2022 Visit To Belfast

A PAWN VISITS BELFAST

DONEGALL STREET

I assume that this is in fact a bollard but I did not noticed any others of this type while exploring Belfast.

Back in I was contacted by a follower who mentioned that it should be Donegal not Donegall but in this instance they were wrong. When I was six years of age I lived in Donegal and we visited Belfast on a regular basis and one day I noticed that a street sign Donegall rather than Donegal and when I asked my father about he said that it was a very old spelling error and that no one could be bothered to change it. Later I discovered that my father did know exactly why but he felt that it was too complicated to explain in detail.

Arthur Chichester, who was granted a charter for the city in 1613. When he and his descendants were made Earls of Donegal for services rendered a clerical error led to them becoming Earls of Donegall.

Donegall Square is a square in the centre of Belfast. In the centre is Belfast City Hall, the headquarters of Belfast City Council. Each side of the square is named according to its geographical location, i.e. Donegall Square North, South, East and West. It is named after the Donegall family. Other streets to bear their name in Belfast are Donegall Road, Donegall Pass and Donegall Street. Donegall Place, the city’s main shopping street, runs from the north side of the square.

ST MALACHY’S CHURCH PHOTOGRAPHED 2022

ALFRED STREET – RUSSELL STREET IN BELFAST

Saint Malachy’s Church is a Catholic Church in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is located in Alfred Street, a short distance from Belfast City Hall , though it precedes that building by over 60 years. The Church is the focal point of the local parish community, also Saint Malachy’s, one of the 88 parishes in the Diocese of Down and Connor. It is third oldest Catholic Church in the city of Belfast.

In the beginning Saint Malachy’s was served by priests from St Mary’s Church, Belfast until the Parish of Saint Malachy was created in 1866 and Fr Geoffrey Brennan, a native of Kilkenny, was appointed Administrator. The first Parish Priest of Saint Malachy’s, a post created in 1909, was Fr Daniel McCashin.

The area of the city around Saint Malachy’s was dramatically re-developed from the early 1980s. That period of urban planning, and the age of the church itself, led to a deterioration in the condition of the brickwork meaning a full scale Restoration Programme which began in January 2008 and was completed in 2009 at a cost of £3,500,000. The interior of the Church was also restored.

The ornate stencilling around the Sanctuary, painted over in the 1950s, was restored as were the Altar Rails and the intricate mosaic floor. The Solemn Re-Opening and Dedication of the Altar was celebrated on 29 March 2009 by the Bishop of Down and Connor Dr Noel Treanor in the presence of the Bishop Emeritus Dr Patrick Walsh.

This was the first time that Saint Malachy’s had been closed for an extended period since the Church was opened in 1844. During the Restoration, Nuptial and Requiem Masses were celebrated in neighbouring Churches.

LAGANSIDE WALKWAY MARCH 2022

A SMALL SECTION OF THE LAGAN TOWPATH FROM ALBERT BRIDGE TO CROMAC PLACE

To the best of my knowledge the area in my photographs is known as Mays Meadow. No longer a meadow where cattle were kept before sale at the nearby market, May’s Meadow runs from the Laganbank Road to East Bridge Street via a tunnel. Mays Meadow is best described as being close to Central station now knowns as Lanyon Place Railway Station.

The first time I visited this area a middle-aged man offered to photograph me using my camera and got really annoyed when I said that my camera was not insured if I allowed a third party to use it. He said “go back to New York you big fat yank” and as a matter of interest this is not the only time that I was advised to go back home to the USA. About fifteen minutes later I was approached by two police officers advising me that my camera was in danger of been stolen.

In the past I have mentioned that I found many cyclists, using the walkway, to be aggressive to pedestrians but one thing that I did notice this visit was that there were fewer cyclists. Also there were very few e-scooters or e-bikes in Belfast [Dublin is overloaded with them]. I came across the following online “We have recently become aware that the “EAPC” (Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycle) regulations which exempt electric bikes from being treated as motorbikes in most of the UK do not apply in Northern Ireland.”

From Belfast the towpath can be accessed from Lockview Road, Stranmillis. The roundabout at Stranmillis College is signed for Lagan Valley Regional Park, parking is available on the left at the bottom of Lockview Road next to the boat clubs and tennis courts. Alight from 8A Metro bus at Stranmillis College or approx 1 mile walk from Central Station along Laganside to Stranmillis.

From Lisburn the towpath at Union Locks can be accessed from Blaris Road, off Hillsborough Road which is near the M1 Sprucefield turn-off. The Hillsborough Road is on a number of bus routes in and out of Lisburn and the train can be used as a link to Belfast from Lisburn. Lisburn Station is at the bottom of Station Road.

Refreshments at Stranmillis; Cutters river grill and bar. Toilet and café facilities at Lock Keepers Cottage. Restaurant at Ramada Hotel, access from laneway opposite Lock Keepers Cottage. Refreshments and toilet facilities at Malone House, set in Barnetts Demesne above Shaws Bridge. Toilet and cafe facilities in Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park, follow paths from Drumbridge. Restaurant and toilet facilities at Lagan Valley Island, Lisburn.