Sailortown (Belfast)

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Sailortown was a working-class dockland community in the docks area of Belfast, Northern Ireland. Established in the mid-19th century on partly reclaimed land, it had a mixed Protestant and Catholic population. The 1907 dock strike called by trade union leader James Larkin commenced in Sailortown before spreading throughout the city. [1] [2]

Contents

Urban redevelopment in the late 1960s resulted in Sailortown's eventual demolition. As of 2021, only two churches, one pub and three houses remain of the once bustling waterfront enclave. [3] [4] However, a combination of private investment in the greater Docks area and building of social housing by associations such as Clanmill has led to a growth in population since 2010 in the Pilot St area.

Whitla Street Fire Brigade station at the edge of Sailortown with the docks visible in the background. The firemen and their families lived in houses behind the station. Whitla Street, Sailortown.JPG
Whitla Street Fire Brigade station at the edge of Sailortown with the docks visible in the background. The firemen and their families lived in houses behind the station.

A "sailortown" is a dockland area "that catered to the transient population of seafarers" [5] that have existed in seaports throughout the world. [6]

Location

Sinclair Seamen's Presbyterian Church, in Corporation Street. The maritime-themed church was commissioned by Thomas Sinclair and built in 1856 by architect Charles Lanyon. Sinclair Seamens.png
Sinclair Seamen's Presbyterian Church, in Corporation Street. The maritime-themed church was commissioned by Thomas Sinclair and built in 1856 by architect Charles Lanyon.

Sailortown is in the Docks area north of Belfast city centre. It is bordered by Henry Street, York Street and the Whitla Street dock gate. It was adjacent to the old York Road railway station. Garmoyle Street serves as Sailortown's main arterial road, and at one time over 5,000 people lived in the small, cobblestoned streets of red-brick terraced houses packed between the docks and York Street. [7] Visiting sailors from many European nations (in particular those bordering the Baltic Sea) and from even as far away as India and China added to the resident population, which was mixed Protestant and Catholic. People from all over the island of Ireland settled in Sailortown, including many who were left destitute during the Great Famine. [7] The late 19th century saw the arrival of many Italian immigrants; this community, known as "Little Italy", was largely based around Little Patrick Street adjacent to the southern end of Sailortown. [8]

The maritime-themed Sinclair Seamen's Presbyterian Church and St. Joseph's Chapel, a Catholic church, served as the places of worship for the Sailortown populace. Sinclair Seamen's church is still standing on Corporation Street as is St Joseph's, built in 1880 on Princes Dock Street. St Joseph's, however, is no longer in use, having been closed by the Diocese of Down and Connor in 2001, due to falling attendances and the lack of a local community. [9] There is currently a community-led campaign for the renovation of St Joseph's chapel and it is opened on occasion for events. [10]

The Midlands Hotel, adjacent to Sailortown on York Street, was once known as one of Belfast's most prestigious hotels. Notable guests included Laurel and Hardy and 1960s singer P. J. Proby. [7]

History

Remnants of tram lines on Prince's Dock Street Old harbour railway, Belfast - geograph.org.uk - 1157184.jpg
Remnants of tram lines on Prince's Dock Street

The working-class enclave of Sailortown was established on partly reclaimed land in the mid-19th century and was Belfast's first waterfront village. [7] It came into being in the period when Belfast's industry expanded and flourished; Sailortown was displayed on an 1845 Belfast street map. In addition to the docks and warehouses, Sailortown had linen mills, factories, a large fire station, a hotel, boarding houses, a variety of shops and businesses, and many pubs and taverns. Later there were a number of boxing clubs and cinemas. Many local men found employment as dock labourers, carters or merchant seamen; the women worked in the mills and cigarette factories. Most families had men away at sea, including boys as young as 14. [7] During the period when Belfast reached its apex as the hub of the shipbuilding, engineering, and linen manufacturing industry, there were more than 2000 men working in the docks. [11] The main distribution centre was beside the railway station with a constant flow of horses and carts passing through the main thoroughfares.

