Mapping Belfast's hidden river Farset

The Farset is the now mostly underground river that is said to give Belfast its name*. There has been talk of 'daylighting' the river in places, ie uncovering it from its culverted fate to flow openly again. This could boost nature and air quality and also potentially alleviate flood risk. Belfast's underground rivers have been linked to some of the flooding experienced by the city.

Most articles about the Farset focus on the stretch from High Street to the Lagan. While it's not universally known that a river of some importance in the city's development once flowed here, I'm betting a fair few High Street shoppers know of its existence underfoot.

But on the Google Map below I've expanded outwards to try to map some of the Farset's known locations along its whole course, while guessing at a few more. "The lost river that gave Belfast its name" is an interesting 2013 article from the Belfast Telegraph which has provided the basis for many of the locations.



This BBC article meanwhile focuses on the aforementioned High Street location.

Pinpointing the Farset's actual source is more problematic. The Origin sculpture, overlooking Belfast from Squire's Hill, purports to celebrate the source of the river though I'm not sure how precise its location is meant to be. It's located very near to the Horseshoe Bend as the Crumlin Road becomes the Ballyutoag Road. (The sculpture hasn't been very well received but I applaud any effort to create public art, especially linked to local history!) The actual source could well be on higher ground, or on ground more to the west above Ligoniel.

We do know where it enters the Lagan in modern Belfast. The Salmon of Knowledge, or the Big Fish, is a sculpture by artist John Kindness on Donegall Quay in Belfast. It is positioned at the location of the river Farset's confluence with the river Lagan. The outflow can be viewed from Lagan weir.

'The Big Fish', with the Albert Clock visible on the left of the picture.

The Albert Memorial Clock, famously leaning slightly, was effectively built on mud - marshy land reclaimed from around the Farset. Completed in 1869, the 141ft tower was renovated in 2002 to halt the lean (wooden foundations were strengthened) and remove decaying, pollution damaged stonework (see an insightful article here). I'd be curious to know if the water feature in Queens Square actually draws from the underground river, though the fountains do apparently trace its course.


* The Place Names of NI project explains that the Farset and Belfast are both named for the 'sand-bank ford' at the mouth of the Lagan.


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Comments

  1. HistoryShorts28 April 2019 at 12:54

    Outside of the scope of the article so I'll comment here: Wouldn't it be amazing if some day the so-called 'Peace Wall' was no longer needed in this fantastic city, and the Farset, which often flows parallel to the Wall, was opened up as a cross-community green space instead? Promoting biodiversity and human health instead of perpetuating centuries-old pointless division? Here's to that pipedream...

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