Matt,DM, Emma's Aunt and Parents
We decided to explore Northern Island rather then South, for a number of reasons. We heard that the Antrim area way up north is breathtakingly beautiful, we were interested in the political strife Belfast was once and to some extent still famous for and we also wanted to visit our friend Emma (who now lives in Sydney)home town and stay with her Folks.
Belfast was a village in the 17th century, this robust northern metropolis of nearly half a million people - a third of Northern Ireland's population - has much in common with Liverpool and Manchester, those breezy cities across the Irish Sea. Belfast was the engine-room that drove the whirring wheels of the industrial revolution in Ulster. The development of industries like linen, rope-making and shipbuilding doubled the size of the town every ten years. The world's largest dry dock is here and the shipyard's giant cranes tower over the port. WE learnt that the famous Titanic was built here - though we don't want to blame the Irish!
In the early 17th century Belfast was settled by English and Scottish settlers, under a plan by Sir Arthur Chichester to colonise and remove Irish Catholics from the land (see Plantation of Ulster). This caused much tension with the existing Irish Catholic population who, in a time of political crisis in England and Scotland and after a bad harvest, rebelled in 1641, attacking the Protestant settlers. The resulting slaughter is still strong in Ulster Protestant folk memory. Belfast was less important than Carrickfergus at the time, and it was there that refugees from the fighting fled and a Scottish army landed to put down the rebellion. Many of the Scots settled in the Belfast area after the war. Belfast was later settled by a small number of French Huguenots fleeing persecution, who established a sizeable linen trade.
During the Second World War, Belfast was one of the major cities in the United Kingdom bombed by German forces and virtually the only one intentionally bombed by the Luftwaffe on the isle of Ireland, most of which had remained neutral during the War. Belfast was targeted due to its concentration of heavy shipbuilding and aerospace industries. Ironically, the same period saw the economy recover as the war economy saw great demand for the products of these industries. See Belfast blitz.
The post-war years were relatively placid in Belfast, but sectarian tensions and resentment among the Catholic population at the widespread discrimination festered below the surface, and the city erupted into violence in 1969 and bombing, assassination and street violence formed a backdrop to life throughout The Troubles. In the early 1970s, the city saw huge forced population movements as families, mostly but not exclusively Roman Catholic, living in areas dominated by the other community were intimidated from their homes. The general decline in European manufacturing industry of the early 1980s, exacerbated by political violence, devastated the City's economy.
As recently as 1971 the city was overwhelmingly Protestant, but today is almost evenly balanced due to higher Catholic birth rates and rising prosperity, together with Protestant emigration (both internal, e.g. to North Down and external) have fundamentally changed the balance.
Today the city still remains scarred by the conflict between the two communities and most of it is highly segregated with enclaves of one community surrounded by another (e.g. Protestant Glenbryn Estate in North Belfast, and the Catholic Short Strand in East Belfast) feeling, and often being, under siege.
In 1997, unionists lost control of Belfast City Council for the first time in its history, with the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland gaining the balance of power between nationalists and unionists. This position was confirmed in the council elections of 2001 and 2005. Since then it has had two Catholic mayors, one from the SDLP and one from Sinn Féin.
However today in Belfast there is little sign of the daily tension once engendered by bomb threats and army checkpoints.Belfast is thriving under the peace process, however you still see armoured vans patrolling and notice the ubiquitous murals and propoganda as we drove along Falls and Shankill Road.
The Catholic Falls Rd and the Protestant Shankill Rd have been the battlefronts since the 1970s. Emma's dad drove us around on the Sunday and showed us a little slice of the history of Belfast during these times.
Emma's parents live just below one of Belfast's famous sites the Belfast Castle. The castle sits on the slopes of Cavehill in its well kept public grounds. We explored the area on our first day in Belfast.
The first 'Belfast Castle' was built by the Normans in the late 12th century. On the same site a stone and timber castle was erected in 1611. The home of Sir Arthur Chichester, barron of Belfast, was burned down in 1708, leaving only street names (eg Castle Place) to mark the site.
The Chichesters (later the Donegalls) lived in England as absentee landlords but came to live at Ormeau at the beginning of the nineteenth century. After re-marrying in 1862, the 3rd Marquis of Donegall, decided to build a new residence within the deer park on the slopes of Cave Hill. The architect firm Lanyon, Lynn and Lanyon was engaged with the junior partner John Lanyon being responsible for the plans of the castle. He followed the Scottish Baronial style, popularised some years earlier by the reconstruction of Balmoral Castle in 1853.
The building was completed in 1870, having far exceeded the initial estimate cost of £11,000. The Donegall fortune had dwindled so drastically that the project was nearly left unfinished. The son-in-law of the Marquis, Lord Ashley, heir to the title, Earl of Shaftesbury, stepped in and paid for its completion.
The 3rd Marquis died in 1884 and the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury the following year. Lord Ashley, and his wife Harriet Augusta, thus inherited the Shaftesbury title and the Donegall home. The two families are remembered in many Belfast street names eg Donegall Place, Square and Road and Shaftesbury Square. The Donegall coat of arms appears over the front door and on the north wall of the castle, while a section of the Shaftesbury crest appears on the exterior staircase. This unusual feature was not on the orginial plans but was added in 1894 by the 9th Earl of Shaftesbury as a present for his mother. The Italian style serpentine staircase connects the main reception rooms to the garden terrace.
The Shaftesbury family were philanthropists, supporting various charities and hosting garden fetes within the castle ground. The 9th Earl became Lord Mayor in 1907 and Chancellor of Queen's University the following year. The family presented the castle and estate to the City of Belfast in 1934.
We felt very warmly welcomed in Norma and Steven's home and enjoyed a lovely Shabbat dinner with them and Emma's Aunt and Uncle. The hospitality was amazing and Matt even got his pants ironed!!!! Thank you Norma and Steven for a lovely few days in your home.