Houses on Garmoyle Street, one of the few parts of old Sailortown remaining Sailortown houses.png
Houses on Garmoyle Street, one of the few parts of old Sailortown remaining

Life was hard for most of the people in Sailortown as they had to endure harsh working conditions with low wages and return home to small, damp, dilapidated homes, which often housed more than one family. The waterfront was described as having been "desperate with crime and inhumanity". [12] As a result of these factors, Sailortown became closely affiliated with Irish trade unionism and the Labour movement. In January 1907, trade union leader James Larkin arrived in Belfast with the aim of organising the dock workers for the National Union of Dock Labourers (NUDL). He was successful in bringing the dockers and carters, both Protestant and Catholic, into the NUDL union. In May of that same year, he sent them out on strike after their employers refused their demand for higher wages, better conditions and union recognition. The strike soon spread across the city and the striking dockers and carters were joined by transport workers, coal heavers, shipyard workers, boilermakers, firemen, sailors, and factory workers. The strike lasted until 28 August, and was largely unsuccessful; the British Army was eventually sent in to restore order after the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) mutinied. [13] The dockers' strike and lock-out did, however lead to Larkin establishing the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (ITGWU). [11]

Protestants and Catholics were not always segregated, often living in neighbouring houses and sharing the same workplace. [14] As a rule, however, 'upper' Sailortown between Nelson St and York St was predominately Protestant, while the district closer to the chapel was mostly Catholic. Despite being host to a steady stream of foreign sailors, Sailortown was a close-knit community and viewed strangers with mistrust and suspicion. [14] William Murphy, the father of loyalist Lenny Murphy (the leader of the notorious Shankill Butchers gang), was a dock labourer from Sailortown's Fleet Street. Jobs in Sailortown were traditionally passed from father to son; Lenny Murphy's grandfather had also worked as a dock labourer. [14] Murphy was a common surname in Sailortown, albeit traditionally borne by Catholics. [14]

Parts of Sailortown were damaged during the Second World War when the Luftwaffe rained bombs down onto Belfast on the nights of 7 April, 15/16 April and 4/5 May 1941, the Docks being a strategic target for the German bombers. Many buildings in Sailortown were engulfed with fire, the docks were hit and the Victorian York Street Spinning Mill was completely destroyed. [7]

Demolition and redevelopment

Short Street looking towards Prince's Dock Street, 2009 Short Street, Belfast - geograph.org.uk - 1308370.jpg
Short Street looking towards Prince's Dock Street, 2009
Mural painted on the gable of the 19th-century Rotterdam Bar, corner of Pilot Street and Barrow Square close to Clarendon Dock. Pat's Bar, at the harbour gate in Prince's Dock St, is to the right of the photograph. The Rotterdam, also now closed, was formerly popular for live music. Mural, Sailortown, Belfast (1) - geograph.org.uk - 1308523.jpg
Mural painted on the gable of the 19th-century Rotterdam Bar, corner of Pilot Street and Barrow Square close to Clarendon Dock. Pat's Bar, at the harbour gate in Prince's Dock St, is to the right of the photograph. The Rotterdam, also now closed, was formerly popular for live music.

The gradual demolition of Sailortown began in the late 1960s to construct the M2 motorway. The population was largely dispersed and rehoused in districts such as the Shore Crescent, a Protestant development adjacent to the Greencastle suburb of North Belfast, and the New Lodge. The last terrace of houses in Ship Street was knocked down in the 1970s. The Docks area has been extensively redeveloped and only three houses from the original Sailortown community remain standing. [7] From the mid-1980s, the "Rotterdam Bar", an old historic pub at the corner of Pilot Street and the harbour gates close to Clarendon Dock, was a popular venue for live music – in particular alternative rock bands. The 19th-century pub was slated for demolition in 2008. That plan, however, was shelved, although the bar has been closed from the early 2010s. [15]

The Sailortown Cultural and Historical Society was founded in October 1999. Since the beginning of the 21st century, some new houses and apartment buildings have been built in the area as part of a Sailortown regeneration scheme. St Joseph's is currently in a state of renovation and is opened for community events. [10]

The Troubles

Memorial plaque on St. Joseph's Chapel commemorating the two children killed in a 1972 UDA car bomb attack. Former St Joseph's church, Belfast (3) - geograph.org.uk - 1412081.jpg
Memorial plaque on St. Joseph's Chapel commemorating the two children killed in a 1972 UDA car bomb attack.

On 21 July 1972, known as Bloody Friday, the Provisional IRA set off 22 bombs in Belfast; one of the explosions destroyed the premises of a seed merchant on Garmoyle Street. [16] Stephen Parker, who at age 14 became the youngest victim of the day's bombings, was the son of the Reverend Joseph Parker, at the time chief chaplain of the Flying Angel Club. This was a seamen's mission in Sailortown located on Corporation Street, providing a temporary home for visiting sailors. Several months before Stephen was killed in the Cavehill Road blast, a bomb exploded in the vicinity of the mission and destroyed part of the building. [17]

On Halloween night 1972, two young Catholic girls, Paula Strong (aged 6) and Clare Hughes (4), were in costume dress and playing near a bonfire when a 100-pound car bomb planted by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) exploded nearby outside Benny's Bar at the corner of Ship Street and Garmoyle Street. They were both killed in the blast and 12 customers inside the pub suffered injuries. [18] There is a memorial plaque commemorating the girls on the façade of the defunct St. Joseph's church.

