrigh was demolished to make way for a block of flats.