Everything about Shankill Road totally explained
The
Shankill Road (
Irish:
Bóthar na Seanchille) is the arterial road leading through a predominantly
Protestant working-class area of
Belfast,
Northern Ireland, known as the Shankill. The road stretches westwards for approximately 2.4 km (1.5 miles) from central Belfast and is lined, to an extent, by shops. The residents live in the many streets which branch off the main road. The area is best known for its murals depicting
loyalist sympathies. The Shankill is also an electoral ward of
West Belfast.
History
When downtown Belfast consisted of
marshland and thick woods, the area now known as the Shankill was roamed by
wolves and
wild boar. The first Shankill residents lived at the bottom of what is now known as Glencairn: a small settlement of ancient people inhabited a ring fort, built where the Ballygomartin and Forth rivers meet.
A settlement around the point at which the Shankill Road becomes the Woodvale Road, at the junction with Cambrai Street, was known as Shankill from the
Irish Seanchill meaning 'old church'. This was the site of the medieval parish church which served the area on the west bank of the River
Lagan now covered by Belfast.
The area expanded greatly in the mid to late
19th century with the growth of the
linen industry. Many of the streets in the Shankill area, such as Leopold Street,
Cambrai Street and Brussels Street, were named after places and people connected with
Belgium or
Flanders, where the flax from which the linen was woven was grown. The linen industry, along with others that had previously been successful in the area, declined in the mid-
20th century leading to high
unemployment levels, which remain at the present time.
During
The Troubles, the Greater Shankill and its residents were subjected to bombings and shootings by Irish republican paramilitary forces, the most notable of which is now known as the
'Shankill Bomb'. On the afternoon of Saturday,
23 October 1993, the a bomb exploded in Frizzells Fish Shop. The IRA claimed they were targeting a
Loyalist meeting above the fish shop when the bomb exploded as it was being planted; nine people were killed in addition to one of the bombers, Thomas Begley. Begley's accomplice Sean Kelly survived, and was imprisoned.
The Shankill was also notorious for the actions of various Loyalist forces, such as that led by
Gusty Spence and the
Shankill Butchers led by
Lenny Murphy.
As the district is located between the
Falls Road at one end and
Ardoyne at the other, local residents (as well as their Catholic neighbours) found themselves as, generally unwilling, targets for crossfire as both sets of paramilitaries attacked each other and each other's communities.
Today
The area is predominantly
Protestant and
unionist or
loyalist in political orientation. The Shankill is separated from the neighbouring
Catholic,
nationalist,
Falls Road area by
peace lines. Greater Shankill has a population of around 22,000. The two areas were focal points of the civil conflict known as
The Troubles (1969 – 1998), and many lives have been lost in the
sectarian violence. Several loyalist paramilitary groups, such as the
UDA and
UVF have a presence in the Shankill. The road has been the focus of several power struggles within the loyalist paramilitaries. In 2003 one of these incidents resulted in UDA leader
Johnny Adair being evicted from his lower Shankill home.
Churches
The Shankill is home to several churches of different
religious denominations. Situated on the northern boundary is St. Matthew's
Church of Ireland, which was rebuilt in
1872, taking its name from the original church which had sat in the grounds of the graveyard. The architecture of this church is called
trefoil, which means it's built in the shape of a
shamrock. The shamrock is the national emblem of
Ireland and was supposedly used by
St. Patrick, the
patron saint of Ireland to explain the
Holy Trinity of
Father,
Son and
Holy Ghost.
St. Matthew's
graveyard has a
tombstone in memory of a 14 year-old
Royal Air Force member who was killed in the
First World War.
There is a book about the church which says that St. Matthew's is actually a copy of a church in
Salonika, as the rounded "leaves" don't have the indentations of the leaves of the shamrock. The water in the stone outside the front door was thought to cure warts and, certainly up to the 1990s, was considered to cure colic if a new, open, safety pin was thrown in.
People from the Shankill
Education
The schools that would serve the wider Shankill area would be Belfast Boys' Model School and Belfast Model School for Girls. Both schools offer students the option of staying on at school to complete A-levels. However, an alternative to these schools is Castle High School which is situated not too far away on Fortwilliam Park off the Shore Road and already has a number of pupils from the Shankill area. This school is rapidly improving and has had major improvements over recent years. Full details can be found on the school website at
www.castlehigh.ik.org
Prior to its closure, and before several changes of name, Cairnmartin Secondary School also served the greater Shankill area. Famous pupils include footballer
Norman Whiteside and boxer
Wayne McCullough.
Primary schools in the greater Shankill area included Forth River Primary School on the Ballygomartin. Forth River School was established in 1841. The original building was cramped and inspection reports over the years commented on the high standard of teaching despite the inadequacy of the building. During the 1980’s and 1990’s, closure and amalgamation were both suggested and vehemently opposed by everyone connected with the school. The announcement that a new £1.4m state-of-the-art school was to be built for Forth River children was greeted with great joy and described as very important for the pupils, staff, parents, and the wider community. The new school is in Cairnmartin Road and was officially opened by HRH Duke of York in 2005.
(External Link)
Sources
Paul Hamilton, Up The Shankill, 1979, ISBN 0-85640-178-1Further Information
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