'Belfast' (
[1]) is the capital of
Northern Ireland. It is the largest city in Northern Ireland and the province of
Ulster, and the second-largest city on the island of
Ireland (after
Dublin). In the
2001 census the population within the city limits (the Belfast Urban Area) was 276,459,
[2] while 579,554 people lived in the wider
Belfast Metropolitan Area.
[3] This made it the fifteenth-largest city in the United Kingdom, but the eleventh-largest
conurbation.
[4]
Belfast is situated on Northern Ireland's eastern coast. The city is flanked to the northwest by a series of hills, including
Cavehill, which is thought to be the inspiration for
Jonathan Swift's novel, ''
Gulliver's Travels''. He imagined that it resembled the shape of a sleeping giant safeguarding the city.
[5] Belfast is also located at the western end of
Belfast Lough and at the mouth of the
River Lagan making it an ideal location for the shipbuilding industry that once made it famous. When the
Titanic was built in Belfast in 1912,
Harland and Wolff had the largest shipyard in the world.
[6] Originally a town in County Antrim, Belfast county borough was created when Belfast was granted city status by
Queen Victoria in 1888.
[7]
Belfast saw the worst of
the Troubles in Northern Ireland. However, since the
Good Friday Agreement in 1998, there has been major redevelopment in the
city including Victoria Square,
Queen's Island and
Laganside as well as the
Odyssey complex and the landmark
Waterfront Hall. The city is served by two airports: The
George Best Belfast City Airport adjacent to Belfast Lough and
Belfast International Airport which is near
Lough Neagh.
Queen's University of Belfast is the main university in the city. The
University of Ulster also maintains a campus in the city, which concentrates on fine art and design.
History
The site of Belfast has been occupied since the
Bronze Age. The
Giant's Ring, a 5000 year old
henge, is located near the city, and the remains of
Iron Age hill forts can still be seen in the surrounding hills. It became a substantial settlement in the 17th century after being settled by
English and
Scottish settlers during the
Plantation of Ulster. Belfast blossomed as a commercial and industrial centre in the 18th and 19th centuries and became Ireland's pre-eminent industrial city. Industries thrived, including
linen, rope-making,
tobacco, heavy engineering and
shipbuilding, and at the end of the nineteenth century, Belfast briefly overtook Dublin as the largest and most industrialised city in Ireland. The
Harland and Wolff shipyards became one of the largest shipbuilders in the world, employing up to 35,000 workers.
[8] Belfast was heavily bombed during
World War II. In one raid, in 1941, German bombers killed around one thousand people and left tens of thousands homeless. Outside of London, this was the greatest loss of life in a night raid during the
Battle of Britain.
[9]
The Troubles
Belfast has been the capital of Northern Ireland since its creation in 1920 by the
Government of Ireland Act. Since it began to emerge as a major city, it has been the scene of much sectarian conflict between its
Roman Catholic and
Protestant populations. These opposing groups in this conflict are now often termed '
republican' and '
loyalist' respectively, although are also referred to as '
nationalist' and '
unionist'. The most recent example of this is known as
the Troubles - a civil conflict that raged from c.1969 to the late 1990s. Belfast saw the worst of
the Troubles in Northern Ireland, particularly in the 1970s, with rival paramilitary groups forming on both sides. Bombing, assassination and street violence formed a backdrop to life throughout The Troubles. The IRA detonated 22 bombs, all in a confined area in the city centre in 1972, on what is known as "
Bloody Friday", killing nine people. Loyalists paramilitaries, the
Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and
Ulster Defence Association (UDA) retaliated to the
PIRA campaign by a series of killings. A particularly notorious group, based on the
Shankill Road in the mid 1970s became known as the
Shankill Butchers.
In all, nearly 1,500 people have been killed in political violence in the city from 1969 until the present.
Etymology and motto
Belfast is the
anglicized version of the area's Irish name, meaning "The sandy ford at the mouth of the river".
This refers to the
sand bar which formed where the
River Farset entered the
River Lagan at Donegall Quay and flowed into
Belfast Lough. This was the hub around which the city developed.
[10] The
River Farset also gets its name from the word for ‘sand spit’, ''feirste'' in Irish. Superseded by the
River Lagan as the more important river, the Farset now languishes in obscurity, under High Street. The open river can still be seen at the edge of the
Shankill graveyard. Bank Street in the
city centre refers not to banking, but to the river bank and Bridge Street was the site of an early a bridge across the Farset.
[11]
The city of Belfast has the
Latin motto "''Pro tanto quid retribuamus''". This can be translated as "What shall we give in return for so much" (literally "Having received so much, what return shall we make") and is taken from
Psalm 116 Verse 12 in the Latin
Vulgate Bible. The
Queens University Students' Union
Rag Week publication ''PTQ'' derives its name from the first three words of the motto.
The city's
coat of arms shows a central shield, bearing a ship and a bell, flanked by a chained wolf (or wolfhound) on the left and a seahorse on the right. A smaller seahorse sits at the top. This crest dates back to 1613, when
King James I granted Belfast town status. The seal was used by Belfast merchants throughout the
seventeenth century on their signs and trade-coins.
[12] A large stained glass window in the
City Hall displays the seal, where an explanation suggests that the seahorse and the ship refer to Belfast's significant maritime history. The wolf may be a tribute to the city's founder,
Sir Arthur Chichester, and refer to his own coat of arms.
