Today we left the van parked at Carrickfergus and caught the bus into Belfast. Since we only had the one day, we decided the best way to see as much as we could would be to take the hop-on-hop-off tourist bus, so we took the public bus to the City Hall and bought our tickets for the tourist bus.
Before I go into much detail of the trip around Belfast, I wanted to list out a bit of the history, which is reflected in so many parts of the city. I remember being a kid and hearing about another bombing in Belfast, the Ulsters and IRA. Twenty years ago I would never have considered taking my kids to Belfast (not least of all because I would have been seventeen and without kids...), and the signs of "The Troubles" as they are called are still obvious in many parts of Belfast, and are one of the things that made the city so interesting to tour. Here's my simplified version:
Belfast is an ancient city, the area had been settled since the Bronze Age and became a serious settlement in the 17th century. Prior to that time it had been of secondary importance to the nearby Carrickfergus.
Prior to 1167 Ireland was run by many local clans, but England invaded in 1167-1187 with the much better armoured and disciplined Normans overrunning the divided clans.
In the 14th century Edward Bruce of Scotland invaded Ireland and rallied the local against the British rule. This, coupled with the great European Famine in 1315 and the Black Death in 1348 weakened the British hold on Ireland and the local clans (the Gaelics) slowly took back some of the power as England weakened.
In 1536 Henry VII invaded Ireland and bought it under English rule again. A big importance to Ireland at the time was religion, a majority of the peasants and citizens were Catholic, while the leaders were often Protestants.
In 1801 Ireland and Britain merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. This essentially put Ireland under English rule, but with some representatives in the English parliament at Westminster.
Ireland's focus was mostly on the great potato famine in 1845-1849 where a form of potato blight caused mass starvation. As thing settled, the Irish began to again look towards Home Rule (i.e. Irish rule over Ireland instead of English rule). Local councils were given power in 1898 under the Local Government (Ireland) act, which caused tensions between Irish Nationalists (who supported Home Rule) and Irish Unionists (who supported the union with Britain). This was also based along religious lines, with the Protestants wanting to remain with Protestant England (as unionists) and the Catholics wanting to be separate (as Nationalists).
The Protestants formed the Orange Order and the Catholics formed the Ancient Order of Hiberians.
A Home Rule bill was introduced in 1912 but the Unionists were not happy and the Ulster Volunteers were formed in resistance to self-government. These clashed with the nationalists who supported home rule. Hostilities were halted by World War I, where both sides fought alongside the English army.
In 1916 there was an insurrection against Home Rule, called the Easter Rising, in which nationalists tried to use the distraction of the War to force independence. The uprising was suppressed and the leaders executed. This caused favour to swing to the side of the nationalists and the Irish Republican Army (IRA) waged a guerilla war against England until 1921 when a treaty was signed. At this point Ireland was divided, with the northeastern corner remaining under British control as Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland becoming a self ruled republic.
The Troubles continued, particularly in Belfast, which was in Northern Ireland, but still divided along Nationalist/Catholic and Unionist/Protestant lines. The Provisional IRA and the Ulsters formed paramilitary groups and there were multiple bombings and shootings between 1969 and 1998.
The Ulsters fought to preserve British rule and prevent home rule, while the Nationalists fought for home rule. The Ulsters were mostly based around Shankill Road in Belfast. During The Troubles there were many civilian casualties and often blame was argued between both sides. 500 people, mostly civilians were killed in Northern Ireland in 1972 alone. A ceasefire was finally agreed upon in 1998 (after several failed attempts).
So why did I bother to explain all this? (and thank you for still reading, by the way) Because Belfast is a town that has a deeply divided history. It was the site of many of the bombings, the Europa Hotel on Great Victoria Street holds the dubious honour of being the most bombed hotel in the world - as it was often the location of many journalists covering The Troubles, so bombing it was a way to get immediate attention. It was bombed 36 times.
Belfast is much more peaceful and welcoming now, but the signs of its past are everywhere, barricades, murals and gates. The Belfast Peace Wall, which separates a Christian and Protestant area has now been standing longer than the Berlin Wall.
So without any more rambling from me (I blame kissing the Blarney Stone), here's our trip to Belfast:
Our first stop was Belfast City Hall. Built in 1898, it makes an imposing sight when we arrived in Belfast:
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| Belfast City Hall |
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| Side Facade |
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| From the side |
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| Titanic Memorial at the rear |
The next stop on our trip was The Albert Memorial Clock, which is Belfast's answer to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It was built in 1869 and was designed as part of a competition to honor Queen Victoria's late husband Prince Albert. It is 113 feet tall, but was unfortunately built on soft, marshy ground (land reclaimed from the River Farset) and so it has partial sunk, leaning at an angle four feet from vertical.
