Cregagh
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Cregagh () is an area southeast of Belfast in
County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...
, Northern Ireland. It is the name of a townland and has been adopted as the name of an
electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to t ...
of Belfast City council. The townland dates back to medieval times, when it was part of the territory held by the O'Neills of Clannaboy. The area is centred on the Cregagh Road. The Woodstock/Cregagh Road is a continuous arterial route in the city, with the Woodstock making up the lower half of the route and the Cregagh the upper half. It runs from the Albertbridge Road, close to the Short Strand, to the A55 Outer Ring road.


Woodstock Road

The Woodstock Road forms the beginning of the continuous road that includes Cregagh and which runs from close to the
River Lagan The River Lagan (; Ulster Scots: ''Lagan Wattèr'') is a major river in Northern Ireland which runs 53.5 miles (86 km) from the Slieve Croob mountain in County Down to Belfast where it enters Belfast Lough, an inlet of the Irish Sea. The ...
to the outskirts of Belfast. The road begins at the end of Woodstock Link, which itself starts at a junction which turns off from the Albertbridge Road facing Mountpottinger Road. The Mount, a prominent conference facility built in 1997, is located close to this junction on the Woodstock Link. Following the junction with the Beersbridge Road the Woodstock Road is mainly lined with shops and other places of business. The area, also known as Willowfield, is also home to a number of churches, including the Church of Ireland place of worship Willowfield Parish Church, Saint Anthony's Roman Catholic Church. and the Cregagh Gospel Hall. Other amenities include a public library and a Police Service of Northern Ireland station. The Willowfield area formerly lent its name to the
Belfast Willowfield Belfast Willowfield was a constituency of the Parliament of Northern Ireland. Boundaries Belfast Willowfield was a borough constituency comprising part of southern Belfast. It was created in 1929 when the House of Commons (Method of Voting ...
constituency of the old Parliament of Northern Ireland. An Ulster loyalist flute band, Crimson Star, is based in the area and their badge is shown on a mural painted on a wall on Ardenvohr Street just off the Woodstock Road. During the Troubles notorious Ulster Volunteer Force hitman Robert "Squeak" Seymour ran a video shop on the Woodstock Road. It was whilst working at his shop that Seymour was shot and killed by two Provisional Irish Republican Army operatives on 15 June 1988. The Woodstock Road continues as far as Ravenhill Avenue where it becomes the Cregagh Road. The Woodstock Road was formerly known as the lower Cregagh Road and in the nineteenth century it was mainly made up of farmland. Until the 1920s parts of the Cregagh Road, which is now entirely urbanised, were agricultural.


Lower Cregagh Road

At its lower stage, the Cregagh Road, like the Woodstock Road, is lined with several shops. This area also has a number of churches, the most prominent of which are Cregagh Methodist Church and Cregagh Presbyterian Church. Just off the Cregagh Road, on Gibson Park Avenue, are two locally well-known sporting venues,
Cregagh Cricket Club Cregagh Cricket Club is a cricket club in Belfast, Northern Ireland, playing in the Premier League of the NCU Senior League.Clarence J Hiles (2003), A History of Senior Cricket in Ulster, Hilltop Publications, p. 164 It shares a ground with Oran ...
and Malone Rugby Club. Cregagh Cricket Club celebrated its centenary in 2006. The cricket ground is also used by Northern Amateur Football League club Orangefield Old Boys and is part of Cregagh Sports Club, effectively a merger of the cricket and association football clubs, with both sharing the same Gibson Park Avenue facilities. This alliance was concluded in the early 1980s, with the two clubs being previously unconnected. Ravenhill Stadium, the home of Ulster Rugby, lies a short distance away, about halfway between the Cregagh Road and the Ravenhill Road to the east.


Cregagh Estate

The Cregagh Estate is located off the Cregagh Road, starting after the roundabout junction with Ladas Drive and Mount Merrion Avenue. The junction is immediately after Bell's Bridge which crosses the Loop River, one of Belfast's myriad minor rivers. The estate was built as a public housing project in 1946–1947 and was designed by government architect
T. F. O. Rippingham Thomas Francis Ord Rippingham (29 January 1896 – 17 December 1964) was an English-born architect who spent most of his professional life in Northern Ireland, mainly working for the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS). "Rip", as he was affe ...
. Tenants have subsequently been offered the opportunity to purchase their homes. The estate is characterised by its uncommon flat roofs and staggered house fronts. The streets in the Cregagh Estate are named after the rivers and streams of the island of Ireland (e.g. Callan Way, Kilbroney Bend). Although predominantly Protestant from its inception, Cregagh had a significant Catholic minority for a number of years and at the start of the Troubles, Catholics even joined in local vigilante patrols under the auspices of the Cregagh Tenants Association. This co-operation ended in 1972 with the arrival of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and before long most of the Catholic residents had left the area for west Belfast.Community Case Studies
/ref> Around this time housing allocation in the area came under UDA control and the local "
Tartan gangs The Ulster Young Militants (UYM) are considered to be the youth wing of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. Commonly known as the Young Militants or UYM, the group formed in 1974 when t ...
" were taken over as the junior UDA. Subsequently, however the UDA declined in the area, and east Belfast in general, and the Ulster Volunteer Force became more important, with UVF murals being painted on Cregagh's walls. By 2018 however the only murals on Cregagh estate are one commemorating Victoria Cross winners
Eric Norman Frankland Bell Eric Norman Frankland Bell VC (28 August 1895 – 1 July 1916) was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. A ...
, Geoffrey Cather,
William McFadzean William Frederick McFadzean VC (9 October 1895 – 1 July 1916) was a British recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth f ...
and
Robert Quigg Robert Quigg (28 February 1885 – 14 May 1955) was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. The award was m ...
and another showing local boy George Best.