Economy
Main articles: Economy of Belfast
When the population of Belfast town began to grow in the
seventeenth century, its economy was built on
commerce.
[13] It provided a market for the surrounding countryside and the natural inlet of
Belfast Lough gave the city its own
port. The port supplied an avenue for trade with
the mainland and later
Europe and
North America. In the mid-seventeenth century, Belfast exported beef, butter, hides, tallow and corn and it imported coal, cloth, wine, brandy, paper, timber and tobacco.
Around this time, the
linen trade in Northern Ireland blossomed and by the middle of the
eighteenth century, one fifth of all the linen exported from Ireland was shipped from Belfast.
. The present city however is a product of the
Industrial Revolution.
[14] It was not until industry transformed the linen and shipbuilding trades that the economy and the population boomed. By the turn of the
nineteenth century, Belfast had transformed into the largest linen producing centre in the world
[15], earning the nickname "Linenopolis".
Belfast harbour was dredged in 1845 to provide deeper berths for larger ships. Donegall Quay was built out into the river as the harbour was developed further and trade flourished.
[16] The
Harland and Wolff shipbuilding firm was created in 1861 and by the time
the Titanic was built in Belfast in 1912, they boasted the largest shipyard in the world.
plc is a British aerospace company based in Belfast. It was the first true aviation company in the world and was visited by the
Wright brothers in 1906 and 1907. Located near the
harbour and now known as Shorts Bombardier, it is still a leading international aircraft manufacturer.
[17] The rise of
mass-produced and
cotton clothing following
World War I were some of the factors which led to the decline of Belfast's international linen trade.
Like many British cities dependent on traditional heavy industry, Belfast suffered serious decline since the
1960s, exacerbated greatly in the 1970s and 1980s by
The Troubles. More than 100,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost since the
1970s.
[18]. For several decades, Northern Ireland's fragile economy required significant public support from the
British exchequer of up to
UK£4 billion per year.
Ongoing sectarian violence has made it difficult for Belfast to compete with Dublin's
Celtic Tiger economy.
However, the
IRA Ceasefire in 1994 and the signing of the
Good Friday Agreement in 1998 have given investors increased confidence to invest in Belfast. This has led to a period of sustained economic growth and large-scale redevelopment of the
city centre. New developments include Victoria Square, the
Cathedral Quarter, and the
Laganside with the new
Odyssey complex and the landmark
Waterfront Hall.
The Waterfront Hall
Two other major developments will see the regeneration of the
Titanic Quarter, and the erection the
Obel Tower, a skyscraper set to be the tallest tower on the island until eclipsed by the
U2 Tower in Dublin.
[19] In 2007, Belfast's launched its vision for a
World Trade Centre (currently a 'virtual' centre but with plans to become a physical building) which aims to promote the city to the international business market.
[20]
Today, Belfast is Northern Ireland's educational and commercial hub. It is now in the top five fastest growing regional economies in the UK.
[21] In February 2006, Belfast's unemployment rate stood at 4.2%, lower than both the Northern Ireland
[22] and the UK average of 5.5%.
[23] Over the past 10 years employment has grown by 16.4 per cent, compared with 9.2 per cent for the UK as a whole.
[24]
Northern Ireland's
peace dividend has also led to soaring property prices in the city. In 2006, Belfast saw house prices grow by 43%, the fastest rate of growth in the UK.
[25] In March 2007, the average house in Belfast cost
UK£191,819, with the average in
South Belfast being
UK£241,000.
[26] In 2004, Belfast had the lowest owner occupation rate in Northern Ireland at 54%.
[25]
Peace has also boosted the numbers of tourists coming to Belfast. There were 6.4 million visitors in 2005, which was a growth of 8.5% from 2004. The visitors spent
UK£285.2 million, supporting over 15,600 jobs.
[24] Visitor numbers rose by 6% to reach 6.8 million in 2006, with tourists spending
UK£324 million, an increase of 15% on 2005.
[29] The city's two airports have also made the city into one of the most visited weekend destinations in Europe.
[30]
Geography and climate
Geography
Belfast is situated on Northern Ireland's eastern coast at . A consequence of this northern latitude is that it both endures short winter days and enjoys long summer evenings. During the
winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, local sunset is before 16:00 while sunrise is around 08:45. This is balanced by the
summer solstice in June, when the sun sets after 22:00 and rises before 05:00.
[31]
Belfast is also located at the eastern end of
Belfast Lough and at the mouth of the
River Lagan. In 1994, a
weir was built across the river by the
Laganside Corporation to raise the average water level so that it would cover the unseemly mud flats which gave Belfast its name
[32](
). The area of Belfast Local Government District is .
[ Area Measurements in Northern Ireland ]
The city is flanked on the north and northwest by a series of hills, including
Divis Mountain,
Black Mountain and
Cavehill thought to be the inspiration for
Jonathan Swift's ''
Gulliver's Travels''. When Swift was living at Lilliput Cottage near the bottom of the Limestone Road in Belfast, he imagined that the
Cavehill resembled the shape of a sleeping giant.
The shape of the giant's nose, known locally as ''Napoleon's Nose'', is officially called McArt's Fort probably named after Art O'Neill, a
sixteenth century chieftain who controlled the area at that time.