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| Approaching the Prince Albert Memorial Clock |
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| The clock |
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| Base of the clock. |
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Continuing with our tour on the bus, we passed the Belfast Customs House - built in 1854 it was originally situated on the port before the land was reclaimed. On its steps is a statue of someone giving a speech (Called "The Speaker"). This was a popular site for people to rant or give political speeches:
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| Customs House |
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| The Speaker |
From Customs House we crossed over the River Lagan and passed the Salmon of Knowledge. The tale of Fionn mac Cumhuaill (Finn McCool - the same giant from Giant's Causeway) say that when Finn ws young he was sent to a wise man Finnegas who lived on the River Boyne. There were some things that Finnegas didn't know and so he told Finn the reason he lived on the River Boyne was that the Salmon of Knowledge lived there. The Salmon had acquired the wisdom of the world by eating the nuts from magical hazel trees and Finnegas lived on the banks attempting to catch the Salmon and gain its knowledge.
Shortly after Finn joined Finnegas, the older man finally caught the Salmon. He ordered Finn to cook it immediately but not to eat any of it. When Finnegas returned from fetching firewood he saw than Finn had the glow of wisdom in his eyes and accused him of eating some of the fish. "I have not!" Finn protested, instead he had burned his finger turning the spit and sucked it ease the pain. So it was because of this that Finn gained all the knowledge of the world and became a wise leader.
It is rumoured that if you kiss the statue you will gain knowledge, but our guide suggested you'd be more likely to gain tetanus of a dose of antibiotics.
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| Salmon of Knowledge |
The Salmon is 10m long and officially named "The Big Fish".
After the passing the Salmon, we headed into the docklands. The first and most obvious sight was the twin cranes of Samson and Goliath. These cranes were once the shipbuilding cranes for Harland and Wolff and are visible from almost anywhere in Belfast (since Belfast is shaped like a bowl and the cranes are in the middle), they were even visible from Carrickfergus. Goliath is 96m tall and Samson is 106m. They were built in 1969 and 1974 respectively and have spans of 140m and can lift loads of up to 840 tonnes 70m high. Harland and Wolff were the company that built the ill-fated titanic at these dockyards, but of course Samson and Goliath were not used as they hadn't been built at that stage.
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| Samson and Goliath |
Goliath is the closer crane here and Samson is closer to the sea at the back.
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| Goliath |
Since the dockyards is where the RMS Titanic was built, it is only fitting that it is also home to the biggest Titanic exhibition. Initially the Belfast workers who built the Titanic were embarrassed by the failure, but they have since come to say "she was fine when she left here." And to remind people that of course she had a British captain and a Scottish first officer...
The Titanic Museum was built to represent the RMS Titanic, with its walls and design being the same height and shape as the ship:
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| Titanic Museum |
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| Side view |
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| Back |
Also located at the dockyards was the Titanic Studios Lots which were currently working on Game of Thrones. There was a lot of secrecy, so most of the area was fenced off, but we caught a few glimpses over the top:
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| A tower? |
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| Looks like the back of a village set |
Moving onwards, our next main stop was Stormont Estate. Stormont Estate is the site of all of the main government buildings for Northern Ireland and as such we were stopped and boarded by a police officer before being allowed in. The name comes from the Gaelic Stoirmhonadh meaning Place for Crossing the Mountains.
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| Parliament Building on Stormont |
The parliament building faced a problem in World War II - it was used as RAF Operations room and being that it was a big white building (built from brilliant white Portland stone) situated in an open area atop a hill and near to the large shipyards, it was an obvious target for bombers. In an attempt to disguise it somewhat, the build was painted in an 'easily removable' mix of bitumen and cow manure. This turned the building black, but unfortunately after the war it didn't turn out to be so removable. The mixture damaged and pitted the paint as well as permanently discolouring it. Some sections, like the top of the building above, never regained their white colour at all. It took seven years to clear as much of the 'paint' off as possible.
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| View down to the gates from the Parliament house |
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| Statue of Edward, Lord Carson orating - erected in 1932 |
Belfast was also the birthplace of CS Lewis, who wrote the Narnia stories. There is a square named after him, as well as several murals and a statue called "The Searcher":
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| The Searcher |
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| The Searcher |
Now we started to move into the more interesting sections of Belfast, those that still worse the scars of The Troubles. Our first road was Newtownards Road.
