Sandy Row

Last updated

Sandy Row
King Billy mural, Sandy Row - panoramio.jpg
Sandy Row's northern end
Native nameRae na Gainmhe (Irish) [1]
Former name(s)Carr's Row
Maintained by Belfast City Council
Location Shaftesbury, Belfast
Postal codeBT12 5E
Coordinates 54°35′31″N5°56′13″W / 54.592°N 5.937°W / 54.592; -5.937
North endDurham Street
South end Lisburn Road

Sandy Row (Irish : Rae na Gainmhe [1] ) is a large inner city estate in south Belfast, Northern Ireland. It lends its name to the surrounding residential community, which is predominantly Protestant working-class. The Sandy Row area had a population of 2,153 in 2001; [2] [3] in 2018, the population was estimated to be around 4,000. [4] It is a staunchly loyalist area of Belfast, being a traditional heartland for affiliation with the paramilitary Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and the Orange Order.

Contents

Location

Sandy Row is in south Belfast, beginning at the edge of the city centre, close to the Europa Hotel. The road runs south from the Boyne Bridge over the old Dublin railway line beside Great Victoria Street station, then crosses Donegall Road and ends at the bottom of Lisburn Road. At the north end of the road was Murray's tobacco factory, opened in 1810, [5] while at the other is a large Orange hall.

History

The first Orange Arch erected in Sandy Row, c. 1921. Its builder, Frank Reynolds is seen standing in the photograph, fifth from the left Orange arch, Sandy Row.jpg
The first Orange Arch erected in Sandy Row, c. 1921. Its builder, Frank Reynolds is seen standing in the photograph, fifth from the left

Formerly known as Carr's Row, [6] Sandy Row is one of the oldest residential areas of Belfast. [7] Its growth in population was in large part due to the expansion of the linen industry in Rowland Street. [8] The name Sandy Row derived from the sandbank which abutted the road that followed the high-water mark resulting from the flow off the tidal waters of the Lagan River estuary. For over two thousand years, the road along the sandbank was the principal thoroughfare leading south from Carrickfergus. [9]

In the 19th century Sandy Row became a bustling shopping district, and by the turn of the 20th-century, there were a total of 127 shops and merchants based in the road. It continued to draw shoppers from all over Belfast until the outbreak of the Troubles in the late 1960s. [8] The rows of 19th-century terraced houses in the streets and backstreets branching off Sandy Row have been demolished and replaced with modern housing. Six of the houses which formerly lined Rowland Street have been rebuilt in the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum.

It is a traditionally Protestant, close-knit loyalist community, noted for its elaborate Orange Order parades on the Twelfth, with over 40 Arches erected in its streets and a marching band of teenaged girls known as the "Sandy Row Girl's Band". [10] In addition to the arches spanning the road, buildings and homes are decorated with flags, bunting and banners. The first Orange Arch was erected by Frank Reynolds in about 1921. [9] In 1690, on his way south to fight at the Battle of the Boyne, King William III of England and his troops travelled along Sandy Row. [9] Tradition holds that part of his army camped on the ground where the Orange Hall now stands. The Hall was opened in June 1910 by Lady Henderson, wife of former Lord Mayor of Belfast, James Henderson. By 1908, there were 34 Orange Lodges in the district. [9] In the 19th and 20th-centuries, there was much sectarian fighting and rioting between Sandy Row Protestants and Catholics from Pound Loney, in the Lower Falls Road. [9]

In the spring 1941 Belfast Blitz during the calamitous 15/16 April raid, the Luftwaffe dropped a parachute landmine at the top of Blythe Street, killing and fatally injuring over ten people including children. Terraced houses on both sides of the street were badly damaged, many with their facades blasted off. The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester paid a visit to the devastated street.

The Sandy Row redevelopment association which was founded in 1970, was one of the first loyalist community groups to open an advice centre. [11] In 1996, the Sandy Row Community Forum was established. It acts as an umbrella organisation for all the community groups in the area.

