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Looking down High Street in 1908
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Bringing Old Belfast To The New
Glenravel Local History Project
There is perhaps no more fruitful for of education than to arouse the interest of a people in their own surroundings These words were written by Richard Livingstone and appeared in a book by Alfred Moore called Old Belfast over fifty years ago. Looking back its hard to imagine that they are as true today as they were way back then. More and more people are becoming interested in the history of Belfast and it was out of this that the Glenravel Local History Project were born in May 1991. Many could be forgiven for assuming that this name derived from the famous Glens in Co. Antrim and they would be right but in a roundabout way. Glenravel Street was situated directly behind in the old Poorhouse on North Queen Street and contained quite a few beautiful and historic buildings. One of these buildings was situated at its junction with Clifton Street and although it was officially known as the Ulster Ear, Eye and Throat Hospital it was known to most people as the Benn Hospital. This was due to the fact that it was built by Edward Benn (brother of the famous Victorian Belfast historian George). Mr Benn lived in the Glens of Antrim where Glenravel is situated. Although Glenravel Street contained all this history the street itself was totally obliterated to clear the way for the modern Westlink motorway system leaving us to question schemes such as historical areas of importance as well as buildings. The Glenravel Project was established by local historians Joe Baker and Michael Liggett and has now went on to become the main local historical group in the whole of Belfast. Over three hundred publications have been published by the group as well and several web sites, DVDs and countless newspaper and magazine articles. The Project also conducts several walking tours ranging from the Belfast Blitz right through to a walking tour of the historic Cavehill area. One of these tours is also around the historic Clifton Street Burying Ground which is also situated behind the old Poorhouse and which was opened by them in the mid 1790s. Although our original aim was the historical promotion of this site we have now went on to cover the whole of Belfast as well as assist numerous local historical schemes far beyond our city’s boundaries. This magazine is now our main focus for the local and factual history of Belfast and we welcome all articles of interest relating to the history of our city. And our aim:-
To secure a future for our past 5 Churchill Street, Belfast. BT15 2BP 028 9020 2100 028 9020 2227
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The old Belfast Mercantile College which stood in Glenravel Street. This later became the Belfast High School and moved to Jordanstown when demolished.
Clifton Street at the turn of the last century showing Glenravel Street and the old Benn Hospital to the right
The old Belfast Skin Hospital of Glenravel Street. Can’t blame the developers for its destruction - that was done by the Luftwaffe during the Blitz
FERMOY MURDER MYSTERY n Wednesday, July 31st, 1895 the inquest on the bodies of Mary Ellen Bailey and Driver Denis Donovan, 67th Field Battery, 1, who were found in the river Blackwater three weeks previous was resumed and concluded. The greatest excitement prevailed, as for some time past it has been believed that the deceased weere murdered and the evidence showed that this belief was fully justified. District-Inspector Ball represented the Constabulary authorities, and Captain Gubbins attended to watch the intrests of the battery to which the deceased, Donovan belonged. Dr Williams deposed to making an examination of the body of Donovan. There werre two wounds on the head with great effusion of blood underneath, showing that great violence had been used. His face was badly battered and he was either dead or utterly insensible when thrown into the water. Death was caused by syncope resulting from concussion of the brain. The girl Bailey had also been severely beaten and had previously been outraged. She scarcely breathed after being flung into the river. Dr Dilworth concurred with this evidence. In his opinion the wounds on Donovan’s head were probably caused by a kick from a spur on a boot, but might have been caused by a sharp stone or other instrument of a like nature. Donovan’s wounds could not have been inflicted by one person. Agnes Cooke deposed that on the night of the occurrence she met four artillerymen on the bridge, who said, Good night, Polly," when passing, and used words to the effect that they would "do" for him or it that night. Thomas Shea deposed that at 11 o’clock on the night of July 1st he heard a loud piercing scream from a female and a few minutes after, looking out of the window, he saw four artillery soldiers coming out from the direction from which the scream proceeded. A number of military witnesses were examined,
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Captain Gubbins attended to watch the intrests of the battery to which the deceased, Donovan belonged.
but nothing important was elicited. Director Inspector Ball read a letter which Donovan had written to his mother, in which he stated his life was a misery to him and appealing to her to get him out of the artillery regiment. Coroner Rice, having summed up at length, the jury found a verdict that the deceased were on the night of July 1st wilfully murdered at Fermoy by some person or persons unknown, and added a rider commending District Inspector Ball for the zeal and ability he displayed in prosecuting the inquiry and Captain Gubbins for the manner in which the Royal Artillery aided the investigation. They also expressed their dissatisfaction at the manner in which the ajority of the military witnesses gave their evidence. District Inspector Ball said the constabulary would continue to do their best in the matter. He wished that some of the thirty or forty persons who were up the river walking on the night in question would come forward and give the police information of what was within their knowledge. The brutal crime remained unsolved.
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Old Belfast
THE OLD POORHOUSE AND GRAVEYARD Part 1 any of us are aware of the old graveyard situated at Clifton Street but other than Henry Joy McCracken how many of us are actually aware of who is buried there? If we stated that the inventor of the Christmas card is there would you believe us? How about if we stated that the inventor of Milk of Magnesia and the actual founder of Irish Republicanism are interred there - would we be pushing it? Well the fact of the matter is they are all here and over the next few issues we’re going to take an indepth look at this fascinating piece of history which is quite literally on our doorstep and in this issue we are going to go right back to the very start.
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On the 20th of August 1752 a meeting was held in Belfast by the leading inhabitants of the town and adjoining countryside to consider the question of building a poor-house, hospital and church. It was at this meeting that the Belfast Charitable Society was born and their aim was to build a home for the poor. The necessity for a poor-house is shown by the following resolution passed at a subsequent meeting: Resolved -that, whereas a poor-house and hospital are
greatly wanted in Belfast for the support of vast numbers of real objects of charity in this parish, for the employment of idle beggars who crowd to it from all parts of the North, and for the reception of infirm and diseased poor; and, whereas the church of Belfast is old and ruinous, and not large enough to accommodate the parishioners, and to rebuild and accommodate the parishioners, and to rebuild and enlarge the same would
be an expense grievous and insupportable by the ordinary method of public cesses: Now, in order to raise a sum of money to carry those good works into execution, the following scheme has been approved of by the principle inhabitants of the said town and gentlemen of fortune in the neighbourhood who are friends to promote so laudable undertaking. The scheme was a lottery by which they were to raise a sum of money, the tickets of which
The old Belfast Poor House - Today’s Clifton House
Old Belfast
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Clifton Street Cemetery in 1957
were sold in the large cities and towns throughout the British Empire. But as the scheme did not receive much encouragement in London, and the tickets were cried down, the committee of the Belfast Charitable Society sent over two members, Mr Gregg and Mr Getty, with the power of attorney to promote the project. Notwithstanding the scheme was still decried, and legal proceedings had to be taken to compel the purchasers to pay for their tickets. At last, a sum of money having been obtained, a memorial was presented to Lord Donegall asking him to grant a piece of ground for the erection of buildings. The land the Belfast Charitable Society had in mind was in the countryside at the North of the town which today makes up part of the New Lodge area.
Lord Donegall granted the land to the Society, and later advertisements were issued inviting plans for the building of a poor-house and hospital, the cost to be ÂŁ3000, and the stone, sand, lime and water to be supplied by the inhabitants of the town and district. The plans of a Mr Cooley, of Dublin, for a poor-house to accommodate 36 inmates and a hospital to contain 24 beds were approved, and on the 7th of August, 1771, the foundation stone was laid, and placed within it were five guineas and a copper tablet with the following inscription:THIS FOUNDATION STONE OF A POORHOUSE AND INFIRMARY FOR THE TOWN AND PARISH OF BELFAST WAS LAID ON THE FIRST DAY OF AUGUST, A.D.