[33] The
Castlereagh Hills overlook the city on the southeast.
Climate
Belfast has a
temperate climate. Average daily temperatures are 18 °C (64 °F) in July, 6 °C (43 °F) in January. The highest temperature recorded in Belfast was 30.8 °C (87.4 °F) on 12 July 1983.
[34] The city gets significant precipitation (greater than 0.25 mm/0.01 in) on 213 days in an average year with an average annual rainfall of
[35], less than the
Lake District or the
Scottish Highlands, but higher than
Dublin or the south-east coast of Ireland
[36]. As an urban and coastal area, Belfast typically gets snow on fewer than 10 days per year.
is also affecting Belfast, with July
[37], September 2006
[38] and April 2007
[39] breaking records for the warmest such months on record.
Areas and districts
Main articles: Districts of Belfast
Much of what is now known as
Greater Belfast existed as separate towns and villages before the city's expansion. Including the
City Centre, the city can be divided into five areas with
North Belfast,
East Belfast,
South Belfast, and
West Belfast. Each of these is also a
parliamentary constituency. Belfast remains segregated by walls (known as “
peace lines”) erected by the
British Army after August 1969, which still divide fourteen neighbourhoods in the inner-city.
[40] In June 2007, a
UK£16 million programme was announced which will transform and redevelop streets and public spaces in the city centre.
[41] Major arterial roads (
quality bus corridors) into the city include the Antrim Road, Shore Road, Holywood Road, Newtownards Road, Castlereagh Road, Cregagh Road,
Ormeau Road,
Malone Road,
Lisburn Road,
Falls Road, Springfield Road,
Shankill Road, and Crumlin Road.
[42] 
Map of Belfast City Centre, showing postcodes
is divided by two postcodes, ''BT1'' for the area lying north of the
City Hall, and ''BT2'' for the area to its south. The industrial estate and docklands share ''BT3''. The rest of the
Greater Belfast postcodes are set out in a
clockwise system. Although ''BT'' stands for ''Belfast'', it is used across the whole of Northern Ireland.
[43]
Since 2001, boosted by increasing numbers of tourists, the city has also developed a number of cultural "
quarters":
★ The
Cathedral Quarter takes its name from
St. Anne’s Cathedral and has taken on the mantle of the city's key cultural locality.
[44] It boasts a yearly
visual and performing arts festival. Custom House Square is one of the city's main outdoor venues for free concerts and street entertainment.
★ The
Gaeltacht Quarter is an area around the
Falls Road in
West Belfast which promotes and encourages the use of the
Irish language.
[45]
★ The
Queens Quarter in
South Belfast is named after
Queens University. The area has a large student population and hosts the annual
Belfast Festival at Queen’s each autumn. It is also home to
Botanic Gardens and the
Ulster Museum, closed for major redevelopment until 2009.
[46] The Golden Mile is the name given to the mile between
Belfast City Hall and Queen's University. Taking in Gt. Victoria St, Shaftesbury Square and Bradbury Place, it contains some of the best bars and restaurants in the city.
[47] Since the
Good Friday Agreement in 1998, the nearby
Lisburn Road has developed into the city's most exclusive shopping strip.
[48][49]
★ The
Titanic Quarter covers 75 hectares of reclaimed land adjacent to
Belfast harbour, formerly known as ''Queen's Island''. Named after the
Titanic, which was built here in 1912
, work has begun which promises to transform the former shipyard into "one of the largest waterfront developments in Europe".
[50] Plans also include new apartments, a riverside entertainment district, and a major Titanic-themed museum.
Parks and gardens
Main articles: List of parks and gardens in Belfast
Belfast has over forty public parks. ''The Forest of Belfast'' is a partnership between government and local groups, set up in 1992 to manage and conserve the city's parks and open spaces. They have also commissioned more than 30 public sculptures since 1993.
[51] In 2006, the
City Council also set aside
UK£8 million to continue this work.
[52] The
Belfast Naturalists' Field Club was founded in 1863 and is administered by National Museums and Galleries of Northern Ireland.
[53]
One of the most popular parks
[54] is
Botanic Gardens in the
Queen's Quarter. Built in the 1830s and designed by
Sir Charles Lanyon, Botanic Gardens ''Palm House'' is one of the earliest examples of a curvilinear and cast iron
glasshouse.
[55] Attractions in the park also include the ''Tropical Ravine'', a humid jungle glen built in 1889,
rose gardens and public events ranging from live opera broadcasts to pop concerts.
U2 played here in 1997 and the
Tennents ViTal festival takes place in the gardens each summer.
Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park, to the south of the city centre, attracts thousands of visitors each year to its International Rose Garden.
[56] ''Rose Week'' in July each year boasts over 20,000 blooms.
[57] It has an area of 128 acres of meadows, woodland and gardens and also features a
Princess Diana Memorial Garden, a Japanese Garden, a walled garden, and the Golden Crown Fountain commissioned in 2002 as part of the
Queen’s Golden Jubilee celebrations.
Demographics
Belfast experienced a huge growth in
population around the first half of the
twentieth century. This rise slowed and peaked around the start of
the Troubles with the 1971 census showing almost 600,000 people in the ''Belfast Urban Area''.