Fireman Brian Douglas, a Protestant based at the old Whitla Street fire station, was shot to death on 7 February 1973 by loyalist paramilitaries whilst fighting a fire caused by street disturbances in Bradbury Place, Sandy Row. A study room is dedicated to his memory at the new Whitla Street fire station which opened later that year.

In February 2003, UDA brigadier John Gregg and associate Rab Carson were shot dead whilst travelling in a taxi in Nelson Street near the docks. They had just returned to Belfast after attending a Rangers F. C. match in Glasgow. The killing was carried out by rivals from the UDA's "C Company" as part of an internal feud.

Notable residents

Natives of Sailortown who achieved wider notability down the years include SDLP founder member Paddy Wilson,[ citation needed ] a former senator in the by-then defunct Senate of Northern Ireland, who was murdered by Loyalist paramilitaries in 1973; and poet and writer John Campbell. Paul Hill, one of the Guildford Four, spent his childhood in Sailortown before his family moved to west Belfast. [19] Notorious street fighter, bootlegger and member of the Ulster Volunteers, Buck Alec Robinson, was also from the area, having been born in York Street and raised in Back Ship Street. He was often seen walking his two pet lions through Sailortown. The lions, which he had obtained from a visiting circus, were kept inside a cage in a back yard at the end of Back Ship Street. He frequently invited local children in to see them. [20]

Sailortown native John Campbell has published poems about Sailortown, and two of his books, Corner Kingdom and The Disinherited, are set in Sailortown's Docks. The latter book is based on the corrupt system which existed in the Docks beginning at the outbreak of the Second World War when men known as "Blue Button Men" were given preference in hiring over the Red Button Men who could only obtain work if they had fathers or brothers who were themselves employed as dockers. Novelist Eoin McNamee wrote about Sailortown in his novel Resurrection Man.

Playwright Martin Lynch's 1981 play Dockers vividly recreates Sailortown life in the early 1960s, its central theme being the fierce competition for jobs amongst the dockers and the power of the union which was the final arbitrator in who was hired or not.

Irish artist Terry Bradley was inspired by Sailortown to feature its dockers in a series of paintings. [21]

Northern Irish singer/songwriter Anthony Toner's song "Sailortown" was written following a performance at the Rotterdam Bar. It is featured on his album A Sky For Every Day. [22]

Related Research Articles

Bloody Friday is the name given to the bombings by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Belfast, Northern Ireland on 21 July 1972, during the Troubles. At least twenty bombs exploded in the space of eighty minutes, most within a half-hour period. Most of them were car bombs and most targeted infrastructure, especially the transport network. Nine people were killed: five civilians, two British soldiers, a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) reservist, and an Ulster Defence Association (UDA) member, while 130 were injured. The IRA said it sent telephoned warnings at least thirty minutes before each explosion and said that the security forces wilfully ignored some of the warnings for their own ends. The security forces said that was not the case and said they were overstretched by the sheer number of bombs and bomb warnings, some of which were hoaxes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andersonstown</span> Human settlement in Northern Ireland

Andersonstown is a suburb of west Belfast, Northern Ireland, at the foot of the Black Mountain and Divis Mountain. It contains a mixture of public and private housing and is largely a working-class area with a strong Irish nationalist and Irish Catholic tradition. The district is sometimes colloquially referred to as "Andytown". This area stretches between the Shaws Road, the Glen Road and the Andersonstown Road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shankill Road bombing</span> 1993 IRA attack in Belfast, Northern Ireland

The Shankill Road bombing was carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) on 23 October 1993 and is one of the most well-known incidents of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The IRA aimed to assassinate the leadership of the loyalist Ulster Defence Association (UDA), supposedly attending a meeting above Frizzell's fish shop on the Shankill Road, Belfast. Two IRA members disguised as deliverymen entered the shop carrying a bomb, which detonated prematurely. Ten people were killed: one of the IRA bombers, a UDA member and eight Protestant civilians, two of whom were children. More than fifty people were wounded. The targeted office was empty at the time of the bombing, but the IRA had allegedly realised that the tightly packed area below would inevitably cause "collateral damage" of civilian casualties and continued regardless. However, the IRA have denied this saying that they intended to evacuate the civilians before the explosion. It is alleged, and unearthed MI5 documents appear to prove, that British intelligence failed to act on a tip off about the bombing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donegall Road</span> Residential area in Belfast, Northern Ireland

