Wikipedia

Andersonstown

Andersonstown,known colloquially asAndytown,is a suburb of westBelfast,Northern Ireland,at the foot of theBlack MountainandDivisMountain. It contains a mixture of public and private housing and is largely a working-class area with a strongIrish nationalistandIrish Catholictradition. The district is sometimes colloquially referred to as "Andytown". This area stretches between the Shaws Road, the Glen Road and the Andersonstown Road.

Andersonstown
Andersonstown Road, 2007
Population(2001 census)
OS grid referenceNW4190927083
Irish grid referenceO003360
District
County
CountryNorthern Ireland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townBELFAST
Postcode districtBT11
Dialling code028
UK Parliament
NI Assembly
List of places
UK
Northern Ireland
Antrim

History

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The area is inCounty Antrim.Historically, it was part of theBaronyof Belfast Upper, theparishof Shankill and thetownlandof Ballydownfine (fromIrishBaile Dúin Finn'townland of the fort of Finn').[2]The area was also known as Whitesidetown after the family that owned the land, but they were dispossessed for the support they gave to theSociety of United Irishmen,resulting in a change of name.[3]In 1832, it was described as a village consisting of eleven families, some of whom were namedAnderson.The Andersons are likely to have been ofScottish Lowlanddescent.[4]

Most of what is now Andersonstown was a farm named 'Maryburne', owned by a family named Collins; 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 lowerFalls Roaddistrict. As the population of the area increased,TwinbrookandPoleglasshousing estates were built further out of Belfast.[5]The area is bounded by Andersonstown Road on the south,Glen Roadon the north andShaw's Roadon the west.

TheBlack Mountaindistrict 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.[6]

Features

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St Agnes' Church, Andersonstown

In 2008, Andersonstown ward had a population of 5,064.[7]

There are five Catholic churches in the area: St Agnes' and St. Michael's and St Teresa's,[8]St Matthias',[9]and Holy Spirit Church.[10]

There are several schools including Holy Child Primary School andDe La Salle College.St Genevieve's High Schoolfor girls is situated at the junction of Stewartstown and Andersonstown Roads.St Mary's Christian Brothers' Grammar Schooland theAll Saints Collegeare located on the upperGlen Road.

Sport

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Casement Park,the mainGaelic Athletic Associationstadium forAntrim GAA,is in Andersonstown.[11]

Donegal Celtic F.C.,an association football club, play their home games atDonegal Celtic Parkon Suffolk Road on the outskirts of Andersontown. In 1990, anIrish Cupgame between Donegal Celtic andLinfield F.C.,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 atWindsor Park,but despite the move a riot broke out anyway.[12]

On the Glen Road, the path that leads into the mountains known as Glen Road Heights is home to bothSport & Leisure Swifts F.C.and St. Teresa's GAC, with the two clubs grounds being almost adjacent to one another.

Culture and media

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The local newspaper, theAndersonstown News,voices anIrish Republicanviewpoint.[13]Produced by the Belfast Media Group, which also publishes papers in other areas of the city, editions appear on Mondays and Thursdays.[14]

The district is also the subject of the novelTitanic Townby Mary Costello and themovie adaptationbyAnne Devlin.[15]

Politics

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The area is part of theBlack Mountain district electoralarea for Belfast City Council. In the2014 Belfast City Council electionthis district elected fiveSinn Féincouncillors, as well as one councillor each for theSDLPandPeople Before Profit.

In the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, the area was a major centre of civil disturbances during the social-political conflict known asThe Troubles.A large British army fort – known as Silver City – was built in the central Broom Hill part of Andersonstown.[16]There was generally less strife than in, for instance, neighbouring districts such as Lenadoon, which in 1972 saw clashes between the IRA andUlster Defence Associationand a subsequent demographic shift in the estate from Protestant to Catholic,[17]andBallymurphy,the scene of theBallymurphy massacreandSpringhill massacre.

On 5 April 1979, twoBritish Armysoldiers were shot dead by theProvisional Irish Republican Army(IRA) whilst closing security gates at Andersonstown jointRoyal Ulster Constabulary(RUC) and British Army base.[18]The PIRA in Andersonstown was part of the First Battalion of theProvisional IRA Belfast Brigade.[19]

On 26 June 1980,Miriam Daly,a lecturer atQueen's University Belfastand anIrish Republican Socialist Partyactivist, was found tied up and shot dead at her home in the area. The murder was widely blamed onloyalistparamilitaries, but no group ever claimed responsibility.[20]

Kieran Doherty,aTeachta Dálawho was one of the ten republican prisoners to die during the1981 Irish hunger strike,was a native of Andersonstown.[21]

Adjacent areas

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Andersonstown is the main area beyond the Falls Road although it is bordered by several other areas that form theUpper Falls District Electoral Area.On the south side of the Andersonstown Road the main district isLadybrook,which is approximately bordered by Finaghy Road North (which leads to theFinaghyarea and the UpperLisburn Road) and theM1 motorway.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 predominantlyloyalistsection of what is otherwise a mostlyrepublicanlocality. The area, also known as Suffolk, the name of thetownland,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.[22]The close proximity of Suffolk to neighbouring republican areas has led to the development of aninterface areaat the junction with the Stewartstown Road (which the Andersonstown Road merges at the junction with Shaw's Road).[23][24]The interface, which is close to the fortified WoodbournePolice Service of Northern Irelandbarracks, has seen numerous clashes between youths from the areas.[25]