[58] Since then, the inner city numbers have dropped dramatically as people have moved to swell the
Greater Belfast suburb population. The
2001 census population within the same Urban Area, had fallen to 277,391
people, with 579,554 people living in the wider
Belfast Metropolitan Area.
The population density in the same year was 24.15 persons per hectare (compared to 1.19 for the rest of Northern Ireland).
[59]
The
2001 census also showed that:
★ 46.8% of the population were male and 53.2% were female
★ 21.7% were aged under 16 years and 19.7% were aged 60 and over
★ 47.2% were from a
Catholic background and 48.6% were from a
Protestant background
As with many cities, Belfast's inner city is currently characterised by the elderly, students and single young people, while families tend to live on the periphery. Socio-economic areas radiate out from the
Central Business District, with a pronounced wedge of affluence extending out the
Malone Road to the
south.
An area of greater deprivation extends to the
west of the city. In fact, the areas around the
Falls and
Shankill Roads are the most deprived wards in Northern Ireland.
[60]
Despite a period of relative peace, most areas and districts of Belfast still reflect the divided nature of Northern Ireland as a whole. Many areas are still highly segregated along ethnic, political and religious lines, especially in
working class neighbourhoods.
[61] These zones, ‘
Catholic’ or ‘
Protestant’, ‘
Repbulican’ or ‘
Loyalist’ are invariably marked by
flags, graffiti and
murals. Segregation has been present throughout the history of Belfast, but has been maintained and increased by each new outbreak of violence in the city. This escalation in segregation, described as a "rachet effect", has shown little sign of decreasing during times of peace.
[62] When violence flares, it tends to be in interface areas. The highest levels of segregation in the city are in
West Belfast with many areas greater than 90%
Catholic. Opposite but comparatively high levels are seen in the predominantly
Protestant East Belfast.
[63]
Ethnic minority communities have been living in Belfast since the 1930s.
[64] The largest groups are
Chinese and
Irish travellers. Since the expansion of the
European Union, numbers have been boosted by a large influx of
Eastern European immigrants. Census figures (2001) showed that Belfast has a total ethnic minority population of 4,584 or 1.3% of the population. Over half of these live in
South Belfast with numbers reaching 2.63% of the population.
The majority of the estimated 5000
Muslims[65] and 3000
Hindus[66] living and working in Northern Ireland live in the
Greater Belfast area.
Culture
Main articles: Culture of Belfast
Belfast's population is evenly split between its ‘
Catholic’ and ‘
Protestant’ residents
(politically ‘
Nationalist’ and ‘
Unionist’). These two distinct vibrant cultural communities have both contributed significantly to the city's culture. Throughout
the Troubles, Belfast artists continued to express themselves through poetry, art and music. In the period since the
Good Friday Agreement in 1998, Belfast has begun a social, economic and cultural transformation giving it a growing international cultural reputation.
[67]
"One Belfast Where Hope and History Rhyme" the Logo for ''Imagine Belfast'' bid
In 2003, Belfast had a unsuccessful bid for the 2008
European Capital of Culture. The bid was run by an independent company, ''Imagine Belfast'', who boasted that it would "make Belfast the meeting place of Europe's legends, where the meaning of history and belief find a home and a sanctuary from caricature, parody and oblivion."
[68] Ultimately the bid may have been wrecked by the
city's history and volatile politics.
[69]
In 2004-05, art and cultural events in Belfast were attended by 1.8 million people (400,000 more than the previous year). The same year, 80,000 people participated in culture and arts activities, twice as many as in 2003-04.
[70] A combination of relative peace, international investment and an active promotion of arts and culture is also attracting more tourists to Belfast than ever before. In 2004-05, 5.9 million people visited Belfast, a 10% increase from the previous year, and spent
UK£262.5 million.
The
Ulster Orchestra, based in Belfast, is Northern Ireland's only full-time
symphony orchestra and is well renowned in the
United Kingdom. Founded in 1966, it has existed in its present form since 1981, when the
BBC Northern Ireland Orchestra was disbanded.
[71]
Architecture and buildings
Main articles: Buildings and structures in Belfast
Belfast's architectural style ranges from
Edwardian buildings like the
City Hall to modern buildings like the landmark
Waterfront Hall. Many of the city's
Victorian landmarks, including the main ''Lanyon Building'' at
Queens University and the
Linenhall Library, were designed by
Sir Charles Lanyon.
Belfast City Hall
The
City Hall was finished in 1906 and was built to reflect Belfast’s
city status, granted by
Queen Victoria in 1888. The
Edwardian architectural style can be seen mirrored in the
Victoria Memorial in
Calcutta,
India, and also in
Durban City Hall in
South Africa. The dome is 53 metres (173 feet) high and figures above the door state “
Hibernia encouraging and promoting the Commerce and Arts of the City”.
[72] Among the city's grandest buildings are two former banks:
Ulster Bank in Waring Street (built in 1860) and
Northern Bank, in nearby Donegall Street (built in 1769). The
Royal Courts of Justice in Chichester Street are home to Northern Ireland's
Supreme Court. Many of Belfast's oldest buildings are found in the
Cathedral Quarter area, which is currently undergoing redevelopment as the city's main cultural and tourist area.
Windsor House, 80 metres (262 ft) high, has twenty-three floors and is the tallest building (as distinct from structure) in
Ireland.