The Donegall Road is a residential area and road traffic thoroughfare that runs from Shaftesbury Square on what was once called the "Golden Mile" to the Falls Road in west Belfast. The road is bisected by the Westlink – M1 motorway. The largest section of the road, east of the Broadway junction with the Westlink, has a community which self-identifies as predominantly Protestant while the community on the other side of the Westlink – M1 motorway self-identifies as predominantly Catholic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Gregg (loyalist)</span>

John Gregg was a senior member of the UDA/UFF loyalist paramilitary organisation in Northern Ireland. In 1984, Gregg seriously wounded Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams in an assassination attempt. From the 1990s until he was shot dead in 2003 by rival associates, Gregg served as brigadier of the UDA's South East Antrim Brigade. Widely known as a man with a fearsome reputation, Gregg was considered a "hawk" in some loyalist circles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Robinson</span> Irish boxer

Alexander "Buck Alec" Robinson was a boxer, Ulster loyalist paramilitary and Ulster Special Constabulary reservist. Robinson gained notoriety in Northern Ireland for streetfighting, robbery and for owning a pet lion. His contemporaries included James "Stormy" Wetherall and Patrick "Silver" McKee.

This is a timeline of actions by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), a loyalist paramilitary group formed in 1971. Most of these actions took place during the conflict known as "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland. The UDA's declared goal was to defend Loyalist areas from attack and to combat Irish republican paramilitaries. However, most of its victims were Irish Catholic civilians, who were often chosen at random.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1907 Belfast Dock strike</span>

The Belfast Dock strike or Belfast lockout took place in Belfast, Ireland from 26 April to 28 August 1907. The strike was called by Liverpool-born trade union leader James Larkin who had successfully organised the dock workers to join the National Union of Dock Labourers (NUDL). The dockers, both Protestant and Catholic, had gone on strike after their demand for union recognition was refused. They were soon joined by carters, shipyard workers, sailors, firemen, boilermakers, coal heavers, transport workers, and women from the city's largest tobacco factory. Most of the dock labourers were employed by powerful tobacco magnate Thomas Gallaher, chairman of the Belfast Steamship Company and owner of Gallaher's Tobacco Factory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paddy Wilson and Irene Andrews killings</span> Killings of a Roman Catholic man and a Protestant woman in Belfast during the Troubles

The killings of Paddy Wilson and Irene Andrews took place in Belfast, Northern Ireland on the night of 25/26 June 1973. The victims, Roman Catholic Senator Paddy Wilson and his Protestant friend Irene Andrews, were hacked and repeatedly stabbed to death by members of the "Ulster Freedom Fighters" (UFF). This was a cover name for the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), a then-legal Ulster loyalist paramilitary organisation. John White, the UFF's commander, who used the pseudonym "Captain Black", was convicted of the sectarian double murder in 1978 and sentenced to life imprisonment. White, however maintained that the UFF's second-in-command Davy Payne helped him lead the assassination squad and played a major part in the attack. Although questioned by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) after the killings, Payne admitted nothing and was never charged.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Ann Ogilby</span> 1974 UDA murder in Northern Ireland

The murder of Ann Ogilby, also known as the "Romper Room murder", took place in Sandy Row, south Belfast, Northern Ireland on 24 July 1974. It was a punishment killing, carried out by members of the Sandy Row women's Ulster Defence Association (UDA) unit. At the time the UDA was a legal Ulster loyalist paramilitary organisation. The victim, Ann Ogilby, a Protestant single mother of four, was beaten to death by two teenaged girls after being sentenced to a "rompering" at a kangaroo court. Ogilby had been having an affair with a married UDA commander, William Young, who prior to his internment, had made her pregnant. His wife, Elizabeth Young, was a member of the Sandy Row women's UDA unit. Ogilby had made defamatory remarks against Elizabeth Young in public regarding food parcels. Eight weeks after Ogilby had given birth to Young's son, the women's unit decided that Ogilby would pay for both the affair and remarks with her life. The day following the kangaroo court "trial", they arranged for the kidnapping of Ogilby and her six-year-old daughter, Sharlene, outside a Social Services office by UDA man Albert "Bumper" Graham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shore Road, Belfast</span> Road in Belfast, Northern Ireland