The Troubles

Paramilitary mural formerly displayed at the entrance to Sandy Row (removed 2012) Sandy Row mural, Belfast.jpg
Paramilitary mural formerly displayed at the entrance to Sandy Row (removed 2012)

During The Troubles, the area had a strong Ulster Defence Association (UDA) presence. Sandy Row is part of the UDA South Belfast Brigade, commanded for many years by the late John McMichael and currently by Jackie McDonald. Its first known commander was Sammy Murphy who also led the Sandy Row UDA. He engaged in talks with the British Army during the Ulster Workers Council Strike in May 1974 to defuse a potentially violent confrontation between the Army and UDA over street barricades that had been erected in Sandy Row. [12]

In December 1972, senior UDA member Ernie Elliott was shot dead outside a Sandy Row club by a fellow UDA man after a drunken brawl. [13] On 7 February 1973, Brian Douglas, a Protestant fireman from Sailortown was shot to death by the UDA whilst fighting a fire caused by street disturbances in Bradbury Place. [14] Sandy Row UDA members also launched a series of attacks on nearby Durham Street, a mainly Catholic area between Sandy Row and Falls Road, in the early 1970s with four Catholics killed in the area, including 16-year-old Bernard McErlain, in late March–April 1973. [15] Two Protestant civilian men were killed on 30 March 1974 in a no-warning bomb attack carried out by an unknown republican paramilitary group against the Crescent Bar. On 24 July 1974, Ann Ogilby, a 32-year-old Protestant single mother of four, was savagely beaten to death with bricks and sticks inside the disused Warwick's bakery in Hunter Street by two teenagers from the Sandy Row women's UDA unit, commanded by Elizabeth "Lily" Douglas. The bakery had been converted to a UDA club. [16] Ogilby's six-year-old daughter was outside the door and overheard her mother's screams inside whilst loud disco music played. Ogilby had been "sentenced to death" at a kangaroo court presided over by eight UDA women after it was discovered she was having an affair with a senior UDA man, who was married to one of the unit's members. She had also made defamatory remarks about her lover's wife. On 30 January 1976, the Provisional IRA exploded a car bomb outside the Klondyke Bar on the corner of McAdam Street. John Smiley, a middle-aged Protestant civilian was killed outright in the blast. Many people inside the pub suffered serious injuries including a barmaid who lost an eye, Vina Galaway. [17] [18] Less than two years before the attack, the Klondyke Bar was the subject of a photographic essay by Bill Kirk in a series of photographs taken in Sandy Row. The Klondyke had been built in 1872.

In the same year of the Klondyke bombing, an 18-year-old Catholic girl had her throat slit behind a Sandy Row pub by loyalist paramilitaries after she had been discovered drinking inside with Protestant friends. [19]

An army patrol crosses the junction with Donegall Road, 1981. All of the buildings, except the City Hospital tower and chimney in the background, are now demolished. South Belfast 1981.jpg
An army patrol crosses the junction with Donegall Road, 1981. All of the buildings, except the City Hospital tower and chimney in the background, are now demolished.

Thomas Vance, one of the 18 British soldiers killed in the Warrenpoint ambush, was a native of Sandy Row.[ citation needed ]

The large Ulster Freedom Fighters mural was one of many loyalist murals found in Sandy Row; it could be seen from the northern end of the street. It was announced in June 2012 that the mural would be painted over with another showing William of Orange. The announcement was made by Jackie McDonald following a year of talks with residents and business leaders, some of whom claimed that the presence of the mural was dissuading other businesses from settling in office blocks nearby. [20] It was removed on 25 June and replaced with the mural depicting William of Orange. [21] [22]

Sandy Row contains a loyalist souvenir shop, the "One Stop Ulster Shop", which sells UDA and Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) paraphernalia. [23] The John McMichael Centre (named after the former South Belfast UDA leader) which helps former loyalist prisoners, is also located on Sandy Row.

Demographics

The Sandy Row Neighbourhood Renewal Area (NRA) was designated by the Department for Social Development in 2004, with boundaries extending along the Westlink, Donegall Road and Great Victoria Street. On Census day (29 April 2001) there were a total of 2,153 people living in the Sandy Row NRA. Of these: [2] [3]

For more details see: NI Neighbourhood Information Service.

Sport

The Royal Bar, Sandy Row The Royal Bar, Sandy Row.jpg
The Royal Bar, Sandy Row

The Linfield F.C. was founded in Sandy Row in March 1886 by workers from the Ulster Spinning Company's Linfield Mill. Originally named the Linfield Athletic Club, its playing ground, "the Meadow", was situated behind the mill. [24] Linfield's first captain was Sam "Thaw" Torrans.