[73] Work has started on the taller
Obel Tower and in 2007, plans were approved for the
Aurora building. At 37 storeys and 109m (358 ft) high, this will surpass both previous buildings.
[74]
The ornately decorated
Crown Liquor Saloon in Great Victoria Street is the only bar in the
UK owned by the
National Trust. It was made internationally famous as the setting for the classic film,
Odd Man Out, starring
James Mason.
[75] The restaurant panels in the Crown Bar were originally made for Britannic, the sister ship of the
Titanic, built in Belfast. The
Harland and Wolff shipyard is now the location of the world's largest
dry dock,
[76] where the giant cranes,
Samson and Goliath stand out against Belfast's skyline.
Including the
Waterfront Hall and the
Odyssey Arena, Belfast has several other venues for performing arts. The architecture of the
Grand Opera House has a distinctly oriental theme and was completed in 1895. It was bombed several times during
the Troubles but has now been restored to its former glory.
[77] The Lyric Theatre, the only full-time producing theatre in the country, is where film star
Liam Neeson began his career.
[78] The
Ulster Hall (1859-1862) was originally designed for grand dances but is now used primarily as a concert and sporting venue.
Lloyd George,
Parnell and
Patrick Pearse all attended political rallies there.
Media
Broadcasting House, Belfast
Belfast is the home of the ''
News Letter'', the oldest
English language newspaper in the world still in publication.
[79][80] Other newspapers include the ''
Irish News'' and ''
Belfast Telegraph'' and an Irish language daily newspaper called ''
Lá Nua'' (). The current affairs magazine ''Fortnight'', published (ironically) on a monthly basis, is Northern Ireland's longest running independent publication.
[81]
The city is also the headquarters of
BBC Northern Ireland, the
ITV station
UTV and the commercial radio stations
Belfast CityBeat and
U105. Two
community radio stations,
Feile FM and Irish language station
Raidió Fáilte broadcast to the city from west Belfast. There are two independent cinemas in Belfast, the
Queen's Film Theatre and the
Strand Cinema, which host screenings during the
Belfast Film Festival and the
Belfast Festival at Queen's.
Sports
Main articles: Sport in Belfast
Watching and playing sports is an important part of Belfast culture. Almost six out of ten (59%) of the adult population in
Northern Ireland regularly participate in one or more sports.
[82] Belfast has several notable sports teams playing a diverse variety of sports including football, rugby, traditional Irish Gaelic games, and North American sports like American football and ice hockey. The
Belfast Marathon is run annually on
May Day, and attracted 14,300 participants in 2007.
[83]
The
Northern Ireland national football team, currently ranked 28th in the
FIFA World Rankings[84] and 1st in the FIFA rankings per capita
[85], play their home matches in
Windsor Park. The 2005-06
Irish League football champions
Linfield are also based at
Windsor Park, in the south of the city. Other Premier League football teams include
Glentoran based in east Belfast,
Cliftonville and
Crusaders in north Belfast and
Donegal Celtic in west Belfast.
George Best Mural
Belfast was the hometown of the renowned
Northern Irish footballer,
George Best who died in November 2005. On the day he was buried in the city, 100,000 people lined the route from his home on the Cregagh Road to Roselawn cemetery.
[86] Since his death the
City Airport was named after him and a trust has been set up to fund a memorial to him in the city centre.
[87]
Celtic League champions and former
European Rugby Union champions Ulster play at
Ravenhill in South Belfast. Belfast has four teams in rugby's
All-Ireland League:
Belfast Harlequins (who play at Deramore Park in south Belfast) and
Malone (who play at Gibson Park in south-east Belfast) are in the Second Division; and
Instonians (Shaw's Bridge, south Belfast) and
Queen's University (south Belfast) are in the Third Division.
Belfast boasts Ireland's premier
cricket venue at
Stormont. The Ireland cricket team plays many of its home games at this venue, which, in 2006, also hosted the first ever One Day International between Ireland and England. In 2007, Ireland, India and South Africa will play a triangular series of one-day internationals at Stormont. At club level, Belfast has seven senior teams:
Instonians (Shaw's Bridge, south Belfast) and
Civil Service North (Stormont, east Belfast) are in Section 1 of the Northern Cricket Union League;
CIYMS (Circular Road, east Belfast),
Cooke Collegians (Shaw's Bridge) and
Woodvale (Ballygomartin Road, west Belfast) are in Section 2; and
Cregagh (Gibson Park, south-east Belfast) and
Police Service of Northern Ireland (Newforge Lane, south Belfast) are in Section 4.
Gaelic football is the most popular spectator sport in Ireland,
[88] although Belfast has never been a particular GAA hotbed, as is the case with all the main cities on the island (Dublin's city centre has had no GAA team since the 1950's). Nonetheless,
Casement Park in
West Belfast, home to the
Antrim county teams, has a capacity of 32,000 which makes it the second largest
Gaelic Athletic Association ground in
Ulster. 2005–06
Ireland's first professional ice hockey team, the
Belfast Giants play their home matches at the
Odyssey Arena, watched by up to 7,000 fans. The
Belfast Bulls and
Belfast Trojans American football teams represent Belfast in the
IAFL, competing for the
Shamrock Bowl. Other significant sportspeople from Belfast include double world snooker champion
Alex "Hurricane" Higgins and world champion boxers
Wayne McCullough and
Rinty Monaghan.
