Andersonstown is a suburb of west
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...
,
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...
, at the foot of the
Black Mountain and
Divis Mountain. It contains a mixture of public and private housing and is largely a working-class area with a strong
Irish nationalist
Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of cu ...
and
Irish Catholic
Irish Catholics are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland whose members are both Catholic and Irish. They have a large diaspora, which includes over 36 million American citizens and over 14 million British citizens (a quarter of the Brit ...
tradition. The district is sometimes colloquially referred to as "Andytown". This area stretches between the Shaws Road, the Glen Road and the Andersonstown Road.
History
The area is in
County Antrim
County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...
. Historically, it was part of the
Barony of Belfast Upper, the
parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...
of Shankill and the
townland
A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic ori ...
of Ballydownfine (.
The area was also known as Whitesidetown after the family that owned the land, but they were dispossessed for the support they gave to the
Society of United Irishmen
The Society of United Irishmen was a sworn association in the Kingdom of Ireland formed in the wake of the French Revolution to secure "an equal representation of all the people" in a national government. Despairing of constitutional reform, ...
, resulting in a change of name. In 1832, it was described as a village consisting of eleven families, some of whom were named
Anderson. These were likely to have been from the
Scottish Lowlands
The Lowlands ( sco, Lallans or ; gd, a' Ghalldachd, , place of the foreigners, ) is a cultural and historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Lowlands and the Highlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lo ...
.
Most of what is now Andersonstown was a farm named 'Maryburne', however after a family dispute the land was sold off. The settlement then rapidly developed in the 1950s and 1960s as the local housing authority built hundreds of houses for people who were rehoused during the redevelopment of the lower
Falls Road district. As the population of the area increased,
Twinbrook and
Poleglass housing estates were built further out of Belfast. The area is bounded by Andersonstown Road on the south,
Glen Road on the north and
Shaw's Road
Shaw's Road is a road in west Belfast, Northern Ireland, connecting the Andersonstown Road with the Glen Road.
Shaw's Road Gaeltacht
Located on the road, is a small Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking area) known colloquially as "The Irish Houses", and ...
on the west.
The
Black Mountain district electoral area consists of six electoral wards: Shaw's Road, Andersonstown, Colin Glen, Turf Lodge, Falls Park and Beechmount. The electoral ward named Andersonstown and that named Shaw's Road covers the area of Andersonstown.
[Local Government District Electoral Areas Belfast 2013](_blank)
Features
In 2008, Andersonstown ward had a population of 5,064.
There are five Catholic churches in the area: St Agnes' and St. Michael's and St Teresa's, St Matthias', and Holy Spirit Church.
There are several schools including Holy Child Primary School and
De La Salle College.
St Mary's Christian Brothers' Grammar School and the
Christian Brothers School are located on the upper
Glen Road.
Sport
Casement Park, the main
Gaelic Athletic Association
The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional ...
stadium for
Antrim GAA
Antrim may refer to:
Boats
*Antrim 20, an American sailboat design
People
* Donald Antrim (born 1958), American writer
* "Henry Antrim", an alias used by Henry McCarty, better known as Billy the Kid, a 19th-century outlaw
* Harry Antrim (1884 ...
, is in Andersonstown.
Donegal Celtic F.C., an association football club, play their home games at
Donegal Celtic Park
Donegal Celtic Park, also known as Suffolk Road and Celtic Park or more recently the New Suffolk Road after its recent expansion, is the home of amateur league team Donegal Celtic. It is situated in the Suffolk Road in west Belfast
Belfa ...
on Suffolk Road on the outskirts of Andersontown. In 1990, an
Irish Cup
The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Ina ...
game between Donegal Celtic and
Linfield F.C.
Linfield Football Club is a Northern Irish professional football club based in south Belfast which plays in the NIFL Premiership – the highest level of the Northern Ireland Football League. The fourth-oldest club on the island of Ireland, ...
, a club with a mainly Protestant following, was moved away from the area on the orders of police due to fears that violence would break out. The game was played at
Windsor Park
Windsor Park is a football stadium in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of Linfield F.C. who own the land the stadium is built on, while the Irish Football Association own and operate the stadium and pay Linfield an annual rent ...
, but despite the move a riot broke out anyway.
On the Glen Road, the path that leads into the mountains known as Glen Road Heights is home to both
Sport & Leisure Swifts F.C. and St. Teresa's GAC, with the two clubs grounds being almost adjacent to one another.
Culture and media
The local newspaper, the ''
Andersonstown News'', voices an
Irish Republican
Irish republicanism ( ga, poblachtánachas Éireannach) is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate.
The develo ...
viewpoint. Produced by the Belfast Media Group, which also publishes papers in other areas of the city, editions appear on Mondays and Thursdays.
The district is also the subject of the novel ''Titanic Town'' by Mary Costello and the movie adaptation by Anne Devlin.
Politics
The area is part of the
Black Mountain district electoral area for Belfast City Council. In the
2014 Belfast City Council election this district elected five
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur ...
councillors, as well as one councillor each for the
SDLP and
People Before Profit.
In the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, the area was a major centre of civil disturbances during the social-political conflict known as
The Troubles
The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an " ...
. A large British army fort – known as Silver City - was built in the central Broom Hill part of Andersonstown. There was generally less strife than in, for instance, neighbouring districts such as Lenadoon, which in 1972 saw clashes between the IRA and
Ulster Defence Association
The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 as an umbrella group for various loyalist groups and undertook an armed campaign of almost 24 years as one of ...
and a subsequent demographic shift in the estate from Protestant to Catholic, and
Ballymurphy, the scene of the
Ballymurphy massacre and
Springhill massacre.
On 5 April 1979, two
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...
soldiers were shot dead by the
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reun ...
