History Shorts: snippets of local history

The former Bank of Ireland building at the corner of Belfast's Royal Avenue and North Street has been called one of the finest Modernist buildings in Ireland. Finished in what was presumably once bright white Portland limestone, this Art Deco wonder was built from 1928-1930 and was Grade B+ listed in 1990. It was designed by the architect Joseph Vincent Downes for the Dublin-based firm of McDonnell & Dixon, a practice responsible for many bank and office buildings of different styles in Ireland from the 1900s and which is still in business today! Despite its status, and like so many of the buildings on nearby North Street, the Bank of Ireland building in Belfast seemed destined to fall into a state of disrepair after its closure in 2005.  Thankfully it seems like the bank is to get a new lease of life as part of a significant new tourism and cultural regeneration investment by none other than Belfast City Council. I, for one, will be keen to visit when it opens again in 2028!

Continuing my effort to track the course of Belfast's river Farset, I've been looking at the PRONI historical maps viewer to see some of the old OS maps coverage of the city and environs. Frustratingly, it's not possible to embed the maps or share screengrabs without breach of OSNI copyright. Some interesting snippets:  Use of what appears to be the Farset's course as a parish boundary is striking. Also the array of industry from brickworks to distilleries. On the OSNI Historical First Edition (1832-1846) is the notation "Stream goes under ground" near the quarries on Squire's Hill.  There are an array of streams in the area, some of which must come together to form the Farset. An ice house is marked on the location of modern day housing on Bombay Street. Is it related to the nearby Clonard House? By the third edition (1900-1907), the housing has been constructed. Victoria Street and Queen's Square are constructed by the time of the seco

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

I recently enjoyed a tour of the former Crumlin Road Gaol in Belfast so was interested to see the following sketches from Sir Charles Lanyon when they appeared among recent Flickr uploads from PRONI. The prison opened in 1846 and only closed in 1996, having fallen into considerable disrepair. The building, which has 'accommodated' in one form or another some of Ireland's most famous politicians, now has Grade A listed status. Here's one of my own photos from the yard just before a cloud burst! Hopefully I'll sort out some more soon, including from inside the tunnel: See more about the gaol, including details of tours

Titanic Belfast visit , a set on Flickr. I was able to fit in a visit to the Titanic Belfast building recently and was very impressed with the experience. On the plus sides, it focuses quite heavily on the industrial history of Belfast and Northern Ireland to good effect (such as the Shipyard Ride), the cabin recreations are fascinating, the building itself is of course striking and the public spaces around have been landscaped in an interesting manner. The gift shop, perhaps not surprisingly, falls a little on the side of bad taste - after all, this was a shipping disaster, not really a reason for keyrings and chocolates! However, such a modern tourist facility does need to turn a profit so it's hardly surprising to see a range of tie-in tat on offer. All in all we probably spent almost 4 hours touring the exhibition - it's very in-depth and was also very busy, good to see for business but it made some of the areas quite claustroph