The murals in Belfast are usually politically focused, either Unionist (in favour of staying under Birtish Rule) or Nationalist (in favour of staying under home/Irish rule), however since the peace there have been more positive murals appearing.
Further dividing the groups are the Loyalists (Unionists in favour of paramilitary action - paramilitary meaning an unofficial force organized similar to a military force) and Republicans (Nationalists who who also favour violence to achieve their goals).
Unionist areas have lots of red, white and blue (for the Union Jack) as well as Union Jack flags and loyalist murals. In Nationalist areas the colours are the Irish colours of green, white and orange.
Newtownards Road is a Loyalist Area and therefore decorated with murals as such. In addition, at the west end, Newtownards Road meets the Short Strand area which is Republican. So, Newtownards is known as an 'interface area' and is therefore more prone to political murals.
(One note before moving to the murals - there are more Loyalist mural photos on this page that Republican murals - that is purely due to the location of the murals and which ones we were able to take photos of and doesn't indicate any political leaning)
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| One of the peaceful murals advertising the Cornswater Community Gardens |
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| One of the Ulster Paramilitary murals |
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| Another of the 're-imaging' murals - this one for the Titanic |
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| Right next to this paramilitary one with masked men with rifles |
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| And another |
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| A mural for the First World War - alongside (and not seen) is a mural remembering those killed in the troubles |
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| Remembering the 36th Ulster Division who fought in WW I - and lost 2000 men in the battle of Somme (on the 1st July 1916 - the date shown on the memorial) |
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| A peace mural |
We then passed Freedom Corner, one of the more famous sites for Loyalist murals:
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| Freedom Corner - Ulster Young Militants |
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| Ulter's Present Defenders |
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| Ulster's Past Defenders |
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| East Belfast Brigade (note Samson and Goliath Cranes in the background) |
After Freedom corner, but still on Newtownards Road, we came across the statue of "Titanic People". This is a memorial to the workers who built the RMS Titanic:
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| Titanic People |
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| A CS Lewis Mural |
Also located on Newtownards Road is St Patricks Church of Ireland (one of two St Patrick's Churches in Belfast, causing me some confusion when I sorted out all of our photos). This one is for the parish of Ballymacarret and is an Anglican church:
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| Saint Patricks Church of Ireland |
Finishing up on the east side of Belfast, we crossed over the River Lagan on the A2 Bridge, passing the Beacon of Hope statue. The statue is also officially known as the Thanksgiving Square Beacon and was installed in 2007. Made of stainless steel and bronze it stands 19.5m tall. She holds "the ring of thanksgiving" and stands on a globe representing "the universal philosophy of peace, harmony and thanksgiving." Belfast also has a tendency to give its sculptures nicknames, and so this one is also called "Nuala with the Hula", "Belle on the Ball", "Thing with the Ring" and "Angel of Thanksgiving":
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| Beacon of Hope |
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| Nuala with the Hula |
As we continued past the Laganside Courthouse, there were some obvious signs of The Troubles:
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| Several foot thick bomb-proof wall |
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| Bomb-proof wall |
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| Secondary fence behind the wrought-iron one for blast protection |
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| More blast protection at the main entrance. |
We then passed the City Hall again and then came across the Assembly Buildings Presbyterian Church, an impressive old building:
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| Assembly Buildings Presbyterian Church |
And then the Grand Opera House, which was opened in 1895:
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| Grand Opera House |
and then past the Queens University Belfast. The University (known as QUB) was opened in 1849 and houses some impressive buildings:
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| QUB |
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| Elmwood Hall - part of QUB |
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| QUB |
Then onward, past the St Thomas' Parish Church:
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| St Thomas' Parish Church |
We then continued down onto Tates Avenue where we saw more signs from The Troubles - in this case a dividing "peace" wall and fence that divided areas of different loyalties:
Next we came to another public scuplture in west Belfast, this one called Rise. This is a 37.5m tall sculpture costsing £400,000 (710k AUD). It was unveiled in 2011 and is said to represent the rising of a new sun to celebrate a more peaceful part of the history of Belfast. The spheres represent the sun and moon. As with other public works it has several unofficial nicknames - "The Balls on the Falls" (as it is on the road leading to Falls Road), "Westicles":
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| At 37m tall it is easy to see from a long way away - I'd assumed it was something football related initially - maybe indicating a stadium |
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| Rise |
After this it was back into the politics of The Troubles as we headed onto Falls Road. Falls Road is a strong Republican (Para-militant Nationalist) area that neighbours Shankill Road which is a mostly Loyalist (Para-militant Unionist) area, making it another interface zone. The two zones are divided by the Peace Line (or the Peace Wall) which is up to 7.6m high. They were built as temporary structures but have remained because they were so effective. Plans were made to remove the walls that have now been in place longer than the Berlin Wall was, but a vote in 2012 said 69% of citizen believed they were still necessary to prevent violence. There is a plan for them to be removed by 2023.