M,DCC,LXXI, AND IN THE XI. YEAR OF THE REIGN OF MAJESTY GEORGE III THE RIGHT HONOURABLE ARTHUR EARL OF DONEGALL AND THE PRINCIPAL INHABITANTS OF BELFAST FOUNDED THIS CHARITY; AND HIS LORDSHIP GRANTED TO IT IN PERPETUITY EIGHT ACRES OF LAND ON PART OF WHICH THIS BUILDING IS ERECTED In addition to the hospital and poor-house the building contained assembly rooms for the use of the towns people and profit of the charity. On the 17th of September, 1774, the hospital was opened for the admission of the sick. In this hospital were made the first trials of inoculation and vaccination in the north of Ireland, because, the
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Old Belfast
minutes show that on the 4th of May, 1782, the thanks of the committee were given to Dr W. Drennan (the founder of the United Irishman) for his introduction of the plan of inoculation, and on the 29th of March, 1800, a resolution was passed permitting Dr Haliday to try the experiment of vaccination on a few children in the poorhouse, provided the consent of their parents was obtained. An extern department was afterwards established and wards were also allotted for the treatment of lunatics, and it can be found from an entry in the committee book that a lunatic at one time had to be chained down and handcuffed. It also appears that there was a lock hospital as well as a reformatory in connection with the building.
For a number of years the Belfast Charitable Society remained the only charity in the town of Belfast, but gradually other institutions became established which relieved its expenditure, and with the erection of a dispensary in 1792 and a hospital for infectious diseases in 1799 the Society was then able to close its extern department . In August 1817 the hospital was moved to Frederick Street where it was named the ‘Royal Hospital’, and it was here that the hospital remained until the early part of the present century when it was moved to the Falls Road and renamed the ‘Royal Victoria Hospital’. Since coming under the operation of the Irish Poor Law Act the Society has been, in its practical operation, limited to
the class of decayed citizens. Reduced tradesmen, artisans and servants, under this act, were seen to be fit and sent to the work-house on the Lisburn Road In 1867 an additional wing at the back of the poor-house was erected at a cost of £2.500 which was paid by John Charters (a mill owner),and in 1873 two additions, at each side of the building, were erected by Edward Benn at a cost of £2.850. John Charters and Edward Benn also gave donations to the poor-house along with a large number of others, but donations were not enough to run the poorhouse and the Society had to find other ways of raising money, and in 1795 a new idea for making money was presented to the committee – the opening of a graveyard.
The old Royal Hospital in Frederick which went on to become the RVH
Old Belfast
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Belfast map of 1845 showing the cemetery
Poor-House 27th October 1795 Resolved. That it is recommended to the next general board to consider appropriating one of the fields up the lane for the purpose of a burying ground, and also whether some new regulations ought not to take place relative to the house in front of the Poor-House, in consequence of the erection of the New Barracks. (Signed) William Bristow vice-president That was the resolution passed in the board room of the poorhouse which marked the beginning of what is now known as Clifton Street Cemetery. At present it is unknown just who came up with
the idea of building a graveyard, but without doubt, it must have been one of the gentlemen present at the above meeting. There were two reasons why the Society wanted to build a graveyard; the first was for somewhere to bury the poor who had died in the house and the second was to simply raise money. On the 3rd of November, 1795, a meeting of the general board was held in the Poor-House, at this meeting it was resolved: That the field, number 5, lately in the possession of the Rev. W. Bristow, be enclosed with a wall and appropriated for a burying ground, and the committee are hereby empowered to lay it out and dispose of it in such a manner as may appear most
advantageous to the society, and at the same time ornamented. From this resolution it can be seen that field number 5 of the poor-house grounds was to become the new graveyard. Field no. 5 was at the top of what was then known as ‘Buttle’s Loney’. This was a lane which ran along the south and west sides of the Poor-House, then continued up to the grounds of Vicinage, the home of Thomas McCabe, which is now the grounds of St Malachy’s College. In December, 1795, plans were made as to how the graveyard was to be laid out. Soon afterwards work began on the walls and gate. In just over a year the graveyard was ready for the selling of lots. It was at this time that the
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Old Belfast
The old Exchange Buildings at the foot of Donegall Street graveyard was named the ‘New Burying Ground’ to distinguish it from the ‘Old Burying Ground’ which at that time stood next to St George’s Church in High Street.
Resolved. That a portion of the Poor-House burial ground be laid apart for interring such poor persons as may die, not having funds to pay for their interment in the same or some other burying ground, the same Poor-House, March 1797 to be regulated by the committee The public are now informed for the time being. that the Burying Ground near (Signed) William Bristow the Poorhouse is now ready, Chairman. and that Messers. Robert Stevenson, William Clarke, and John Caldwell are appointed to agree with such persons as wish to take lots. It was this notice which informed the public that the Burying Ground was now open. Once again it is unknown who bought the first lot, but what is known is that the lots were being bought very quickly . Two years later a meeting of the General Board was held in the Exchange Rooms at the bottom of Donegall Street. Exchange Rooms April 16th 1799 At a meeting of the General Board.
The ground laid aside for the poor was a large stretch of land at the top end of the Burying Ground, and it was this ground that was to become a ‘mass grave’ during the various fever and cholera outbreaks. One of the reasons the Board gave this ground for the burial of the poor was that they could save money on burying the paupers in the Shankill or Friar’s Bush graveyards. Another section of the Burying Ground was also laid aside for the burial of paupers, and due to large sections of the Burying Ground being used, it was not long before the lots being sold were almost gone. The Burying Ground over the next two decades was now almost full, and in 1819 a report was read at the Charitable Society’s annual meeting, part of which was a follows: The old Poor House from Donegall Street
Old Belfast The Burial Ground is already so full as to call for the particular attention of the subscribers. The wall lots, in particular, are all disposed of, and, consequently, the graveyard must cease to be a source of accommodation to the public, and of emolument to the charity, without considerable enlargement. It appears to your committee that in the first place, the enclosure should be completed on the south east side, so as to afford room for some additional wall lots, which are the most profitable; and that as soon as may be, the Charitable Corporation should get possession of the adjoining field, now in the occupation of Mr. W. McClure. By the alteration to the burial ground, a simple, but signal improvement has been made,
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walls which were erected as funds would permit. The old gate, which stood where St Enoch’s Church now stands, was bricked up and the new gate was erected on what was then called ‘Hill Hamiltons Avenue’ (now Henry Place), and at the same time a gate lodge was built for the Burying Ground’s caretaker. By 1828 the new section of the Burying Ground was ready and people began to buy lots almost as soon as it had opened. Because of this the Committee decided to keep a registry of all the burials taking place and this began three years later in 1831. Before this new part was opened, a new problem was now facing the Committee of the Burying Ground, and of all the Field number 6 was below the burying grounds throughout the present Burying Ground. In British Isles. That problem was April,1827, work began on the ‘Bodysnatching’. partly a the expense of the Corporation, under the superintendence of certain members of the committee. As this shows, the Poor-House Committee would have to enlarge the Burying Ground if they wished to make any more money on it, and at a meeting held in the Poor-House on the 24th of March, 1827, it was agreed: That field number 6 be enclosed with a proper wall for the purpose of extending the Burying Ground; and that Messrs. Munford, Sinclair, Suffern, McTeir and Mackay be a committee to carry into effect the enclosing and draining of the said field. Chairman.