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.[26]Lenadoon was previously a mixed area and indeed in the early stages ofthe TroublestheUlster Defence Association(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.[27]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.[25]

The area around Suffolk Road was previously considered part of the Protestant Suffolk area (and aChurch of Irelandchurch 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-livedProvisional IRAceasefire. 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 theNorthern Ireland Housing Executive.This attracted a crowd of UDA members and supporters who attacked the houses and before long theBritish Armyarrived 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 andSecretary of State for Northern IrelandWilliam Whitelawof 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.[28]

The Glengoland area, which borders on Colin Glen Forest Park between the Stewartstown Road and the Glen Road, represented the western edge of theBelfast City Councilarea. After the Suffolk Road junction Stewartstown Road entered the jurisdiction ofLisburn City Council,heading towardsPoleglassand the surrounding areas. However following thereform of local government in Northern Irelandthat preceded the2014 local electionsthese areas were absorbed into an expanded Belfast City Council.[29]

See also

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References

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  1. ^Language/Cultural Diversity – IrishArchived7 November 2012 at theWayback MachineDepartment of Culture, Arts and Leisure.
  2. ^"NI: Ballydownfinn".Archivedfrom the original on 2 April 2019.Retrieved18 June2017.
  3. ^"Belfast History From Joe Graham The Belfast History Man".Archivedfrom the original on 7 February 2012.Retrieved23 January2012.
  4. ^"Place Names NI – Home".Archivedfrom the original on 2 April 2019.Retrieved23 July2017.
  5. ^"Origins of Poleglass".Archivedfrom the original on 29 September 2017.Retrieved17 June2017.
  6. ^Local Government District Electoral Areas Belfast 2013Archived5 May 2016 at theWayback Machine
  7. ^"Ward Information for Andersonstown ward 95GG01".Archivedfrom the original on 18 March 2012.Retrieved23 January2012.
  8. ^"St. Theresa's Church".Archivedfrom the original on 26 December 2016.Retrieved17 June2017.
  9. ^"St Matthias' Church".Archivedfrom the original on 16 September 2016.Retrieved17 June2017.
  10. ^"Holy Spirit Church".Archivedfrom the original on 16 September 2016.Retrieved17 June2017.
  11. ^"Casement Park".Archivedfrom the original on 5 March 2009.Retrieved23 January2012.
  12. ^Tara Magdalinski, Timothy Chandler,With God on Their Side: Sport in the Service of Religion,Routledge, 2002, p. 32
  13. ^John Horgan,Irish media: a critical history since 1922,Routledge, 2001, p. 176
  14. ^"BMG".Archivedfrom the original on 18 February 2012.Retrieved23 January2012.
  15. ^Wilmington, Michael (1 September 2000)."A Mother's Crusade in Bloody Belfast".The Chicago Tribune.Retrieved18 December2023.
  16. ^Peter Taylor,Provos: The IRA and Sinn Féin,Bloomsbury, 1998, p. 193
  17. ^Tim Pat Coogan,On the blanket: the inside story of the IRA prisoners' "dirty" protest,Palgrave Macmillan, 2002, p. 64
  18. ^"A Chronology of the Conflict – 1979".Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN).Archivedfrom the original on 6 December 2010.Retrieved29 January2010.
  19. ^J Bowyer Bell,The Secret Army: The IRA 1916–1979,Poolbeg, 1990, p. 374
  20. ^F. Stuart Ross,Smashing H Block: The Popular Campaign Against Criminalization and the Irish Hunger Strikes 1976–1982,Liverpool University Press, 2002, p. 81.
  21. ^Brendan O'Brien,The long war: the IRA and Sinn Féin, 1985 to today,Syracuse University Press, 1993, p. 123
  22. ^"SLIG About Us – Introduction".Archivedfrom the original on 27 April 2012.Retrieved30 April2012.
  23. ^Interface No.2: Stewartstown Road, Suffolk (1970s)Archived24 April 2012 at theWayback Machine
  24. ^Interface No.3: Oranmore Drive – Malinmore Park, SuffolkArchived24 April 2012 at theWayback Machine
  25. ^ab"Loyalist attack".Archivedfrom the original on 15 October 2014.Retrieved29 April2012.
  26. ^Lenadoon Millennium ParkArchived9 April 2014 at theWayback Machine
  27. ^Kevin Kelley,The longest war: Northern Ireland and the IRA,Lawrence Hill, 1988, pp. 182–183
  28. ^Gary MacEoin,Northern Ireland: Captive of History,Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1974, p. 270
  29. ^"Local government reform".Archivedfrom the original on 2 April 2014.Retrieved30 May2014.

54°34′42″N5°59′38″W/ 54.57833°N 5.99389°W/54.57833; -5.99389

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