Government and politics
Belfast was granted
borough status by
James I in 1613 and official
city status by
Queen Victoria in 1888.
[89] In 1971 it became a
local government district under local administration by
Belfast City Council.
[90] Belfast is represented in both the
British House of Commons and in the
Northern Ireland Assembly. For elections to the
European Parliament, Belfast is within the
Northern Ireland constituency.
Local government
The city of Belfast has a
mayoral form of
municipal government. The City's elected officials are the
Lord Mayor, Deputy Lord Mayor and
High Sheriff who are drawn from fifty one elected
councillors. The first Lord Mayor of Belfast was Daniel Dixon, who was elected in 1892.
[91] As of June 2007, the Lord Mayor of Belfast is
Ulster Unionist Party politician,
Jim Rodgers, who previously served in the same office in 2001. His duties, as mayor of Belfast, include presiding over meetings of the council, receiving distinguished visitors to the city, and representing and promoting the city on the national and international stage.
In 1997,
Unionists lost overall control of
Belfast City Council for the first time in its history, with the
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland gaining the balance of power between
Nationalists and Unionists. This position was confirmed in the council elections of
2001 and
2005. Since then it has had three Nationalist mayors, two from the
Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and one from
Sinn Féin.
In the 2005 local government elections, the voters of Belfast elected fifty-one councillors to Belfast City Council from the following political parties: 15
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), 14
Sinn Féin, 8
Social Democratic and abour Party (SDLP), 7
Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), 4
Alliance Party, 2
Progressive Unionist Party (PUP), and 1 Independent.
[92]
Northern Ireland Assembly and Westminster
Stormont Parliament Buildings
As Northern Ireland's capital city, Belfast is host to the
Northern Ireland Assembly at
Stormont, the site of
home rule legislature in Northern Ireland. Belfast is divided into four
Northern Ireland Assembly and
UK parliamentary constituencies:
North Belfast,
West Belfast,
South Belfast and
East Belfast. All four extend beyond the city boundaries including into parts of
Castlereagh,
Lisburn and
Newtownabbey districts. In the
Northern Ireland Assembly Elections in 2007, Belfast elected 24
Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs), 6 from each
constituency. The MLA breakdown consisted of 8
Sinn Féin, 6
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), 4
Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), 3
Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), 2
Alliance Party, and 1
Progressive Unionist Party (PUP).
[93] In the
2005 UK general election, Belfast elected one
MP from each constituency to the
House of Commons at Westminster,
London. This was comprised of 2 DUP, 1 SDLP, and 1
Sinn Féin.
[94]
Crime
One legacy of
the Troubles in Northern Ireland is that both
republican and
loyalist paramilitary groups have been involved in
organised crime and
racketeering in Belfast. In 2003, the annual amount extorted from the public and businesses by
paramilitary groups was estimated at
UK£125,000,000.
[95] On
20 December,
2004,
UK£26.4 million was stolen from the headquarters of the
Northern Bank in
Belfast City Centre, the largest cash robbery at the time in the
United Kingdom. The police investigation linked the robbery to the
Provisional Irish Republican Army.
[96] Policing in Belfast is provided by the
Police Service of Northern Ireland. They reported annual decreases in recorded crime in
East,
North, and
South Belfast between 2002 and 2006.
[97] West Belfast showed an increase in recorded crime during the same period.
Education
Belfast has two universities. The
Queens University of Belfast was founded in 1845 and is a member of the
Russell Group, an association of 20 leading research-intensive universities in the UK.
[98]. It is also one of the largest universities in the UK with 25,231 undergraduate and postgraduate students spread over 250 buildings, 120 of which are listed as being of architectural merit.
[99] The
University of Ulster, created in its current form in 1984, is a multi-centre university with a campus in the
Cathedral Quarter of Belfast. The Belfast campus has a specific focus on Art and Design, and is currently undergoing major redevelopment. The
Jordanstown campus, just seven miles from Belfast city centre concentrates on engineering, health and social science. The Conflict Archive on the INternet (CAIN) Web Service receives funding from both universities and is a rich source of information and source material on
the Troubles as well as society and politics in Northern Ireland.
[100]
The
Belfast Education and Library Board was established in 1973 as the local authority responsible for education, youth and library services within the city.
[101] There are 184
primary,
secondary and
grammar schools in the city.
[102]
Infrastructure
Utilities
Most of Belfast's water is supplied from the
Silent Valley Reservoir in
County Down, created to collect water from the
Mourne Mountains.
[103]
Silent Valley Reservoir, showing the brick-built overflow.
The rest of the city's water is sourced from
Lough Neagh, via ''Dunore Water Treatment Works'' in
Antrim.
[104] The citizens of Belfast pay for their water in their
rates bill. Plans to bring in additional water tariffs have been deferred by
devolution in May 2007.
[105] Belfast has approximately 1,300 km of
sewers, which are currently being replaced in a project costing over
UK£100 million and due for completion in 2009
[106]
Northern Ireland Electricity is the company responsible for transmitting electricity in Northern Ireland. Belfast's electricity comes from
Kilroot Power Station, a 520
megawatt, dual
coal and
oil fired
plant, near
Carrickfergus.
has been granted the licence for the transportation of natural gas across the
Irish Sea from
Stranraer to supply
Greater Belfast from a base station near
Carrickfergus.
in Belfast (and the rest of Northern Ireland) were reformed in April 2007. The new discrete
capital value system means rates bills are determined by the capital value of each domestic property as assessed by the ''Valuation and Lands Agency''.