Belfast map of 1888 showing the cemetery
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Old Belfast
Old Belfast
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A maniac kills his sister and attempts suicide O n Sunday 6th of May 1895, considerable pain was caused in the neighbourhood of Westport by the news that Patrick Louden, the young son of Mr John J Louden B.L., of Killedagan House, had attacked his sister with a razor, cutting her throat and inflicting injuries from which she died two hours afterwards. It would appear that at about midday the poor fellow (who has been in a very melancholy mood for some days past) while at his uncle’s residence, Deer Park, was seized by a homicidal mania, and taking up a knife attacked his uncle Mr George Louden, who was with him. The uncle however managed to knock the knife out of the maniac’s hand and escaped uninjured. The maniac procuring a razor, rushed from the house and attacked and killed a dog. He then ran off in the direction of his father’s house, and on the way, cut the head off a goose at Killedangan. He met his little sister, aged about eleven, and immediately attacked her with the razor, inflicting a terrible wound across her throat. The unfortunate boy continued on his way in the direction of Cloona, and after having stabbed a pig there turned the razor upon himself and inflicted a ghastly wound, extending from the left ear to the windpipe. The police having received the alarm went in search of the youth and found him lying a few yards from the main road at Cloona. Dr Johnston of Westport was promptly on
Patrick Louden attacked and killed a number of animals before turning his attention to his sister
the scene. After getting the maniac removed to Killedangan House he drove there himself and attended to the poor little girl, whose case however, was hopeless, and who, as already stated, died within two hours of the attack upon her. Patrick Louden was subsequently removed to the union hospital and later convictied to a lunatic asylum where he spent the rest of his life. For More True Irish Murder Stories Make Sure You Read Joe Baker’s Column Every Sunday in the Sunday Life
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Old Belfast
Old Belfast
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CAUGHT IN TIME THE BELFAST MARKETS IN 1900 One famous Belfast landmark which has recently been restored is the old St George’s Market. St George’s has been around for many a year and although shown in this 1900 map it is dwarfed by the other markets around it. First impressions show that there must have been a market for everything as there was a Grain Market, a Potato Market, a Cattle Market, a Pig Market, a Fish Market, a Vegetable Market, a Flax market, a Pork Market, a Fowl Market and even a Hay and Straw Market which was the biggest. As the map shows these markets were massive and covered a large area on both sides of Oxford Street right down to Stewart Street. It is great to see St George’s Market restored and used as a general market place but as the map shows the Belfast Markets will never be able to go back to what they once were. It must have been a wonderful experience to walk through these old trading stalls but in these modern times and a better understanding of animal welfare it would be hard to picture stalls such as the cattle, pig and fowl ever being replaced. Traders and farmers came from all over the countryside to sell their wares in Belfast. A look at the Belfast Street Directory of 1900 gives an idea of what they saw and who was there full time. Needless to say Oxford Street was packed full of Potato and Grain merchants but in between there were others such as a Mr J. McMann who had a Butter and Egg shop at No. 8. The dealers are countless and these were trading everything from Army and Navy wear to Tobacco. There was even Oil and Cake Mill Shop! Of course fruit dealers are also numerous and one, James McGahen, advertisers himself as a ‘Home and Foreign Fruit Broker.’ There are plenty of refreshments to be had and rooms can be found at No. 3 where a Mrs Cuddy no doubt threw out many a drunk farmer. For those staying away from the demon drink the
Irish Temperance League had their traditional coffee stand. Another coffee stand is situated on the other side of the road next to the Great Northern Railway. There are also a number of other interesting features around the markets shown on this map. For example at the top left on Victoria Square are the famous Finlay Soap Works. This was one of the biggest in the country and besides soap also manufactured candles and glycerine and was one of ten soap manufactures in the city at that time. Also on Victoria Square were once again the drink detesting Irish Temperance League. Here not only did they have a coffee stand (shown on map) they also had dining rooms. Keeping the League company were the public houses of the Lennon Brothers at No. 41, Conlan at No. 51, and Michael Conlan at No. 16 This was the Kitchen Bar which remains to the present day. Siding with the drink takers is also the establishment of the Irish Distillery Limited whose factory was at No. 35. However at No. 1 Victoria Square was the premises of the famous lemonade makers Cantrell & Cochrane which is still in business in Belfast although not at these premises. Also shown on the map on Victoria Square is the old Empire Theatre which the street directory tells us was being managed by a Mr C. Duignan. At the bottom of the map a massive Bakery can be seen between Eliza Street and McAuley Street. These were the premises of the Inglis Bakery which is listed as being Bakers, Confectioners and Flour Merchants. To the bottom left of the map another Bakery can be seen on Joy Street which was the establishment of McWatter’s. There are many more fascinating features on the map for the reader to see for themselves but one point of interest is to try and count the number of pubs shown in this small area.
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Old Belfast
THE GHOSTS OF RAGLAN STREET t is well established that the vast majority of ghosts stories are in some way connected to a tragic event and that the victim of that event is generally stated to be that of the apparition. Throughout the whole of Ireland there are very few cases were more than one apparition has appeared at the same time and of these few cases there are at least four within Belfast. One example are the two apparitions which were sighted in the old Smithfield Mill after a number of people were killed when a section of the building collapsed. In this case a ghost was sighted by a number of people in one of the working rooms while another was seen to disappear in the stairway. Another Belfast story, which not only has a number of apparitions but also a number of different paranormal events, is centred around one of the most tragic events ever to occur in old Belfast. This series of events was know in Victorian Belfast as "The Ghosts of Raglan Street."