Celebrated snooker champion Alex "Hurricane" Higgins was a native of Sandy Row, having been born in Abingdon Drive, off the Donegall Road. He first started playing at the age of 11 in the Jampot club. [25]

In the song "Madame George" on his album Astral Weeks , Van Morrison sings:

Then you know you gotta go
On that train from Dublin up to Sandy Row

— Van Morrison, "Madame George" (1968) [26]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ulster Defence Association</span> Ulster loyalist paramilitary group formed in 1971

The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 as an umbrella group for various loyalist groups and undertook an armed campaign of almost 24 years as one of the participants of the Troubles. Its declared goal was to defend Ulster Protestant loyalist areas and to combat Irish republicanism, particularly the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). In the 1970s, uniformed UDA members openly patrolled these areas armed with batons and held large marches and rallies. Within the UDA was a group tasked with launching paramilitary attacks that used the cover name Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) so that the UDA would not be outlawed. The British government proscribed the UFF as a terrorist group in November 1973, but the UDA itself was not proscribed until August 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shankill Road</span> Main road leading through west Belfast, Northern Ireland

The Shankill Road is one of the main roads leading through West Belfast, in Northern Ireland. It runs through the working-class, predominantly loyalist, area known as the Shankill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irish People's Liberation Organisation</span> Former Irish Republican paramilitary group

The Irish People's Liberation Organisation was a small Irish socialist republican paramilitary organisation formed in 1986 by disaffected and expelled members of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), whose factions coalesced in the aftermath of the supergrass trials. It developed a reputation for intra-republican and sectarian violence as well as criminality, before being forcibly disbanded by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ulster loyalism</span> Pro-UK political ideology in Northern Ireland

Ulster loyalism is a strand of Ulster unionism associated with working class Ulster Protestants in Northern Ireland. Like other unionists, loyalists support the continued existence of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom, and oppose a united Ireland independent of the UK. Unlike other strands of unionism, loyalism has been described as an ethnic nationalism of Ulster Protestants and "a variation of British nationalism". Loyalists are often said to have a conditional loyalty to the British state so long as it defends their interests. They see themselves as loyal primarily to the Protestant British monarchy rather than to British governments and institutions, while Garret FitzGerald argued they are loyal to 'Ulster' over 'the Union'. A small minority of loyalists have called for an independent Ulster Protestant state, believing they cannot rely on British governments to support them. The term 'loyalism' is usually associated with paramilitarism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loyalist Association of Workers</span> Militant unionist organization for trade union members in Northern Ireland

The Loyalist Association of Workers (LAW) was a militant unionist organisation in Northern Ireland that sought to mobilise trade union members in support of the loyalist cause. It became notorious for a one-day strike in 1973 that ended in widespread violence.

Murals in Northern Ireland have become symbols of Northern Ireland, depicting the region's past and present political and religious divisions.

<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">Jackie McDonald</span> Northern Irish loyalist (born 1947)

John "Jackie" McDonald is a Northern Irish loyalist and the incumbent Ulster Defence Association (UDA) brigadier for South Belfast, having been promoted to the rank by former UDA commander Andy Tyrie in 1988, following John McMichael's killing by the Provisional IRA in December 1987. He is also a member of the organisation's Inner Council and the spokesman for the Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG), the UDA's political advisory body.

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">Ernie Elliott</span>

Ernest "Ernie" Elliott, nicknamed "Duke", was a Northern Irish loyalist activist and a leading member of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) during its early days. Unusually for the generally right-wing UDA, Elliott expressed admiration for socialism and communism, and frequently quoted the words of Che Guevara and Karl Marx. Elliott was eventually killed by a fellow UDA member following a drunken brawl, although his death was variously blamed on republicans and a rival faction within the UDA.

<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">Robert Seymour (loyalist)</span> Northern Irish loyalist

Robert Seymour was a Northern Irish loyalist and a leading member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). He served as the paramilitary organisation's East Belfast commander before being shot dead by the Provisional IRA in an alley behind his video shop in Woodstock Road, east Belfast. His killing was in retaliation for the UVF bombing of a nationalist pub in which three Catholics died.

Hester Rogers is a Northern Irish former loyalist activist and writer who was a member of the Ulster Defence Association's (UDA) political wing during the period of religious-political conflict known as the Troubles. She headed the UDA's women's department and ran the public relations and administration section at the organisation's headquarters in Gawn Street, off the Newtownards Road. An outspoken critic of strip searching female prisoners, she was a founder and activist for "Justice For Lifers", an organisation which advocated prison reform in Northern Ireland.

Wendy Millar also known as "Bucket" and "Queen of the UDA" is a Northern Irish loyalist and a founding member of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). She established the first UDA women's unit on her native Shankill Road in Belfast. Her two sons Herbie and James "Sham" Millar are also high-profile UDA members and her daughter's husband is former West Belfast brigadier "Fat" Jackie Thompson.

