STRANMILLIS PARISH IN BELFAST
This was my first to explore Stranmillis area of Belfast in detail. I visited again in 2021 and 2022.
I photographed this attractive church in June 2016 and I was in as really bad humour as it rained all day and when I tried to gat a bus from Stranmillis I had to stand at the bus stop for more than an hour and on arriving in the city centre I realised that I could have walked in less time than I waited for the bus.
There is an amazing number of churches in Belfast but in many cases it is difficult to discover their history. All that I can find out about this church is that it may have been built in 1931 or 1932 and that it is Church Of Ireland [Note: 1926 Tenders invited for New Church Builidngs, St Bartholomew’s Parish]. The Church of Ireland is part of the worldwide Anglican Communion which has 70 million members in 164 countries. The Diocese of Connor, in the Province of Armagh, is one of 12 dioceses on the island of Ireland.
I visited their website and on selecting the History Tab found no information relating to the past.
Stranmillis (from Irish an Sruthán Milis) is an area in south Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is also an electoral ward for Belfast City Council, part of the Laganbank district electoral area. As part of the Queen’s Quarter, it is the location for prominent attractions such as the Ulster Museum and Botanic Gardens. The area is located on Stranmillis Road, with Malone Road to the west and the River Lagan to the east. Its name, meaning “the sweet stream” in Irish, refers to the Lagan, whose waters are still fresh at this point, before becoming brackish as the river flows onward toward its mouth in Belfast Lough.
Stranmillis Road begins at the junction of University Road, Malone Road and College Gardens, heading uphill and southwards past Friar’s Bush Graveyard and a small shopping district, before descending towards the River Lagan. The route then swings to the west around the outside of Stranmillis College and uphill again, before rejoining the Malone Road. The north end of Stranmillis Road contains many shops and restaurants, while the south end of the road is mainly housing.
The Malone and Stranmillis Historic Urban Landscape featured on the 2010 tentative list of sites proposed for addition to the List of World Heritage Sites of the United Kingdom, as an area of architectural interest featuring examples of the Arts and Crafts Movement.