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Raglan Street was a typical turn of the century thoroughfare which connected Cyprus Street to Albert Street in the lower
Falls area. Within this street stood St. Peter's National School which was the main school in the area for a number of years. In December 1894 a preformance came to the school and it was decided to hold it in one of the upstairs classrooms which was larger than all the others in the building. Many children from the surrounding streets attended the show and some of them were accompanied by their parents. When the show began a few of the boys in the front rows began to misbehave and because of this those in the seats behind were forced to stand on their chairs in order to see the performance. As the show was progressing all the gas lanterns suddenly went out and their was a loud shout of 'ghost!' The whole room was in total darkness and widespread panic broke out with the children shouting and crying. A rush was made for the door and when it was opened it was discovered that the hallway was also in total darkness. Those who were first out the doors were pushed out into the hallway by the crowd behind them and as they could not see where they were going many of them fell down the stairs while
others stumbled down over them. Those who fell the whole way down the stairs were blocking the door which led onto the street and in a few moments they had the full weight of all those on the stairs on top of them. This not only made the situation worse for those unfortunate enough to have fallen but all the children on the stairs now began to scream in terror. Peter Cassidy, of 55 Cyprus Street, was one of the few parents who had attended the show. He had taken his four year old daughter to watch the performance. After the incident he made the following statement:The entertainment commenced about a quarter past five o'clock. There was a brave lot of children, and a good many women in the room . The front part was packed thick enough, but there was some vacant space at the back. I should say that there was between 200 and 300 there. The performance had started about half an hour when the gas went out. There was a good deal of confusion before this. The boss of the show came out first dressed up
Old Belfast
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Map of Victorian Belfast showing Raglan Street and began singing 'Come, all you little children.' The children were shouting, however, and the man could not get leave to sing, and he had to stop. He went into the classroom behind and brought out his wife to help him, but they would not listen to her either, and she went in, too, and sent out the little girl. They would not hear any more than the others, and kept shouting and kicking up a terrible noise, but I heard little of their singing or speaking. Then the light, which had been very dim all the time, went out, and left us all
in black darkness. There was a rush by the people behind for the door, and then the children in front got terrified, and scrambled over everything, trying to get to the door too. I was towards the front, and I picked up my little girl and put her in the little room behind out of the rush, and went the length of the stairs to try if I could find a light any how. There must have been a horrible crush on the stairs at that time, though I could not see. The women and poor children were shrieking and screaming. The children ran over each other and
tumbled to get to the door and some of the glass in the windows was smashed. When the gas was lighted I did my best to help free the children as soon as I had taken care of my own little girl. I can't say who put out the gas, but it was a fool that did it anyhow. It caused a heap of trouble, not to speak of loss of life. John Dickson, of 39 Tenth Street, was returning from his work at Dunville's Distillery when he heard the screams coming from the building. He later stated:-
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Old Belfast
I was about the first in, and at considerable risk held the door forced partly back, while I got out one or two of the children. At first we could not open the door for the crush, and afterwards the pressure was so great as to threaten to close it again. I was coming home from work when I heard the shouts and shrieks for help inside. When I got right inside at last, the gas was soon afterwards lit, and I saw a sight on the stairs that I'll never forget. The poor children were lying just like bags of meal, one on top of the other, and in some cases tied into each other as it were. We at once got to work as quickly as possible, taking them out into the air. There was a crowd round the door by this time. One little fellow I took to the house opposite the school, but the poor chap died on my knee almost directly afterwards. He was the last I took out, and he was right at the bottom of the heap at the foot of the stairs. I took a little girl home who seemed very bad, but she got better after a time. I would say there were over fifty children on the stairs. After everyone trapped in the school house were calmed down those who were injured were removed to nearby houses with the more seriously injured conveyed to hospital. As this was going on it was discovered that four children, Eddie McKeown, John Connell,
Dennis Dwyer and Rose Taggart, had been crushed to death. A police investigation was immediately launched and as statements were being taken from all those who were in the building one of them, a man named Neil O'Donnell, stated that he had heard a boy named John McManus tell another boy named John McKenna to "turn of the gas for a geg," a few minutes before the lights went out. The police arrested both boys and held them in custody pending further inquiries Both youths were held in cells adjourning the Belfast Police Courts and according to the old R.I.C. records one of them was extremely restless and was 'making up stories.' John McKenna on his later release claimed that as he was held in his cell he could not get any sleep due to a number of disturbances. He claimed that whenever he tried to get some
sleep a mysterious tapping sound would keep him awake. After some time he called on the attendant to find out what the noise was but when this man entered the cell the noise had stopped, but no sooner had he left the room when it began again. This noise continued the whole time McKenna was held, a noise which no one else heard, and as a result, he got very little sleep. After the Coroner's inquest the following week both boys were released as no one had actually seen any of them turn off the gas, but unknown to them their troubles were only just beginning. On his release McManus left Belfast and went to stay with relatives in Co. Tyrone. When McKenna returned home he could not leave his house due to the ill feeling towards him throughout the neighbourhood. This feeling was to escalate when a number of unusual occurrences began to occur at the school house,
Old Belfast occurrences which terrified all the children who attended the school. Shortly after the tragic event those living near the building began to tell of unusual incidents taking part in the school when it had closed for the night. One of the first incidents was over the Christmas holidays when sounds were heard by the locals of the classrooms being smashed up and inside windows being broken. The police were called and whenever they entered the building everything was found to be in order. This same incident was reported a number of times but the police eventually believed that it was due to the actions of someone
playing a trick on the residents. These were not the only incidents which occurred as there were others which terrified the children during schools hours. The gas lights glowed extremely bright on several occasions and whenever they were checked by corporation gas inspectors they were all found to be in perfect working order. No explanation was found as to what was making the lights go like this and on some occasions parents kept their children away from the school with others being transferred elsewhere. A number of rumours also circulated the area suggesting that a few of the children were struck by objects
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which were thrown at them from nowhere. There is no evidence of this happening and it is believed that these were 'dramatic additions' to the overall stories. John McKenna began to hear of these stories and he connected them to the incident which occurred to him when in police custody. Terrified, and facing community hostility, McKenna decided to leave Belfast. In January 1895, he moved to Co Kildare where it was believed he joined a religious order. When he had gone, there were no more reported incidents in the schoolhouse and both McKenna and McManus never returned to Belfast.
A school drama group pictured in the grounds of Clifton House (the old Poor House) around the mid 1950’s. The building to the right of the picture was the old Ulster Ear, Eye and Throat Hospital (Benn Hospital) and among the buildings in the background is the old Sandes Soldiers Home which served those based in the nearby Victoria Barracks (See next page)
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Old Belfast
JUST WHO WAS MISS SANDES t a time when there is a greater acknowledgement of the role played by Irishmen in the British Army, there is a group of Irishwomen with a unique claim to recognition for their humanitarian work among soldiers. Elise Sandes was founder of a welfare movement which survives today. She was an evangelical Christian and philanthropist, and her concern for a young soldier in Tralee in the late 1860s led her to set up a centre for soldiers’ recreation and general welfare. By 1913, there were thirty-one such Soldiers’ Homes attached to army barracks, twenty-two in Ireland and the rest in India. Only three remained open in the Free State after 1921, but there were still twenty homes in total in the late 1920s. Elise Sandes, was born in 1851 in Oak Villa, now a convent attached to Fatima Nursing
A
Home in Oakpark, Tralee. Her family was a branch of the Sandes family of Sallow Glen, Tarbert, with origins in the Cromwellian period. She befriended a young soldier around 1868, and invited him and friends to Oak Villa for bible study, prayers, hymn singing and lessons in reading and writing. As one soldier put it: “To find ladies of social position and refinement coming to a soldiers’ barrack-room and inviting the men to their own house to spend the evening was like a mighty magnetism to me. Gladly did I accept the invitation to Oak Villa.” Soon the meetings had to be moved to a new location at 15, Nelson St. (now Ashe St.). As the scale of the work expanded, a premises in King Street, Cork, was donated and it opened as the first Soldiers’ Home on 10 June 1877. The purpose was to draw young Casualties of the Boer War
Brian McMahon soldiers away from the public houses and offer them an alternative centre for friendship, entertainment and selfimprovement. The atmosphere in the homes was welcoming, and, while the women were clearly missionaries, prayers and religious services were always voluntary for the soldiers. On the ground floor of the Cork home was a tearoom, the next floor had a meeting room and a reading room, while the top floor had private accommodation for Miss Sandes and Miss Wilkinson. BELFAST HOME Elise Sandes next moved to Belfast and set up a home there, with the help of John Kinahan, Maud McCausland and Miss Steen. The Belfast home was opened in March 1891 in Clifton Street, opposite Victoria Barracks. Homes in Dublin (Parkgate St.), Ballincollig, Queenstown and Dundalk next became part of a growing network, and Sandes’ dream of having a home in every garrison town in Ireland was fast becoming a reality. In 1899, the opening of a home in the Curragh where there were 5,000 soldiers, was particularly gratifying to Elise Sandes. Experience of “canvas homes” in South Africa during the Boer War led to a similar type of
Old Belfast
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A photograph of the Royal Ulster Rifles marching out of Victoria Barracks on to Clifton Street in 1932 and taken from the first floor of the Sande’s Soldiers Home. The house on the top right was that of world famous author Brian Moore. temporary home for the summer months in army camps like Coolmoney in the Glen of Imaal, Co. Wicklow. MOTHER’S The women in charge were addressed as “Mother,” and it is clear from the many testimonies of grateful soldiers that they created a “home-from-home” atmosphere for lonely men, some of whom were alcoholics. Many men came to see themselves as saved in body and spirit, and some became evangelical missionaries. Sandes was a charismatic leader, who had a profound impact on all who met her – she was “endynamited by Christ” according to the organisation’s literature. She proved herself a
very competent administrator also, especially as more homes were established in widely scattered, remote locations of the British Empire. INDIA There was a tradition of military service and associations with India in the Sandes family. Elise’s uncle had been Registrar
General of Calcutta, and a plantation owner, and her sister, the wife of an officer, had died in Rawal Pindi. Elise was well aware of the discomfort, loneliness and tedium of a soldier’s life in India. She responded to military requests for homes to be set up there, with the aim of drawing soldiers away from the wet canteens,
The barracks at Rawal Pindi
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Old Belfast
Old Belfast in the many letters sent from the trenches (left). The scale of casualties was appalling to these humanitarians. Their work for four years was to prepare men for death. Along with prayers, there were practical supports: parcels sent to men at the front, with food, clothing, books, magazines and treats. Women went on board troopships before they sailed, handing out postcards and pencils for soldiers All the homes in India closed in to send a last message home. 1947 when the British departed. DEPARTURE FROM THE FREE STATE WORLD WAR 1 Elise Sandes was in Coolmoney With the establishment of the Camp in 1914 when war was Irish Free State, most of the declared. Army camps expanded homes were closed and Elise with the calling up of reserves Sandes departed from the and new recruits, and she and her Curragh on 3 August 1922. On helpers quickly became familiar her final night there she observed with the horror of war as reported from a distance as a drummer opium dens and bazaar brothels to more wholesome recreations. Anna Ashe set up the first home in Rawal Pindi, with £600 from a donor, and Theodora Schofield and Alice Bailey followed, setting up homes in Murree, Quetta and Lucknow among other places. Elise Sandes now gained a new objective – to establish a home in every cantonment in India.
