![Rathcoole - Newtownabbey](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/Rathcoole_-_Newtownabbey.jpg)
Rathcoole () is a
housing estate
A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex or housing development) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country.
Popular throughout the United States a ...
in
Newtownabbey
Newtownabbey ( ) is a large settlement in North Belfast in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is separated from the rest of the city by Cavehill and Fortwilliam golf course. It surrounds Carnmoney Hill, and was formed from the merging of severa ...
,
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 ...
,
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
. It was built in the 1950s to house many of those displaced by the
demolition
Demolition (also known as razing, cartage, and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down of buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a ...
of inner city housing in
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 ...
city. Rathcoole is within the wider
Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough. Its approximate borders are provided by O'Neill Road on the north, Doagh Road on the east,
Shore Road on the south and Church Road and
Merville Garden Village
Merville Garden Village is a housing estate located at Shore Road, Whitehouse, Newtownabbey, County Antrim, Northern Ireland created by structural and landscape architect Edward Prentice Mawson. It was completed in 1949.
Historical background ...
on the west.
Community history and setting
In the 1940s and 1950s, a number of new large-scale housing schemes were planned for Northern Ireland including
Craigavon Craigavon may refer to:
* Craigavon, County Armagh, a planned town in Northern Ireland
** Craigavon Borough Council, 1972–2015 local government area centred on the planned town
* Viscount Craigavon, title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
** ...
and Rathcoole.
These plans were informed by attempts by successive UK governments and the local parliament at
Stormont to use large-scale social engineering to reduce underlying sectarian tensions in Northern Ireland. In common with other such areas, Rathcoole's design included self-contained facilities such as a cinema, youth centre, a shopping centre and schools. In spite of these planned facilities, they were insufficient for a population that grew rapidly to over 10000. The cinema was shut down and a taxi service took over the west wing of the building; the building was eventually demolished and a new 'bar' was built on its grounds; the taxi service moved to the Diamond. Other housing developments were built nearby: Rushpark, Rathfern and Bawnmore, all three constructed by the
Northern Ireland Housing Trust
The Northern Ireland Housing Trust was a public authority which provided public housing in Northern Ireland from 1945 until 1971, when its functions were merged into the newly created Northern Ireland Housing Executive.
The Northern Ireland Housi ...
, forerunner of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive. Other estates in the district included Merville Garden Village and Fernagh, which were developed privately by Ulster Garden Villages Limited. Since 1 April 1958, Rathcoole and the above estates have been an integral part of Newtownabbey, the first town in Ireland's history to be constituted by an Act of Parliament at Westminster. By 1977, Newtownabbey was given 'borough' status.
A prominent feature of the community is its
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
churches. In the original design, a local council bye-law prohibited premises selling alcohol within the bounds of the estate. In the early decades, most of the commerce in the area was dominated by nearby Belfast, easily accessible by bus and public taxi services. Since the late 1970s, local shopping opportunities have been developed on what was a largely green field site centred around the
Abbeycentre which has grown rapidly with the addition of many satellite trading centres including large DIY stores and most of the major UK high street retailers.
Civil unrest
Towards the end of the 1960s, civil unrest in
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
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 "i ...
brought about sectarian conflict after a period of reducing community antagonism. A feature of the early Troubles was a form of what in later conflicts would be classed as ethnic cleansing. With some exceptions in Northern Ireland this was carried out largely on the basis of implied threats rather than outright aggression. Rathcoole became a new home to many Protestants displaced from Belfast.
From 1969-73 a common sight on the streets of urban working class areas of Northern Ireland was parties of people moving furniture either by hand or any vehicle they could borrow. At this time that the
Northern Ireland Housing Executive
The Northern Ireland Housing Executive is the public housing authority for Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's largest social housing landlord, and the enforcing authority for those parts of housing orders that involve houses with multiple ...
came into being in response to accusations that councils responsible for allocating public housing were using allocation as a means of favouring their own. Community vigilante groups acted as gatekeepers to such population exchanges in public housing areas. In the early 1970s police were briefly excluded from the area by the Rathcoole Defence Association (RDA), a move that reflected a wider pattern in Northern Ireland.
Resource-starved authorities could do little but stand by and re-allocate housing on the basis of squatters becoming accepted as sitting tenants. In Rathcoole this was estimated at between 200 and 250 families in mid-1972. Many Catholic families were forced out of Rathcoole to the
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 develop ...
Twinbrook estate in Belfast to be replaced by similarly displaced Protestant families from other areas. The estate was the scene of several sectarian murders and other violent crimes during the conflict. At around this time many young disaffected young men became associated with the loyalist
Tartan Gang
The Ulster Young Militants (UYM) are considered to be the youth wing of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. Commonly known as the Young Militants or UYM, the group formed in 1974 when t ...
in the estate named ''The Rathcoole KAI'', the initials reportedly standing for ''Kill All Irish''.