The Shore Road is a major arterial route and area of housing and commerce that runs through north Belfast and Newtownabbey in Northern Ireland. It forms part of the A2 road, a traffic route which links Belfast to the County Antrim coast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benny's Bar bombing</span> 1972 pub bombing in Belfast

The Benny's Bar bombing was a paramilitary attack on 31 October 1972 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. A unit from the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), a loyalist paramilitary group, detonated a no-warning car bomb outside the Irish Catholic-owned Benny's Bar in the dockland area of Sailortown, killing two young girls trick-or-treating in the area: Clare Hughes (4); and Paula Strong (6). Twelve of the pub's patrons were also injured in the explosion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1973 Coleraine bombings</span> 1973 IRA attack in Northern Ireland

On 12 June 1973 the Provisional IRA detonated two carbombs in Coleraine, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The first bomb exploded at 3:00 pm on Railway Road, killing six people and injuring 33; several lost limbs and were left disabled for life. A second bomb exploded five minutes later at Hanover Place. This did not cause any injuries, although it added to the panic and confusion in the area. The IRA had sent a warning for the second bomb but said it had mistakenly given the wrong location for the first.

The Antrim Road is a major arterial route and area of housing and commerce that runs from inner city north Belfast to Dunadry, passing through Newtownabbey and Templepatrick. It forms part of the A6 road, a traffic route which links Belfast to Derry. It passes through the New Lodge, Newington and Glengormley areas of Northern Ireland amongst others.

The Battle of Lenadoon was a series of gun battles fought over a six day period from 9–14 July 1972 between the Provisional IRA and the British Army. It started on Thursday, 9 July 1972 in and around the Lenadoon Avenue area and spread to other places in Belfast. Loyalist paramilitaries and the Official Irish Republican Army were involved in some of the incidents. 28 people in total were killed in Belfast according to the CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths. The violence ended a two-week truce between the forces of the British Government and the IRA.

On 14 November 1992, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), a loyalist paramilitary group, launched an attack on James Murray's bookmakers on the Oldpark Road in Belfast, Northern Ireland. A gunman fired on the customers with an assault rifle, while another threw a grenade inside. Three civilians were killed and thirteen wounded. The shop was in a Catholic and Irish nationalist area, and all of the victims were local Catholics. The attack was likened to the Sean Graham bookmakers' shooting carried out by the UDA earlier that year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Lodge Six shooting</span> 1973 mass shooting in Belfast

In the late hours of 3 February and the early hours of 4 February 1973, six men, all of whom were Catholics, were shot and killed in the New Lodge area of north Belfast:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sailortown</span> Districts in seaports that catered to transient seafarers

A Sailortown is a district in seaports that catered to transient seafarers. These districts frequently contained boarding houses, public houses, brothels, tattoo parlours, print shops, shops selling nautical equipment, and religious institutions offering aid to seamen; usually there was also a police station, a magistrate's court and a shipping office. Because it took several days, in the past, to unload ships, crews would spend this time in sailortown. These were "generic locations—international everyplaces existing in nearly every port." Cecily Fox Smith wrote that 'dockland, strictly speaking, is of no country—or rather it is of all countries'". Sailortowns were places where local people, immigrants, social and religious reformers, and transitory sailors met.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Top of the Hill bar shooting</span> Mass shooting in Derry, Northern Ireland in December 1972

The Top of the Hill bar shooting, or Annie's Bar massacre, was a mass shooting in Derry, Northern Ireland on 20 December 1972, during the Troubles. Five civilians were killed when members of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), a loyalist paramilitary group, opened fire on the customers in a pub frequented by Catholics.

The Stag Inn attack was a sectarian gun attack, on 30 July 1976, carried out by a group of Belfast IRA Volunteers using the cover name Republican Action Force. Four Protestants, all civilians, the youngest being 48 years old and the eldest 70, were all killed in the attack with several others being injured. Three Catholics were killed the previous day in a Loyalish bomb, part of a string of sectarian attacks in Northern Ireland by different paramilitary organizations.