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from the Free State army met his counterpart from the British army, and they greeted each other warmly. She took it as a good omen for the future. She moved to the new home in Ballykinlar, Co. Down, where she died in August 1934. She was buried in nearby Tyrella, with full military honours. She and her successor, Eva Maguire, are thought to be the only civilian women to have received this distinction. Both women were also awarded the CBE. Elise Sandes’ simple headstone reads: “For 66 years the friend of soldiers.” SANDES HOME IN THE CURRAGH Three homes in the Free State remained open: one in the Curragh, at the request of the
Three homes in the Free State remained open at the request of the Irish Army
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Old Belfast
Belfast’s Victoria Barracks was almost completely destroyed after the German Blitz of 1941. The barracks final closed down in the mid 1960’s after being used as a T.A. Camp. When the serving soldiers were moved to Ballykinlar, Sandes Soldiers Home went with them and the building on Clifton Street was closed down. This could be looked at as almost perfect timing as a new conflict was about to break out between the British Army and the IRA - a conflict that was to last well over twenty years Irish Army, one in Cobh (Queenstown) and one in Dublin. These last two closed down soon after, but Sandes Home in the Curragh remained open until the 1980s. It was never fully integrated into the Sandes organization after 1921, and seems to have survived mainly on account of the determination of the women who ran it. GREAT FAVORITE In the 1950s, the Catholic chaplains expressed concerns about the large numbers of civilians from outside the camp attending gospel meetings in Sandes Home, and about the dangers of young soldiers losing their faith. They had no objection to soldiers using the
canteen, but they were wary of the Prayer House attached. In 1955, Col. A. O Leathlobhair, Officer Commanding, reported to his superiors that there had been an increase in the number of evangelical sayings displayed in the canteen and reading room. Nevertheless, he had very good relations with the superintendent, Miss Carson, describing her as “very much in earnest in looking after the welfare of the soldiers.” Her predecessor was Miss Magill, a niece of Elise Sandes, and the Colonel wrote that “this old lady was a great favorite with the soldiers, and used to get young soldiers to write to their parents, and even advised them to attend the Catholic mission.”
BRITISH Col. O Leathlobhair believed that Sandes Home was “essentially British,” and accepted that there was a possibility that it could unwittingly act as a recruiting agency for “another army.” The walls of the home were adorned with pictures of the royal family and of British regiments in famous battle scenes. Surprisingly, this was not a source of major concern to him, and he merely noted that “all of this, of course, had little value from the Irish army point of view.” He was appreciative of the welfare work done in the home, and its founder would have been satisfied with his conclusion: In justice, I must say that Sandes Home is well run and it fills a real need. Young soldiers are made to feel at home and not faced with the cold commercial atmosphere of the canteen. A good feminine influence meets a real need where young soldiers are concerned, and the only place where some of the young recruits that I obtain, receive anything approaching a motherly care is in Sandes Home. After World War II, there were homes in locations such as Borneo, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Malaysia and Iceland, but there are no longer any international centres. Today the organisation survives as Sandes Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Centres in Ballykelly, Ballykinlar, and Holywood in Northern Ireland, and Pirbright and Harrogate in Britain.
Old Belfast A mixture of trams and trolly busses on Donegall Place in 1951
Another view of Donegall Place this time in 1974
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Old Belfast
TRANSPORTATION, ABYSMALLY TREATMENT AND A MASCULINE WOMAN OF VERY DRUNKEN AND BEASTLY HABITS! e all know what life must have been like in Victorian Ireland and how hardship and poverty were the norm for a vast majority of the people. Accounts of the poverty and deprivation of children in large towns everywhere almost beggar belief. In mid-Victorian Belfast a lucky few were rescued from the streets and placed in ragged schools. Many others, deprived of even this basic education, spent their whole lives in abject poverty, in and out of the gaol house, the whorehouse and the workhouse. One ragged school kept records of those 'rescued'. They referred to their charges by their initials. H.B's. mother kept a rag shop. During his four terms in prison he had twice been flogged and was under the tutelage of an older boy, a professional housebreaker. William did well at the school, found a situation in a mill, married and eventually settled in southern Ireland. His 'tutor', not taken into care, was sentenced to transportation for breaking into a tobacconist's. Ralph and Richard R were left to fend for themselves as their mother spent all her time drinking and gambling. Market stall keepers watched in disgust as the half-naked youngsters scavenged for rotten fruit and stole the refuse from the sheep's trotter stalls. They felt obliged to bring their case to the attention of the school. Ralph was at first very difficult to manage and 'filthy in his habits and uncontrollable'. He once ran away but, when forcibly returned, his mother came to see him and threatened to break his back with a poker if he absconded a second time. Eventually apprenticed he found his calling and caused the community no further problems. Richard too went to work and an even younger brother did not stray from the straight and narrow. The mother, reformed after her dealings with the school, believed that all three would have been transported if there had been no intervention.
W
Thirteen-year-old E.S. possessed, in the way of attire, no more than a dirty threadbare frock. She had been abysmally treated at home and ran away to her grandmother's. When taken into the school her habits were described as filthy. Within one year she had been turned around, sent out to service and, after three years, was promoted to cook, earning the princely sum of ÂŁ18 per annum. Her father, mother and three brothers, all of whom had criminal records, abandoned another young girl, eight-year-old C.T.. Her own mother pawned her boots, during the harshest of winters, in order to buy drink. Stallholders at the Markets took pity on her and fed her scraps until the case was referred to the ragged school. When admitted C.T. was so emaciated she could barely stand in order to leave the bath. Her rags were so filthy they had to be immediately burnt. A buzz of disapproval and tut-tutting was heard in court as C.T. came face to face with her mother once again. She buried her head in the bosom of the school guardian, holding her tightly. She could not bring herself to even glance at her mother. It was painfully obvious to everyone in court that she was terrified of the foul-tempered woman. Although not fully recovered when the final report was written, C.T.'s health and appearance improved tremendously; she was considered 'a nice child and a favourite with all.' One final story from the ragged school is reprinted from the original report: 'The family of Robert B has been known to Mr. Ambler for 12 years. His father was nearly blind, and earned a little by weaving beehives. On his death, the mother who is a masculine woman of very drunken and beastly habits, and a terror to the whole neighbourhood, married again, when her first act was to turn her three boys into the streets.