(IRA) whilst closing security gates at Andersonstown joint
Royal Ulster Constabulary
The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the Roy ...
(RUC) and British Army base. The PIRA in Andersonstown was part of the First Battalion of the
Provisional IRA Belfast Brigade.
On 26 June 1980,
Miriam Daly, a lecturer at
Queen's University Belfast
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and an
Irish Republican Socialist Party
The Irish Republican Socialist Party or IRSP ( ga, Páirtí Poblachtach Sóisialach na hÉireann) is a Marxist-Leninist and republican party in Ireland. It is often referred to as the "political wing" of the Irish National Liberation Army (I ...
activist, was found tied up and shot dead at her home in the area. Widely blamed on
loyalist
Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...
paramilitaries, no group ever claimed responsibility for the murder.
Kieran Doherty, a
Teachta Dála
A Teachta Dála ( , ; plural ), abbreviated as TD (plural ''TDanna'' in Irish, TDs in English), is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament). It is the equivalent of terms such as ''Member of Parlia ...
who was one of the ten republican prisoners to die during the
1981 Irish hunger strike, was a native of Andersonstown.
Adjacent areas
Andersonstown is the main area beyond the Falls Road although it is bordered by several other areas that form the
Upper Falls District Electoral Area. On the south side of the Andersonstown Road the main district is
Ladybrook, which is approximately bordered by Finaghy Road North (which leads to the
Finaghy area and the Upper
Lisburn Road) and the
M1 motorway
The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the country was the Preston By-pass, which l ...
. Riverdale Estate was built in the 1940s to accommodate both privately bought and privately rented tenants. This area is bounded by Andersonstown Road and the M1 Motorway to the rear south side. Ladybrook is adjacent to the Blacks Road area which is the only predominantly
loyalist
Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...
section of what is otherwise a mostly
republican locality. The area, also known as Suffolk, the name of the
townland
A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic ori ...
, is home to around 800 Protestants and is represented by the Suffolk Community Forum, a group which since 1996 has co-operated in the Suffolk Lenadoon Interface Group with its Catholic neighbours. The close proximity of Suffolk to neighbouring republican areas has led to the development of an
interface area at the junction with the Stewartstown Road (which the Andersonstown Road merges at the junction with Shaw's Road). The interface, which is close to the fortified Woodbourne
Police Service of Northern Ireland
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI; ga, Seirbhís Póilíneachta Thuaisceart Éireann; Ulster-Scots: ')
is the police force that serves Northern Ireland. It is the successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) after it was refor ...
barracks, has seen numerous clashes between youths from the areas.
The barracks are on the site of the former Woodbourne House Hotel, which was destroyed in the earliest days of the Troubles.
To the north of the Stewartstown Road is the Lenadoon area, which is bordered by Shaw's Road. Lenadoon includes an eponymous public park which was redesigned in 2000. Lenadoon was previously a mixed area and indeed in the early stages of
the Troubles
The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an " ...
the
Ulster Defence Association
The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 as an umbrella group for various loyalist groups and undertook an armed campaign of almost 24 years as one of ...
(UDA) was active in the area but following the street violence of the early 1970s Protestants moved out and the area became almost wholly Catholic. The Suffolk Road area lies further west and is home to Donegal Celtic. Suffolk includes Blacks Road and as a result is a source of conflict between rival gangs of youths.
The area around Suffolk Road was previously considered part of the Protestant Suffolk area (and a
Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...
church stands on the corner of the Stewartstown Road here) with Lenadoon Avenue forming an interface. In 1972 this street was the scene of violence that brought an end to a short-lived
Provisional IRA
The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish re ...
ceasefire. Several houses were left empty in the street until the IRA accompanied a Catholic family into one after the family's move had been approved by the
Northern Ireland Housing Executive. This attracted a crowd of UDA members and supporters who attacked the houses and before long the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...
arrived on the scene. A stand-off followed for several days until the IRA decided to accompany another removal lorry with another Catholic family into the street but at the last moment the army, fearing a riot, rammed the vehicle with an armoured car. The republican supporters erupted in an angry display, resulting in the soldiers firing rubber bullets, CS gas and water cannons. The Provisionals accused the army and
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a w ...
William Whitelaw
William Stephen Ian Whitelaw, 1st Viscount Whitelaw, (28 June 1918 – 1 July 1999) was a British Conservative Party politician who served in a wide number of Cabinet positions, most notably as Home Secretary from 1979 to 1983 and as ''de fa ...
of going back on earlier negotiations and favouring the loyalists. By the evening of the event the IRA announced an end to its ceasefire as a direct response to events at Lenadoon and a gun battle with the army and UDA ensued.
The Glengoland area, which borders on Colin Glen Forest Park between the Stewartstown Road and the Glen Road, represented the western edge of the
Belfast City Council
Belfast City Council ( ga, Comhairle Cathrach Bhéal Feirste) is the local authority with responsibility for part of the city of Belfast, the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland. The Council serves an estimated population of (), the ...
area. After the Suffolk Road junction Stewartstown Road entered the jurisdiction of
Lisburn City Council
Lisburn City Council was the local authority for an area partly in County Antrim and partly in County Down in Northern Ireland. As of May 2015 it was merged with Castlereagh Borough Council as part of the reform of local government in Northe ...
, heading towards
Poleglass and the surrounding areas. However following the
reform of local government in Northern Ireland
Reform of local government in Northern Ireland saw the replacement of the twenty-six districts created in 1973 with a smaller number of "super districts". The review process began in 2002, with proposals for either seven or eleven districts made ...
that preceded the
2014 local elections these areas were absorbed into an expanded Belfast City Council.
References
{{coord, 54, 34, 42, N, 5, 59, 38, W, type:city(10000)_region:GB, display=title
Electoral wards of Belfast
Geography of Belfast