The decline of the gangs coincided with the sudden success of
The Bay City Rollers
The Bay City Rollers are a Scottish pop rock band known for their worldwide teen idol popularity in the 1970s. They have been called the "tartan teen sensations from Edinburgh" and one of many acts heralded as the "biggest group since the Beat ...
. In subsequent years at times of wider community stress in Northern Ireland sporadic rioting with security forces has occasionally occurred within the estate but not to the extent witnessed in urban areas of
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 ...
and
Derry
Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...
and the community has enjoyed long periods of calm. In October 2010 there was serious rioting in the area linked to the
Ulster Volunteer Force
The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group. Formed in 1965, it first emerged in 1966. Its first leader was Gusty Spence, a former British Army soldier from Northern Ireland. The group undertook an armed campaig ...
and resulted in Translink suspending their services in the area for a period of time after some of their buses were hijacked and set on fire. Police also claimed a gunman from the UVF was sighted at the scene of the rioting. The unrest was believed to be a reaction to police raids in Rathcoole.
Decline and regeneration
The Diamond shopping centre suffered from a lack of investment and substantial decline in its environment throughout the 1960s and 1970s and was in need of extensive renovation and reconstruction. Part of this reconstruction led to the building of a large new branch library in the late 1970s. Meanwhile, the estate's other shopping area near Rathcoole Secondary School was declared derelict and demolished. Following an extensive fire and a period of dereliction, the reconstructed Alpha Cinema became the East Way Social Club, a
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 Cro ...
members only
working men's club
Working men's clubs are British private social clubs first created in the 19th century in industrial areas, particularly the North of England, Midlands, Scotland and South Wales Valleys, to provide recreation and education for working class me ...
.
Education
Over the years the estate has been served by quite a number of schools within its boundaries. The primary sector included the state controlled Rathcoole Primary, Abbot's Cross Primary and nearby Whitehouse Primary schools. The Catholic Maintained sector was served by Stella Maris Primary school. As the
post–World War II baby boom
The middle of the 20th century was marked by a significant and persistent increase in fertility rates in many countries of the world, especially in the Western world. The term ''baby boom'' is often used to refer to this particular boom, generally ...
generation grew older, school populations declined rapidly in the area, and in the 1980s and 1990s, Stella Maris Primary and Secondary Schools and Rathcoole Secondary School (state-controlled) were closed. The Stella Maris site has now been redeveloped as a retail park as part of the larger Abbeycentre trading area. In an attempt to increase the mixture of housing tenure types in the estate the Rathcoole Secondary site has now been redeveloped into privately owned housing.
State controlled sector education is now the only form of education facility in the estate with the three primary schools still going strong whilst secondary education was concentrated on the old Hopefield site, remodelled and extended as
Newtownabbey Community High School
Newtownabbey Community High School was a secondary school in Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland.
Newtownabbey Community High School, founded in 1994, was a controlled, co-educational school providing secondary level education for girls and boys of a ...
until it closed in 2017 as part of a merger with
Monkstown Community School
Monkstown Community School was a mixed non-denominational secondary school in Monkstown, County Antrim, Monkstown, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It closed in 2015 when it merged with Newtownabbey Community High School to form Abbey Community C ...
to form Abbey Community College at the Monkstown site. Children requiring grammar school education need to travel further to facilities such as
Belfast High School
Belfast High School (BHS) is a co-educational voluntary grammar school in Jordanstown, Newtownabbey, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It was established in 1854 and is within the North Eastern Region of the Education Authority.
In May 2007, it ...
,
Belfast Royal Academy
The Belfast Royal Academy (commonly shortened to ) is the oldest school in the city of Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is a co-educational, non-denominational voluntary grammar school in north Belfast. The Academy is one of 8 schools in Northern ...
,
Ballyclare High School
Ballyclare High School is a co-educational, non-denominational grammar school in Ballyclare, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. There are approximately 1,200 pupils at the school, taught by around 80 teachers.
History
The school was opened in th ...
and
Carrickfergus Grammar School
Carrickfergus Grammar School is a controlled grammar school situated in Carrickfergus, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Since opening in 1962 with 60 pupils and 4 teachers, its pupil numbers have increased to just over 800 pupils from ages 11 ...
Politics
![Red Hand Commando Mural, Rathcoole](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Red_Hand_Commando_Mural%2C_Rathcoole.JPG)
The dominant political tradition in the area is Unionism with strong showing in successive elections by the
Democratic Unionist Party
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist, loyalist, and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who led the party for the next 37 years. Currently led by J ...
and the
Ulster Unionist Party
The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule movem ...
. Alongside mainstream Unionists many independent Unionist and Loyalist politicians have represented the area at all levels of local government. In the aftermath of the
Good Friday Agreement
The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), or Belfast Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or ; Ulster-Scots: or ), is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that ended most of the violence of The Troubles, a political conflict in No ...
parties associated with Loyalist paramilitary groupings such as the
Progressive Unionist Party
The Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) is a minor unionist political party in Northern Ireland. It was formed from the Independent Unionist Group operating in the Shankill area of Belfast, becoming the PUP in 1979. Linked to the Ulster Volunte ...