Old Belfast The eldest, who is now twenty-four years of age and a notorious thief, was only last month sent to prison along with his mother for ill-using a police officer. Robert, then only ten years of age, and his brother William who was a year or two older, were received by the school as inmates, when cast adrift by their mother; with whose approval they had been taught to steal by their brother. William did not remain long with us, and has been once in prison; but he was seen not long ago by Mr. Ambler, and we hope is living honestly. Robert gave us some trouble when a voluntary inmate. He could cry any time, was an inveterate liar, and could not be trusted or depended upon for anything. He three times stole his earnings as
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a shoeblack and brushes; and the Committee being anxious to rescue him if possible, secured his commitment in Sept. 1864. Towards the close of 1866, he had so far improved as to justify the Committee in placing him in a situation, and in December he was apprenticed to a coal trader for five years. His master gave him an excellent character, and his savings in the bank amount to ÂŁ3.5s. Mr Ambler was much pleased when he visited him last Autumn, as he accompanied him to the station to hear him tell in his simple way, how he sang the hymns he learned at school, and prayed while at his work, and he was "sure the Lord helped him."'
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Old Belfast
STREETS AND LANES OF OLD BELFAST he Belfast historian George Benn says in his book “Names are sometimes of long continuance. The expression“‘Bullers fields’ is said to have been in use, or known in 1795, and the origin of the term dates back to the period of the civil wars, when they were really fields or waste ground. They comprised parts of the present York Street, Donegal Street and Talbot Street. Butler’s Row is marked on the map of 1792, and shown as branching off from the old Cow Lane. Butler was a well known citizen.”
T
TANNER Benn does not mention either the christian name or trade of this well known citizen. The only burgess of Belfast of the name Butler was James, a tanner, elected on the 25th February, 1689, and on his decease his successor was appointed on the 6th February 1702. He seems to have earned his reputation solely by being the owner of the field which bore his name long after his death, as he was not raised to the dignity of sovereign during the thirteen years he was Burgess. His
widow, Jane, Daughter of John Brown, Merchant of Carrickfergus married Francis Telford and the marriage settlement dated 28th May of 1709 states All those shares or portions of the Governor’s Fields or Park, Lately possessed by the said James Butler. All situate on the North Side of Broad Street which said Lands were demised to James Butler, deceased the 24th day of January. 1692. THE GOVERNOR’S PARK Butler’s Field was 54 acres in extent and formerly was known as “Governor’s Park,” as may be seen from the parcels of a deed, dated 6th of September 1722“tenement cellars and houses situate on the North side of Broad Street then in possession of Thomas Banks as executer of Richard Hodgkinson a Brew-house for the benefit of the said Tenants and the half of the 51 acres of land called the Governor’s Park and now commonly known as Butlers Field. The ground bounded by the rear gardens attached to the
houses on the North side of Broad or Waring Street, The East Side of North Street and the west side of the back plantation is shown on the 1685 map as undeveloped or waste ground. In the 1715 map it is called ‘Bulier’s field’, which was approached from Broad Street, at it’s western end but “Bulier’s Entrance” and at its eastern entrance, By “Cow Lean”, opposite the present Merchant Hotel. Cow Lane led to the fore plantation named “Strand Street”, in the 1715 map from which two small streets ran westward one to the back plantation, the other, further towards the north on the site of the present Great Patrick Street. These two streets are unnamed on the 1715 and 1757 maps but are named Green Street and Patrick Street respectively on the 1823 map. Benn says - The Governor and the locality of the ‘Parke’ are equally unknown.” It must not however, be overlooked that in the leases of the 17th and 18th centuries the words “Field”, “Park”, “Close” and”“Course”, are used with the same
Old Belfast
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Looking towards North Belfast in 1864
significance, viz. to denote a portion of vacant or unbuilt on ground in the vicinity of the castle. Thus Buller’s Field denotes an unbuilt on field belonging to Buller, and the Governor’s Park denotes an unbuilt on field belonging to the Donegall estate. that contention is borne out by the words in the 1722 deed: “The 5 acres of land called the Governor’s park, and now commonly known as Buller’s field.” In a 1698 lease of a dwelling house in North Street there are the words: - “Extending backwards towards the Governor’s Close.” THE “HORSE PARK” The “Horse Park” was further to the North, as may be seen in the parcels of a lease dated 3rd May 1728: “Situate in Warren’s Plantation bounded on the north by a field belonging to Daniel Mussenden and now in the possession of Joseph
Green and on the south by a plot of ground now in the possession of Andrew Watson and by three slate tenements with their gardens now in the possession of James Patterson, Edward Scrubts and Andrew M’Gee; on the east by the sea and extending backwards and bounded by the loaning to the Horse Park or Pointfield containing by estimation
three acres.” The earliest map on which you can see this plot of ground is that of 1791, which shows the Point Field to the north of New Row (the present Great Patrick Street) and the point loaning leading therefrom. The Point Fields took their names from the point, a portion of the land jutting out into the channel as shown on the 1791 Map (below).
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Old Belfast
POTTHOUSE The term potthouse may require some explanation. It is a rare and obscure word and it is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “a house where pottery is made,” giving as an instance of its use in the “London Gazette,”1607: - “A very convenient brick house to be let having Potthouse belonging to it and a very fine yard for washing of clay.” Sacheverell, who visited Belfast in 1698, says:“The new pottery is a pretty curious set-up by Mr Smyth
the present Sovereign, and his predecessor, Captain Leathes, a man of great ingenuity.” Ten years later, Sir Thomas Molyneux, a distinguished Dublin Physician and fellow of the Royal Society, visited the town in August, 1708, and has left on record :- “Here we saw a very good manufacture of earthenware which comes nearest Delft of any made in Ireland and really is not much short of it. ‘Tis very clean and pretty, and universally used in the North and I think not so much moving to a peculiar happiness in their clay but rather to the manner of beating and mixing it up.”
Junction of York Street and Donegall Street around 1910
POTTERY INDUSTRY Molyneux does not mention a Potthouse, but in a marriage settlement, dated May 28th 1709 there are the words: “Portions of the Governor’s Fields or Park . . . the Potthouse . . . all situate on the north side of Broad Street.” That is confirmed by the words in a deed of March 14th, 1714: - “Part of Buller’s Meadow and the Potthouse or old Soaphouse.” The word “old” is there used in the sense “formerly.” and the position of the soaphouse, which apparently had been converted into a Potthouse, can be approximately located by Maclanaghan’s map of 1715 which shows “Soap Lean” on the eastern side of North Street and running in a South east direction from what appears on the map as “Bachelors Walk.”
Old Belfast The omitted letters are due to a defect on the Map, but by adding what probably were the omitted letters, we get “Bachelors walk.” A variant of the well known”“Lover’s Walk.” The Potthouse was still in existence in 1722 and a lease, dated September 6th 1722, refers to “tenements situate on the north side of Broad street . . . the Potthouse now in possession of Thomas Banks as executer of Richard Hodgkinson.” But the Pottery seems to have been
discontinued about the middle of the 18th century as in a deed of January 13th 1755 there are the words: “Part of Warring’s plantation, containing three acres, Whereon . . . and a Potthouse were formerly built.” The industry was continued towards the end of the 18th century, and an advertisement in 1702 includes the words: “pottery, Ballymacarret, near Belfast.” position of which it is shown on Williamson’s map of 1791 and called “China Manufactory.”