Falls Road is also known as The Falls from the Irish "
túath na bhFál" meaning Territory of the Enclosures. The Ulsters refer to the road as the Faas Raa. In 1970 the Falls were put under a curfew following uprisings by the catholic population. The British (Protestant) army marched in to seal the road and were attacked by the IRA. The IRA hit squads were based on this street, so it has quite a political and bloody history as the murals reflect
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| Provisional Government Papers - the first declaration of an Irish state |
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| Memorial to Pat Finucane who was a human rights lawyer killed by Loyalist paramilitants in collusion with Englands MI5 |
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| Ni Saoirse go Saoirse na mBan - There is no freedom until the Freedom of Women |
The above is a protest of Irelands 8th amendment, which recognizes equal rights for mothers and unborn children - making it impossible to create laws allowing abortion.
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| A more recent peaceful mural |
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| The area is also home the Gaeltacht Quater which seeks to preserve and promote the Irish language over English |
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| Nationalist Mural |
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| Mural to Bobby Sands - a member of the Republican army who died on hunger strike in prison in 1981 |
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| Garden of Remembrance for Republican para-militants |
We then drove down the street with a majority of the Republican murals and I tried to film them all, but my camera ran flat - here's the ones I got:
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| Looking down the street |
Next we came to the Peace Line wall between the Shankill Road Loyalist area and the Falls Republican area. This is a 7.6m high wall to divide the areas. It also is fitted with gates that can be used to separate the two areas by closing the roads in times of tension, such as political marches or specific dates and anniversaries.
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| It was a tall and intimidating wall |
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| It towered over our double-decker bus |
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| Some of the murals and graffit along the wall - unfortunately we weren't in a good position to photograph it |
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| The gates to close the road |
We were then into the Shankill Loyalist area and more political murals:
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| C Company 1st Belfast Battalion Ulster Volunteers |
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| Photo of Ulster Tower - opened to memorialise the Ultser forces killed in World War I |
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| "We will not have home rule" |
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| Celebration of the Queen |
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| Shankill Memorial Park for Loyalists killed in The Troubles |
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| Memorial for the Bayardo Bar attack |
The above is a memorial for the Bayardo Bar attack in which IRA soldiers attacked a Shankill area bar with bombs and guns. The rationale was that it was commonly used by Loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) in retaliation for an attack by the UVF on an Irish Cabaret bands minibus (the Miami Showband). It is believed that the plan was to frame the band as potential IRA bombmakers. The retaliation attack on the Bayardo bar killed 4 protestant civilians and one UVF member.
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| Memorial to Loyalist casualties of The Troubles |
We then moved out of the more political areas and passed the other St Patrick's Church:
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| St Patricks's Church |
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| The spire |
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| The door |
We then came to Crumlin road, site of the famous HM Prison Crumlin Road or Crumlin Road Goal as it is more often known. The goal is the only Victorial era prison remaining in Northern Ireland, opened in 1846 and closed in 1996.
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| Crumlin Gaol |
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| The Gaol |
Across the road lies the courthouse, which unfortunately is in a bad state of repair:
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| Crumlin Road Courthouse |
A tunnel passes under the road from the courthouse to the Gaol, so prisoners could be taken directly into the prison after being convicted.
Then we were back into politics again with the Orange Hall - a conservative protestant order:
We then passed to St Anne's Cathedral, an amazing Church of Ireland building which also houses a 40m tall steel spire known as the Spire of Hope, or with the unofficial nickname "The Rod to God"
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| The Spire of Hope |
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| The massive Celtic Cross at St Annes with thbe Spire of Hope in the background |
We then walked around for a while, admiring a few more murals and sculptures:
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| This one seems to be an advert for CQHQ a business centre in Belfast |
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| This one was pretty cool |
The final thing we saw was outside the Corn Exchange, a cool little scupture called "Penny for your Thoughts" that was created by Peter Rooney using stacks of coins as bollards:
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| Penny For Your Thoughts |
After Belfast we caught the bus back to Carrickfergus Castle and stayed there for one more night before getting ready to head off the next morning.
No driving done by us this day, but here's the route the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus took:
The full map and list of stops can be found
here.