References

  1. ↑ Clarke, L. (2017). Asher, A Fictional Biography. Wild Rose Press, Incorporated. p. 201. ISBN   978-1-5092-1606-2 . Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  2. ↑ Morgan, A. (1991). Labour and Partition: The Belfast Working Class, 1905–1923. Pluto Irish library. Pluto Press. p. 95-. ISBN   978-0-7453-0326-0 . Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  3. ↑ Van Damme, I.; De Munck, B.; Miles, A. (2017). Cities and Creativity from the Renaissance to the Present. Routledge Advances in Urban History. Taylor & Francis. p. 313. ISBN   978-1-351-68179-7 . Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  4. ↑ Rolston, B. (1991). Politics and painting: murals and conflict in Northern Ireland. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 55. ISBN   978-0-8386-3386-1 . Retrieved 3 February 2018. From the early 1970s, there had been a major program of urban redevelopment in Belfast that caused large areas of urban blight. One such area was Sailortown, at the end of the M2, the motorway that linked Belfast to its airport and the main shipping port at Larne. At a time when exresidents of Sailortown were demanding new houses to replace their demolished ones, the Northern Ireland Office was engaged in a major landscaping scheme at the end of the motorway, using land that ...
  5. ↑ Thayer, Jonathan. "Mapping New York City's Sailortown – New Media Lab". New Media Lab Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  6. ↑ Stan Hugill, Sailortown. London: Routledge & K. Paul, 1967
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Sailortown Galleries – A selection of photo galleries reflecting life in Sailortown in bygone days". sailortown.org. 29 April 2010. Archived from the original on 29 April 2010. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  8. ↑ "Legacies – Immigration and Emigration – Northern Ireland – Italians – Radio, Pokes and Marble – Article Page 2". BBC. 29 September 2003. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  9. ↑ "Last service in Sailortown church". BBC News. 11 February 2001. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  10. 1 2 Mulgrew, Brendan (23 March 2021). "There is life in Sailortown and St Joseph's Church is at the heart of it". www.irishnews.com/. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  11. 1 2 "Rediscovering Belfast's forgotten maritime past – Stakeholder". stakeholdermedia.com. 2 May 2014. Archived from the original on 2 May 2014. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  12. ↑ Uris, L.; Uris, J. (1978). Ireland: a terrible beauty; the story of Ireland today with 388 photographs, including 108 in full color. Bantam Books. p. 245. ISBN   978-0-553-01208-8 . Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  13. ↑ "The Giant's Tale: the history and heritage of North Belfast
  14. 1 2 3 4 Dillon, M. (2009). The Shankill Butchers: A Case Study of Mass Murder. Random House. ISBN   978-1-4090-6522-7 . Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  15. ↑ "Belfast's Rotterdam bar saved by recession". BelfastTelegraph.co.uk. 16 July 2008. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  16. ↑ Ryder, C. (2005). A special kind of courage: 321 EOD Squadron -- battling the bombers. Methuen. p. 64. ISBN   978-0-413-77223-7 . Retrieved 3 February 2018. Two minutes later, a bomb planted by armed men devastated the premises of John Irwin, seed merchant, at Garmoyle Street in the docks area. Five minutes after that, a bridge spanning the M2 motorway at the Bellevue Arms, Antrim Road was undamaged when explosives in a car caught fire but failed to detonate. At 3.05 Creighton's Garage on Lisburn Road was demolished by a car bomb, setting petrol pumps ablaze, and simultaneously an electricity substation at the junction of ...
  17. ↑ Uris, L.; Uris, J. (1978). Ireland: a terrible beauty; the story of Ireland today with 388 photographs, including 108 in full color. Bantam Books. p. 262. ISBN   978-0-553-01208-8 . Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  18. ↑ Sutton, M. (1994). Bear in Mind These Dead: An Index of Deaths from the Conflict in Ireland, 1969–1993. Beyond the Pale Publications. p. 35. ISBN   978-0-9514229-4-6 . Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  19. ↑ Hill, P.; Bennett, R. (1990). Stolen years: before and after Guildford. Doubleday. pp. 1–8. ISBN   978-0-385-40125-8 . Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  20. ↑ Magazine, Joe Graham Rushlight (3 March 2016). "tales of old Belfast Characters, Buck Alec Robinson, Fred Crawford UVF Gunrunner, Jimmy Duffin, Pig Minelly.Mickey Marley, Michael McLaverty". tales of old Belfast Characters, Buck Alec Robinson, Fred Crawford UVF Gunrunner, Jimmy Duffin, Pig Minelly.Mickey Marley, Michael McLaverty. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  21. ↑ Coleman, Maureen (18 September 2009). "Slums, brothels and seedy dives....journey into the dark side of Belfast". BelfastTelegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  22. ↑ Bell, Jackie (20 April 2017). "Belfast-based singer Anthony Toner set for his biggest gig to date". BelfastTelegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 3 February 2018.

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