Modern entertainment centre known as the Pothouse at the junction of Waring Street and Hill Street
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To the North East of Bachelors Walk is a large stretch of ground called Smithfield, extending from “the highway to Carrickfergus” towards the south east. The location of Smithfield in that”locality is confirmed by a lease, dated 3rd May 1728: - A Brewhouse Maultkill or Maulthouse with other, the the necessaries and conveniences built on the ground belonging to Samuel Smith. Senior, on the upper end of Patrick Street in Smithfield.” Smithfield does not appear in the area we knew it until the 1791 map of which Benn says: “nor has the time when Smithfield was first granted for and used as a market been discovered.” MAP OF 1715 “The map of Belfast as surveyed in 1815, by John Maclanaghan,” is second only, and in some respects superior to “The Ground Plan of Belfast, pr Thos Phillips, 1685,” The 1785 map gives a detailed plan of the Belfast Castle and its numerous Gardens, but the 1715 map gives the names of the different streets and names at a critical time in the Donegal estate, when through the incapacity of the 4th Earl the demesne lands were being leased out for a long term at
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Old Belfast Belfast map of 1757 showing Belfast Castle and the area around it. (Not to be confused with the big Victorian house on the Cavehill)
ridiculously low rents. The map seems to have been prepared by Maclanaghan, either at the instigation of the Earl and his Mother Guardian, or with a view to their accepting same. Every name inserted is borne out by legal documents of the period, which seems to indicate that he was in touch with the Castle authorities, as is also his note: - “I have illuminated the present custom house with red, the church house and market house with yellow and has omitted the drawing of the castle till I see how it may be repaired.”
MAP OF 1757 “Plan of the town of Belfast Anno 1757,” was presented to the Linen Hall Library by the late Lavens M. Ewart, who discovered it in Dublin in the early 1880’s. This map has but few merits, the chief of which however is the description in writing by the unknown cartographer: “The houses named the plantation, them betwixt it and the North East and the lane leading from the head of North Street heading towards Carrickfergus. Likewise of that lane; are only low thatched dwellings; of a mean appearance; so are the
houses at Mill Street. Peter’s Hill the avenue out of Peter’s Hill. The lane betwixt the foot of Peter’s Hill and Mill Street the alleys extending north eastward out of North Street and the alley betwixt the Linenhall and the lane running up north west from the plantation.” WHEN DONEGALL STREET WAS UNBUILT It will be seen that a distinction is here drawn streets, lanes, and alleys - the importance of which is in the order mentioned. The named Fore Plantation is named Plantation, and no name is
Old Belfast
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The old Belfast Church at the foot of High Street
given to the Back Plantation. Millfield is unnamed, and is The name of Buller is referred to as “the Lane unmentioned, although the 5 betwixt the foot of Peter’s acres of Buller’s Field are Hill and Mill Street.” There shown to be largely is no suggestion of the Mill undeveloped. Ann Street and Dam nor of the Farset which Waring Street are wrongly flowed thence down High termed Bridge Street and Street. It has, however, Wern Street. It shows in several advantages. It in the Rosemary Lane (unnamed) mentions “Two Presbyterian meeting ‘explanation’’“a new built houses,” and omits altogether Linen-hall” which appears the third, which had been in on the map as in Linenhall afterwards Donegall Street, existence over 30 years. Belfast Castle which stood where the present British Home Stores is situated, hence the name Castle Junction, Castle Place, Castle Lane etc.
the greater portion of which is unbuilt. It also depicts clearly the original outlet of the Owynvarra into the Lagan (unnamed) a little to the south of the “Bridge” ignoring its customary appellation of “Long.” “A Map of the Town and Environs of Belfast taken to the Distance of One Irish Mile from the Exchange, surveyed in 1791 by James Williamson,” is the most beautifully executed and accurately detailed map of 18th century Belfast.
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Old Belfast
Looking down old High Street
INACCUACIES I have so far ignored the map of 1660, a date first given by Dubordieu in 1812, although the map had appeared, without date, in Tindall’s Continuation of Rapin’s History of England in 1774. The inaccuracies in it are so gross as to suggest a concoction and consequently most unreliable. It shows the Sluice Bridge over the Farset, opposite to Skipper Street, which, according to the Corporate Records, was not erected until 1696. It does not show the extensive gardens of three acres attached to Sir Arthur Bassett’s house on the west side of the present Royal Avenue, which are
clearly depicted in the 1685 map. it shows a continuation of houses with gardens in the vicinity of the present William Street South, depicted as vacant ground in the 1685 map, named the “Horse Marquit” in the 1715 map, and described as the “Green or Horse markett” in a deed dated 1737. But perhaps the greatest blunder, and an unpardonable one, is the bridge with 12 finished and regular arches spanning the stretch of water in the position of the outlet of the Owynvarra, named in the 1685 map as “the New Cutt River,” and in the 1715 map as “the kinnall” running parallel to”“Long Bank.”
THE ROPEWALK Benn in his 1823 history mistakes this stretch of water for the Lagan, when he says - “The plan, which is to be found in Rapin’s History of England, contains one very singular mistake, the placing of a bridge across the Lagan before the present structure was erected.”””the ‘present structure’ in 1823 being the Long Bridge, erected in 1682. The Rope Walk is sometimes confused with the fore Plantation, which dates back to 1679, when William Waring planted it, in accordance with the terms of his lease. The Rope Walk is of later date. The east boundary of the Plantation is
Old Belfast 1670 was slobland, over which the tide ebbed and flowed. Gradually the ‘void ground’ was reclaimed, and in June, 1690, William III (King Billy to me and you!) drove in a coach along the strand from White House to Belfast. The district became known as Strandmore and in the 1715 map the Fore Plantation is named Strand Street. It was on that strand the Rope Walk was established.
THE SALT WATER POND Daniel Mussenden was granted a lease dated 29th August, 1737, for a term of 41 years of “all the moiety of a tenement late Boyd’s on north side of Broad Street extending backwards 126 feet and three acres of land in Strandmore next the sea.” That lease was confirmed and extended by two leases of equal date, 13th of January, 1755 , 1 -“a parcel
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of of ground adjoining to a place called the Strand of Belfast, being part of Waring’s Plantation, containing three acres whereon some Cabbins, Saltworks and a Pothouse were formerly built, and on which some Lime Kilns are now building.” 2 - “on the north side of Broad Street and Warring Street abutting west upon Cow Lane and being north to south next the said Lane 150
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Old Belfast
feet and abutting east upon the sea, and being from north to south next the sea 100 feet and abutting north upon a walk called the Ropewalk and containing from east to west next the said Walk 150 feet on which said piece of ground certain works are now erected for the manufacture of White Salt and also the Salt Water Pond and Garden thereto belonging containing together two roads and 29 perches.”
EARLY TRADERS AND INDUSTRIES In the above recited leases there is a whole flood of information, not only topographical, but what, perhaps, is of greater importance, economic, from which we get an insight into the early trades and industries - Saltworks, a Pothouse, a Soaphouse. Lime Kilns, all occupying sites on the present Corporation Street, in the middle of the 18th century.