[107] The recent dramatic rise in house prices has made these reforms unpopular.
[108]
Healthcare
The
Belfast Trust is one of five new
NHS trusts which were created on 1 April, 2007 by the Department of Health. Belfast contains most of Northern Ireland's regional specialist centres. The
Royal Victoria Hospital, serving mainly
West Belfast, is an internationally renowned centre of excellence in trauma care and provides specialist trauma care for all of Northern Ireland.
[109]. It also provides the city's specialist neurosurgical, ophthalmology,
ENT, and Dentistry services. The
City Hospital, serving
South Belfast, is the regional specialist centre for Haematology and is home to the most modern equipped regional Cancer Centre in the UK.
[110] The Mary G McGeown Regional Nephrology Unit at the
Belfast City Hospital is the Kidney Transplant Centre and provides regional renal services for N.Ireland.
[111]
Musgrave Park Hospital in
South Belfast specialises in orthopaedics, rheumatology, sports medicine and rehabilitation. It's also home to Northern Ireland's first
Acquired Brain Injury Unit, costing
GB£9 million and opened by the
Prince of Wales and the
Duchess of Cornwall in May, 2006.
[112] Other hospitals in Belfast include the
Mater Hospital in
North Belfast, the
Children's Hospital, and the
Ulster Hospital,
Dundonald.
Transportation
Main articles: Transport in Belfast
Belfast is a relatively car-dependent city, by European standards, with an extensive road network including the ten lane
M2 motorway. A recent survey of how people travel in Northern Ireland showed that people in Belfast made 77% of all journeys by car, 11% by public transport and 6% on foot.
[113] It also showed that Belfast has 0.70 cars per household compared to figures of 1.18 in the East and 1.14 in the West of Northern Ireland.
A significant road improvement scheme in Belfast began early in 2006, with the upgrading of two junctions along the
Westlink dual carriageway to
grade separated standard. The Westlink, a dual carriageway skirting the western edge of the City Centre, connects all three Belfast
motorways and often suffers from chronic congestion. The work will cost
UK£103.9 million and is scheduled for completion in 2009.
[114] Commentators have argued that this may simply create a new bottleneck at York Street, the next
at-grade intersection, until that too is upgraded (planned for 2011).
[115]
Black taxis are common in the city, operating on a
share basis in some areas. However these are outnumbered by private hire
minicabs.
Bus and rail
public transport in Northern Ireland is operated by subsidiaries of
Translink. Bus services in the city proper and the nearer suburbs are operated by
Translink Metro, with services focusing on linking residential districts with the City Centre on twelve
quality bus corridors running along main radial roads, resulting in poor connections between different suburban areas. More distant suburbs are served by
Ulsterbus.
Northern Ireland Railways provides
suburban services along three lines running through Belfast’s northern suburbs to
Carrickfergus and
Larne, eastwards towards
Bangor and south-westwards towards
Lisburn and
Portadown. This service is known as the
Belfast Suburban Rail system.
The city has two airports: The
Belfast International Airport offers domestic, European and transatlantic flights and is located north of the city, near
Lough Neagh while the
George Best Belfast City Airport is closer to the city centre, adjacent to Belfast Lough. In 2005, Belfast International Airport was the 11th busiest commercial airport in the UK, accounting for just over 2% of all UK terminal passengers while the George Best Belfast City Airport was the 16th busiest and had 1% of UK terminal passengers.
[25]
Belfast also has a large
port, used for exporting and importing goods and for passenger ferry services.
Stena Line run regular services to
Stranraer in Scotland using their HSS (High Speed Service) vessel (with a crossing time of around 90 minutes) and/or their conventional vessel with a crossing time of around 3hrs 45 minutes.
Norfolkline (formally Norse Merchant Ferries) run a passenger/cargo ferry to and from
Liverpool, with a crossing time of 8 hours and a seasonal sailing to
Douglas, Isle of Man is operated by the
Isle of Man Steam Packet company (formally
SeaCat).
Twin cities
Belfast is
twinned with:
[117]
★ '
Nashville, Tennessee',
United States
★ '
Belfast, Maine',
United States
★ '
Bonn',
Germany
See also
★
Greater Belfast
★
Belfast Metropolitan Area
★
Belfast Peace Lines
★
Belfast Blitz
★
Belfest Belfast music festival
★
Notable Belfast People
★
Ulster Museum
References
1. Placenames/Logainmneacha: Belfast
2. Comparative Demography Profile: Belfast District Council, Northern Ireland
3. Area Profile of Belfast Metropolitan Urban Area (BMUA)
4. The UK's major urban areas, National Statistics
5. Belfast Hills
6. Introduction To Titanic - Titanic In History
7. Belfast City Hall
8. Cranes to remain on city skyline
9. The Belfast blitz is remembered
10. Pre-Famine Ireland, , Desmond, Keenan, XLibris.com, ,
11. Belfast City: Did you know?
12. Buildings of Belfast, 1700-1914, , C. E. B, Brett, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, ,
13. Belfast, The Making of the City. Chapter 1: Belfast to the end of the eighteenth century, , JC, Beckett, Appletree Press Ltd, , 0862818788
14. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition., , , , Columbia University Press, ,
15. Belfast, The Making of the City. Chapter 3: "Linenopolis": the rise of the textile industry, , JC, Beckett, Appletree Press Ltd, , 0862818788
16. Belfast, The Making of the City. Chapter 4: The development of the port, , JC, Beckett, Appletree Press Ltd, , 0862818788
17. www.corporateseries.com
18. Northern Ireland - Where is the bright new future?, , , , Management Today,
19. U2 Tower strikes bad chord with residents
20. World Trade Centre Belfast
21. Belfast...never been a better time!
22. Monthly Labour Market Report
23.
