Ballyhackamore () is a townland in

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, it is a suburb of

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

located on the Upper Newtownards Road. It is also a

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

in the UK Parliamentary constituency of East Belfast. ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' named Ballyhackamore the Brunch Capital of Belfast in a 2018 article on the Best Places to live in Britain. The neighbourhood (often called 'Ballyhack' for short) is the location of several restaurants and cafés as well as a range of local and national shops.

Transport

Ballyhackamore is served by the Translink Glider G1 service. In addition Metro and

Ulsterbus Ulsterbus is a public transport operator in Northern Ireland and operates bus services outside Belfast. It is part of Translink (Northern Ireland), Translink, the brand name for the subsidiary operating companies of the Northern Ireland Transpor ...

services stop here.

Places of note

* Cyprus Avenue a residential street and

conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewoo ...

which lent its name to the

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan "Van" Morrison (born 31 August 1945) is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician whose recording career started in the 1960s. Morrison's albums have performed well in the UK and Ireland, with more than 40 reaching the UK ...

song, Cyprus Avenue * Neill's Hill railway station a former halt on the

Belfast and County Down Railway The Belfast and County Down Railway (BCDR) was an Irish gauge () railway in Ireland (later Northern Ireland) linking Belfast with County Down. It was built in the 19th century and absorbed into the Ulster Transport Authority in 1948. All but the ...

line. * Kincora Boys' Home, a home for boys that was the scene of serious organised abuse. *

Bloomfield Collegiate School Bloomfield Collegiate School is a controlled grammar school for girls in Ballyhackamore in Belfast, Northern Ireland. History Bloomfield was founded in 1905, one of a number of private school foundations of that era. It was originally proprie ...

, an Independent Grammar School for girls.

Notable people

* Judith Cochrane, politician, had a constituency office in Ballyhackamore * Ian Geddes Davidson, Irish rugby union player, born in Ballyhackamore * Gemma Garrett, former Miss Great Britain, attended Bloomfield Collegiate *

Christine Lampard Christine Louise Lampard (''née'' Bleakley, born 2 February 1979) is a Northern Irish television presenter. She has presented various television programmes with Adrian Chiles, such as '' The One Show'' (2007–2010) and '' Daybreak'' (2010–2 ...

, TV broadcaster, attended Bloomfield Collegiate * Joan Lingard, Scottish novelist, grew up and lived in Ballyhackamore until the age of 18 *

Naomi Long Naomi Rachel Long MLA (née Johnston; born 13 December 1971) is a Northern Irish politician who has served as Minister of Justice in the Northern Ireland Executive since February 2024, having previously served from January 2020 to October 202 ...

, leader of the

Alliance Party of Northern Ireland The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI), or simply Alliance, is a liberal and centrist political party in Northern Ireland. Following the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election, it was the third-largest party in the Northern Ireland ...

, attended Bloomfield Collegiate and lives in Ballyhackamore * Paddy O'Flaherty, broadcaster and journalist *

Elaine Shemilt Elaine Shemilt (born 7 May 1954) is a British artist and researcher especially known as a fine art Printmaking, printmaker."The Best of Printmaking", Lynne Allen (Editor), Phyllis McGibbon (Editor) (Rockport Publishers Inc. 1997, )/ref> Her wor ...

, fine art printmaker, attended Bloomfield Collegiate

In popular culture

*Ballyhackamore – "Town of the big horses”, an NVTV television programme *Cyprus Avenue, a Van Morrison song

References

{{reflist Townlands of County Down Electoral wards of Belfast Districts of Belfast