(PUP) and the
Ulster Democratic Party
The Ulster Democratic Party (UDP) was a small loyalist political party in Northern Ireland. It was established in June 1981 as the Ulster Loyalist Democratic Party by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), to replace the New Ulster Political Res ...
(UDP) enjoyed some success in the area with the PUP's more left wing working class analysis appealing to the area's largely working class population.
Alongside loyalism, the estate also had a long Labour tradition. Between 1973 and 2001, the area returned at least one Labour councillor in every local government election. This party was refused affiliation by the
British Labour Party
The Labour Party is a List of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom that has been described as an alliance of Social democracy, social democrats, Democratic socialism, democratic socialists and trade u ...
, which instead maintained its endorsement of the
Social Democratic Labour Party (SDLP) in Northern Ireland.
During the 1990s, with hopes for change in the political climate in Northern Ireland and the signing of the
Good Friday Agreement
The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), or Belfast Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or ; Ulster-Scots: or ), is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that ended most of the violence of The Troubles, a political conflict in No ...
, change was also apparent in the estate. Funded by investment from the
New Labour
New Labour was a period in the history of the British Labour Party from the mid to late 1990s until 2010 under the leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The name dates from a conference slogan first used by the party in 1994, later seen ...
UK government, the
Northern Ireland Housing Executive
The Northern Ireland Housing Executive is the public housing authority for Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's largest social housing landlord, and the enforcing authority for those parts of housing orders that involve houses with multiple ...
demolished some of its housing stock in the area including the hastily built 'banana flats' (maisonette style housing) which was afflicted with many of the sort of structural and social problems associated with high density community living commonplace in Glasgow's infamous tenements. They also renovated some of its out of date housing, providing items now taken for granted such as gas heating. The Diamond shopping area was extensively remodelled, creating more open space. New football pitches and changing areas were provided, and opened by
The Princess Anne
Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950), is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of Ki ...
.
Past UDA brigadiers in the area have included
Joe English and
John ''"Grugg"'' Gregg.
Sport
Rathfern Rangers of the
Northern Amateur Football League
The Northern Amateur Football League, also known as the Northern Amateur League and often simply as the Amateur League, is an association football league in Northern Ireland. It contains 13 divisions. These comprise four intermediate sections: ...
play their home games at the Diamond on Ardmillan Drive in Rathcoole.
Rathcoole F.C.
Rathcoole Football Club are a junior-level football club playing in the first division of the Ballymena & Provincial League in Northern Ireland. The club was founded in 2012. The club is based in Rathcoole, Newtownabbey, County Antrim, playin ...
of the
Ballymena & Provincial League
Ballymena ( ; from ga, an Baile Meánach , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is part of the Borough of Mid and East Antrim.
The town is built on land given to the Adair family by King Charles I i ...
also play at the ground, which features two pitches. The 1st Newtownabbey
Linfield Supporters Club is also based on the estate for fans of the
IFA Premiership
The NIFL Premiership, known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and colloquially as the Irish League or Irish Premiership, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northe ...
club.
The Valley Leisure Centre was opened in 1977, followed by an astroturf in 1991.
Notable people from Rathcoole
*Ex-Northern Ireland national football team and Queen's Park Rangers F.C. (QPR) football captain
Alan McDonald was born in Rathcoole.
*Former Northern Ireland national football team footballer
Billy Hamilton who scored twice for his country at the 1982 FIFA World Cup 1982 World Cup finals.
*Ex-Northern Ireland International and Manchester United football player
Jimmy Nicholl
James Michael Nicholl (born 28 December 1956) is a Northern Irish former professional Association football, footballer who played for several clubs, including Manchester United F.C., Manchester United and Rangers F.C., Rangers. He was mainly a ...
lived at 25 Drumcor Green and attended Rathcoole Secondary School, which was directly opposite his house.
*Northern Ireland International and Leicester City football player
Jonny Evans
Jonathan Grant Evans (born 3 January 1988) is a Northern Irish professional footballer who plays as a defender for club Leicester City and the Northern Ireland national team.
Evans started his career at Manchester United and progressed th ...
lived in Rathcoole along with his brother,
Corry of
Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
*Northern Irish composer
John Anderson John Anderson may refer to:
Business
*John Anderson (Scottish businessman) (1747–1820), Scottish merchant and founder of Fermoy, Ireland
* John Byers Anderson (1817–1897), American educator, military officer and railroad executive, mentor of ...
spent his childhood living in Rathcoole.
*Provisional IRA hunger striker
Bobby Sands
Robert Gerard Sands ( ga, Roibeárd Gearóid Ó Seachnasaigh; 9 March 1954 – 5 May 1981) was a member (and leader in the Maze prison) of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) who died on hunger strike while imprisoned at HM Prison Maze ...
lived in Rathcoole.
References
{{coord missing, County Antrim
Geography of County Antrim
Housing estates in Northern Ireland