Newtownbreda is a residential suburb of South Belfast, clustered around a small and now largely invisible 18th century village. The Belfast A55 "Outer Ring" dual carriage-way provides transport links to the city centre, as well as the outskirts of the city.

History

At one time "Newtownbreda" was a small village in South

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 Kingdo ...

. However, it is now part of the Greater Belfast conurbation and Newtownbreda is a descriptor used loosely to describe the very broad area including Belvoir, Four Winds and Knockbreda. It is a largely residential area of private housing.

Notable Locations

Newtownbreda has several churches including the 18th century

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 ...

Parish Church, which uses the name of the civil parish Knockbreda and which owes its existence to Arthur Hill from nearby Belvoir Demesne. The church consecrated by

Francis Hutchinson Francis Hutchinson (2 January 1660 – 1739) was a British minister in Bury St Edmunds when he wrote a famous book debunking witchcraft prosecutions and subsequently was made Bishop of Down and Connor in Ireland. Education Hutchinson was born i ...

Bishop of Down and Connor The Bishop of Down and Connor is an episcopal title which takes its name from the town of Downpatrick (located in County Down) and the village of Connor (located in County Antrim) in Northern Ireland. The title is still used by the Catholic Chur ...

, on Sunday 7 August 1737. The

Forestside Shopping Centre Forestside Shopping Centre (better known as Forestside) is located in Newtownbreda in the southern suburbs of Belfast, Northern Ireland. The first phase of the centre, the Sainsbury's store, opened in March 1997. The popularity of the centre has ...

was developed by

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company wa ...

between 1996 and 1998.

Belvoir Park Golf Club The Belvoir Park Golf Club is in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The course has eighteen holes with a par of 71. History and attributes The course was founded in 1927, designed by Harry Colt. Each round being just under 6,600 yards, Belvoir Park has p ...

and Belvoir Forest Park are also located nearby. A

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...

store was built on a

brownfield site In urban planning, brownfield land is any previously developed land that is not currently in use. It may be potentially contaminated, but this is not required for the area to be considered brownfield. The term is also used to describe land prev ...

, (formerly a warehouse for the Stewarts Supermarket chain) and opened in 2007.

1992 NIFSL bombing

On 23 September 1992 a

Provisional IRA The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, fa ...

bomb destroyed the Northern Ireland Forensic Science Laboratory (NIFSL) on the Newtownbreda Road. The IRA had given a warning, and British Army bomb disposal experts were investigating an abandoned van when the explosion occurred. No people were killed or seriously injured, but 42 houses were totally destroyed. Over one thousand homes in a radius of were damaged.

References

Geography of Belfast Wards of Northern Ireland Civil parish of Knockbreda {{Belfast-geo-stub