Employment
24.
25.
26. Typical price of Ulster home edges ever closer to UK£200,000 Helen Carson
27.
28.
29. Record number of visitors come to Belfast
30. Invest in Belfast: A 2007 City Guide for Investors
31. Sunrise and sunset in Belfast
32. Lagan Weir - Why it exists
33. About the Cave Hill
34. Climate: Northern Ireland
35. Belfast, Northern Ireland - Average Conditions
36. Rainfall in Ireland
37. July - Monthly assessment
38. September - Monthly assessment
39. April - Monthly assessment
40.
41. Major makeover for Belfast City Centre
42. The Arterial Routes
43. The UK Postcode System
44. Exploring Belfast's cultural life
45. Gaeltacht Quarter
46. Contact Details
47. Pub Crawl
48.
Shopping At A Glance
49. A passion for preserving Belfast’s beauty Gemma Burns
50. Corporate Message: The Vision
51. Forest of Belfast
52. Your City, Your Space
53.
About the Field Club
54. Botanic Gardens
55. Palm House Botanic Gardens, Belfast City
56. Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park and City of Belfast International Rose Garden
57. Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park
58. Urban Structure: Growth of Belfast
59. Local Government District Information for Belfast LGD
60. Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure
61. Ethnic Diversity: Segregation in Belfast. Introduction to Ethnic Diversity in Belfast
62. Measuring local segregation in Northern Ireland, , C, Lloyd, Centre for Spatial Territorial Analysis and Research (C-STAR),
63. Ethnic Residential Segregation in Belfast, , P, Doherty, Centre for the Study of Conflict,
64. Ethnic minorities: Who lives here?
65. About Us
66. Hinduism
67. Summary of the bid
68. The official websites on UK bids for European capital of culture 2008
69. Six cities shortlisted for culture capital bid D Ward
70. Integrated Cultural Strategy for Belfast
71. Welcome to the new season
72. Historic Belfast: A guide to the City’s landmark buildings
73. Ireland's tallest building to be turned into flats
74. Belfast's tallest building revealed
75. BBC seeks stars of Belfast film noir
76. Welcome to Belfast City
77. Grand Opera House
78. In Your Pocket - Lyric Theatre
79. Research Guide: Irish News & Newspapers
80. Belfast News Letter
81. Fortnight Magazine
82. Chapter Twelve: Sport and Recreation as an activity
83.
Mutai wins Belfast Marathon
84. FIFA/Coca Cola World Rankings
85.
List of Teams with Per Capita Factor
86. A city mourns for the Belfast Boy Nuala McCann
87. George Best Memorial Trust
88. Information and Statistics
89. Belfast City Hall: History and Background
90. Local Government (Boundaries) Act (Northern Ireland) 1971
91. Councillors: Lord Mayor
92. Belfast City Council Elections 1993-2005
93. Northern Ireland election
94. The 2005 Westminster elections in Northern Ireland
95. NI gangs 'extorting millions'
96. Police say IRA behind bank raid
97.
98. About The Russell Group: Aims and objectives
99. About Queens: Facts and Figures
100. Conflict and Politics in Northern Ireland (1968 to the Present)
101. About Us: The Roles and Functions of the Belfast Education and Library Board
102. Schools Database - List of Institutions
103. The Silent Valley
104. Strategic Plan Framework: Public Services and Utilities
105. Water Reform Implemented: Secretary of State announces deferral of charges
106. Belfast Sewers Project - Key Facts
107. Summary of domestic rating reforms
108. Domestic Rates Reform
109. Hospital Development:PFI beyond DBFO, , William, Payne, ProQuest Information and Learning Company,
110. Belfast Cancer Centre, Northern Ireland
111. Belfast City Hospital: About the Unit
112. TRH open Northern Ireland's first Regional Acquired Brain Injury Unit
113.
114. Westlink Upgrade
115. Westlink & M1 Upgrade, Belfast
116.
117. "Sister Cities Online Directory: UK, Europe." ''Sister Cities International, Inc..'' Retrieved on March 26, 2007.
Further reading
★ Beesley, S. and Wilde, J. ''Urban Flora of Belfast'' Institute of Irish Studies & The Queens University of Belfast. 1997
★ Deane, C.Douglas. 1983. ''The Ulster Countryside." Century Books
External links
★
Belfast's political wall murals
★
Belfast City Council
★
Go To Belfast - Tourism
★
★
The Story of Belfast and Its Surroundings An illustrated history, circa 1913
★
Xpressions of Belfast - an interactive galleria which comprises assorted images of Belfast architecture, landscape and society.
★
Architecture of Belfast
★
Photography of Belfast
★
Belfast Theatre History
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