On John Mulholland’s map of 1788 and also on the ‘Turn Cocks’ map of 1790 the portion of John Street, approximately the present Royal Avenue between North Street and York Street is named “Old Rope Walk.” This is confirmed by a deed dated 12th of August, 1709 “All that the Field next the Rope Walk and another field thereunto adjoining next Peter’s Hill.” We thus see that as early as 1709 there
Belfast map of 1685 showing the Belfast Church and a section of the Belfast River which ran down High Street
Old Belfast
St Anne’s Church which stood on the site of the present cathedral
was a Rope Walk in Belfast. Owen, copying R. M. Young’s “Chronological List of Notable Events,” says Captain John McCracken “established the first Rope Walk Company in 1758.” Ropemaking had been carried out in Belfast at least half a century before that date. NEW INTENDED STREET Roger Mulholland, architect was granted a lease for a term of 99 years dated 16 February, 1787, of “ground
situate on the south side of a new intended street through Bullers field, containing at the front next the said street
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323 feet of assize and extending backwards in depth at the west side thereof 183 feet.” In a later deed dated November 3rd, 1796, there is:- ”Situate on the north side of a new intended street through Bullersfield, containing in length at the front next the said street 390 feet and extending backwards in depth a the west end thereof next the passage between the same and Church Wall 118 feet.” That “new intended street’ does not appear in the 1791 map, but it appears in the 1823 map as Edward Street, leading from the rear of St. Anne’s Church to Great Patrick Street. We have followed some of the changes that were effected during the 18th century in Buller’s Field, formerly Governor’s Park. Since that time the area has developed quite a history and quite a dark one at that, but that another story!
TOURS OF BELFAST The Glenravel Project conduct a number of guided tours for groups on different aspects of Belfast's history BELFAST PRISON GHOSTHUNT
Join with a local paranormal research society ghost hunting in the old prison
FROM BODYSNATCHERS TO BOMBS
A fasinating walking tour of the history Clifton Street Cemetery
THE BELFAST BLITZ
A City Centre tour looking at the stories behind the German bombing raid
THE DARKER SIDE OF BELFAST’S HISTORY
See what life was really like in Victorian Belfast
toursofbelfast.com
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Old Belfast
CREAKING LOCKS, PRESERVED RABBITS AND TEAR-AWAY CHILDREN LIFE IN THE VICTORIAN CRUMLIN ROAD JAIL or some time now we have been describing what life was like inside the Crumlin Road Jail during Victorian times using descriptions from the prisioners themselves. We have added nothing nor taken anything away as we wanted you to read for yourselves exectly what this life was like for these people. Over the past few years we have obtained detailed descriptions of this jail life and therefore return you to the words of one of the Victorian prisioners themselves.
F
At 5.45 am three strokes of a bell announces the commencement of another working day, and if they fail to awaken any sleeper, the creaking of locks and the clanging of doors, which shortly follow will do the business. Each cell door is opened by a warder, and the occupant asked if he is “all right,” and told to place outside of the door his tin pannikin, if it be required to contain any portion of his breakfast. At 6 o’clock each prisoner is supposed to be washed,
James Hall was shocked and offended by the number of tear-away children
Old Belfast
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Oakum picking at the Belfast Prison
dressed; have his bedding neatly folded up, and himself ready for work. At that hour a bundle or “task” of oakum, about 4lbs in weight is handed to me. This is a day’s work... The majority are still employed at oakum picking and the rest find work in mat making, ship fenders and in stonebreaking. Shoemakers and tailors respectively find employment in making and repairing the prison shoes and garments; blacksmiths, joiners and tinners have facilities for plying their respective crafts and all the extensive whitewashing and cleaning is effected by prison labour... The principal punishments inflicted for ordinary breaches of discipline are forfeiture of marks, close confinement to cell, and bread-and-water diet. For repeated offences and more serious ones such as assaults on officers, window
breaking &c., confinement in a dark cell on bread and water is reserved and the Governor has power to order personal chastisement if he thinks fit... The “county crop” is no longer administered; the hair, when it requires cutting is operated upon in the ordinary way, unless its luxuriant filthiness affords a shelter to vermin when the surgeon may order a clean sweep. Shaving is abolished though some manage to perform it with the knives used at their work. Tobacco is the great want and every new comer is pestered with applications for a “bit of snout.” “Snout” is “gaolic” for tobacco, and notwithstanding the strict scrutiny of the reception room, small quantities of it now and again find their way inside... Talking between those in adjoining cells is made easy by the perforations in the walls, laboriously made by a bit of wire,
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Old Belfast
which can be got from the rim of a dinner tin. The cells are frequently visited in consequence of these offences, the holes plugged up with wood, and prompt punishments await those whose offences can be clearly brought home to them... I can scarcely attempt to describe the feeling which possessed me, when I completed my time and found myself in my ordinary habilements, outside the prison walls; the buoyant cheerful feeling which the Turkish bath induces is a faint approach to it. In conclusion I may say that I firmly believe that prison discipline, as it is now applied does exactly what it is intended to do. It is a severe punishment but it is also a reformatory: regular hours, plain and
nutritious food, and strict temperance improve the health of the body, while the frequent religious instruction and exercises do as much for the soul, and a prisoner - if there is any good in him at all - returns to society a wiser and a better man. Quite often the Belfast Gaol provided mostly temporary accommodation for the thieves, rogues, vagabonds, prostitutes, and, above all, inebriates of the town between 1828 and 1881. For a few inmates this was their last resting home. Some were publicly hanged and some privately. All were buried in the prison burial grounds but, like the gaol itself, their ‘marked tombstones’ have long since disappeared.
Old Belfast
To their credit many Victorian individuals and charities sought to rescue youngsters from a life of hopelessness and crime, which seemed especially likely after a spell inside. One such reformer put his ideas into practice in an original manner. James Hall was shocked and offended by the number of tear-away children. With the aim of turning many of the rudest boys into worthy citizens, he founded a school on board The Wellesley one of the oldest sailing battleships of the line. With the help of public subscriptions, the 50gun ship was moored and converted to a training ship for approximately 300 boys aged between 12 and 16. The lads had not been convicted of any crimes but, for one reason or another, were considered at risk and likely to spend at least part of their lives at one of Her Majesty’s ‘hotels’. The day began at 5 am with a cold bath. The boys were taught seamanship, swimming, diving, navigation etc with a view to their following a life on the ocean wave. Discipline was harsh, there being no holidays, and leave rarely given. The emphasis was on moral and religious training. To keep costs down the lads were responsible for making and laundering their own clothes. Porridge was served at breakfast two mornings a week, rice with sugar and currants on another two and cocoa and bread rnade up the weekday morning menu. In what was considered a treat, Sunday’s breakfast was a half pint of coffee with bread.
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Dinners would typically contain about 5ozs. fresh meat, vegetables and suet pudding. Australian ‘preserved’ rabbit, plum pudding and reasonable allowances of bread also featured on the menu. Tea was a half-pint, served with eight ounces of bread with marmalade on Saturdays, and butter on Sundays. By the very nature of training ship ‘recruits’, punishment of bread and water had to be administered periodically and some of the boys took longer than others to settle in. On the whole, however, the scheme was considered to be a success with around seventy-five per cent of the youngsters enlisting in the navy at the end of their course. The end of The Wellesley came when she caught fire on March 11th 1914. The absence of panic amongst the 290 lads on board testified to the discipline instilled. Clad in their blue uniforms the youngsters, many of whom were shoeless, abandoned the sinking ship by every possible means, down the accommodation ladder and via perilous descents on ropes. They were rescued by the various vessels which had assembled to render them assistance. The following dawn saw a smouldering hulk, listing and resting on the mudbottom of the river. It was in no way salvageable and was towed away to the slake where it lay forgotten in the mud.
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Exhibition Organised as part of the BELFAST HISTORY PROJECT
BELFAST IN THE 1950’S A FASCINATING PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION SHOWING LIFE IN THE CITY DURING THE 1950’s
Governors House
BELFAST PRISON The Crum (Crumlin Road) Thursday 23rd April Friday 24th April Saturday 25th April ADMISSION FREE Supported By
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ISSN 1757-7284