William Elliot was a Northern Irish loyalist and a leading member of the Red Hand Commando (RHC) paramilitary organisation. He fled Northern Ireland after being implicated in the brutal 1994 murder of an epileptic Protestant woman, Margaret Wright, who was beaten and shot inside a south Belfast loyalist bandhall in the mistaken belief that she was a Catholic or informant for the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). For his part in the murder, Elliot was gunned down by members of his own organisation.

The Orange Volunteers (OV) was a loyalist vigilante group with a paramilitary structure active in Northern Ireland during the early 1970s. It took its name from the Orange Order, from which it drew the bulk of its membership.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UDA South Belfast Brigade</span> Ulster loyalist paramilitary group

The UDA South Belfast Brigade is the section of the Ulster loyalist paramilitary group, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), based in the southern quarter of Belfast, as well as in surrounding areas. Initially a battalion, the South Belfast Brigade emerged from the local "defence associations" active in the city at the beginning of the Troubles. It subsequently emerged as the largest of the UDA's six brigades and expanded to cover an area much wider than its initial South Belfast borders.

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.

References

  1. 1 2 "Place Names NI". 16 December 2018. Archived from the original on 17 December 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  2. 1 2 Sandy Row Project Team (December 2004). "Section 5: Sandy Row". Taskforce – addressing the needs of working class Protestant communities: Final report (Report). Department for Social Development. pp. 26–27. Archived from the original (DOC) on 29 August 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  3. 1 2 Sandy Row Project Team (December 2004). "Annex 4: Census data". Taskforce – addressing the needs of working class Protestant communities: Final report (Report). Department for Social Development. pp. VI–XXV. Archived from the original (DOC) on 29 August 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  4. ↑ Smith, Ryan (2 November 2018). "Sandy Row residents urged to come forward over future of area". BelfastLive. Archived from the original on 3 November 2018. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  5. ↑ Owen, D. J. (1921). History of Belfast. W. & G. Baird. p. 313. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  6. ↑ "McCausland – new name for Sandy Row housing scheme" (Press release). Northern Ireland Executive. 15 September 2011. Archived from the original on 30 August 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  7. ↑ "Sandy Row: a little part of Belfast". Archived from the original on 2 October 2011. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
  8. 1 2 Sandy Row History Part 1
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Sandy Row History, part 2
  10. ↑ Murphy, p.288
  11. ↑ Nelson, Sarah (1984). Ulster's Uncertain Defenders: Protestant political, paramilitary and community groups and the Northern Ireland conflict. Belfast: Appletree Press. p.141
  12. ↑ Fisk, Robert (1975). The Point of No Return: the strike which broke the British in Ulster. London: Times Books. pp.145-148
  13. ↑ McDonald, Henry & Cusack, Jim (2004). UDA: Inside the Heart of Loyalist Terror. Penguin Ireland. pp. 34-35
  14. ↑ CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths - 1973
  15. ↑ McDonald & Cusack, p. 54
  16. ↑ Simpson, Alan (1999). Murder Madness: True Crimes of The Troubles. Dublin: Gill & McMillan. pp.38-39
  17. ↑ CAIN web service: Sutton Index of Deaths - 1976
  18. ↑ "I forgive bomber and pity his family". The News Letter . 24 March 2008. Archived from the original on 29 June 2015. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  19. ↑ Murphy, Dervla (1979). A Place Apart . Harmondsworth: Penguin ISBN   0140050302; p. 144
  20. ↑ O'Neill, Julian (1 June 2012). "Sandy Row loyalist mural to be replaced with William of Orange painting". BBC Online. Archived from the original on 14 August 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  21. ↑ "Sandy Row loyalist mural being replaced with William of Orange painting". BBC Online. 25 June 2012. Archived from the original on 28 June 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  22. ↑ "King Billy portrait replaces UFF mural on Sandy Row". BBC Online. 2 July 2012. Archived from the original on 23 August 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  23. ↑ Image of the shop Archived 11 July 2012 at archive.today
  24. ↑ Garnham, Neal (2004). Association football and society in pre-partition Ireland. Ulster Historical Foundation. p.47
  25. ↑ McKeown, Lesley-Anne (27 July 2012). "Two years on and still no Alex Higgins memorial". Belfast Telegraph . Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  26. ↑ Smith Jr., Griffin (October 1975). "Belfast: In search of Van Morrison". Texas Monthly . Retrieved 24 May 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.