Upper Cregagh Road

Beyond the Cregagh estate the road is made up of mainly private housing and continues as far as Upper Knockbreda Road. Cregagh Library and the former home of
Castlereagh Borough Council Castlereagh may refer to: People * Marquess of Londonderry, subsidiary title Viscount Castlereagh, used as courtesy title for the Marquess's eldest son; in particular ** Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh (1769–1822), later 2nd Marquess of Lon ...
are found on this part of the road. The latter building has been extensively refurbished and is now the Museum Of Orange Heritage. The neighbouring Montgomery Road is the location for the former Robinson Centre leisure facility and the Castlereagh campus of Belfast Metropolitan College. The area was sometimes nicknamed the "Bible belt". Immediately beyond the end of the Cregagh Road, on the opposite side of the Upper Knockbreda Road, is a forested area known as Cregagh Glen. The Upper Knockbreda Road, otherwise known as the A55 Outer Ring, was completed in 1967 to link Cregagh with the Knock area on the outskirts of east Belfast. Some of the streets in Cregagh are named after Second World War generals (e.g. Montgomery,
Alanbrooke Field Marshal Alan Francis Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke, (23 July 1883 – 17 June 1963), was a senior officer of the British Army. He was Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS), the professional head of the British Army, during the Se ...
) while a significant number are named after First World War battlefields (e.g.
Picardy Picardy (; Picard and french: Picardie, , ) is a historical territory and a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region of Hauts-de-France. It is located in the northern part of France. Hi ...
, Hamel). This connection with the wars reflects the numbers of people from the area who died in those wars. This was also a reason why the location was chosen for a large number of ex-servicemen's homes, with 150 of the so-called "
homes fit for heroes A council house is a form of British public housing built by local authorities. A council estate is a building complex containing a number of council houses and other amenities like schools and shops. Construction took place mainly from 1919 a ...
" promised by David Lloyd George built around this area in the late 1920s. However this area, which was known locally as "the Colony", remained the only significant public housing scheme for ex-soldiers to be undertaken in Belfast in the aftermath of the First World War. A memorial to the dead of the First World War, consisting of a
Celtic Cross The Celtic cross is a form of Christian cross featuring a nimbus or ring that emerged in Ireland, France and Great Britain in the Early Middle Ages. A type of ringed cross, it became widespread through its use in the stone high crosses er ...
, was unveiled in 1929 before being rededicated in 1932 by Edward, Prince of Wales. Castlereagh council expanded the memorial a number of times during the 1990s, adding a stone for the Ulster Special Constabulary, another stone for the Ulster Defence Regiment and a back plaque commemorating members of both of these groups and the
Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC)Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the Royal ...
as well as civilians killed during the Troubles and local residents who died during the Second World War.


Notable people

The late footballer George Best grew up in the Cregagh Estate, and as a boy played football on the open playing fields at the centre of the estate. These playing fields, Cregagh Green, are now protected for community recreation in perpetuity as a
Fields in Trust Fields in Trust, is a British charity set up in 1925 as the National Playing Fields Association (NPFA), by Brigadier-General Reginald Kentish and the Duke of York, later King George VI, who was the first president, which protects parks and green s ...
Active Space. Best's funeral originated from Burren Way where his father continued to live until his death in April 2008. George Best is commemorated by a mural in the Cregagh estate and formerly by another on the Woodstock Road. Singer-songwriter David McWilliams, who achieved mainstream success with his song "Days of Pearly Spencer", was born in the Cregagh estate although he moved to
Ballymena Ballymena ( ; from ga, an Baile Meánach , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is part of the Borough of Mid and East Antrim. The town is built on land given to the Adair family by King Charles I i ...
at an early age. Former
Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist, loyalist, and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who led the party for the next 37 years. Currently led by J ...
(DUP) politician Iris Robinson grew up in the Cregagh estate and met her husband, future First Minister of Northern Ireland
Peter Robinson Peter Robinson may refer to: Entertainment * Peter Robinson (sideshow artist) (1873–1947), American actor and sideshow performer, known for his appearance in film ''Freaks'' (1932) * J. Peter Robinson (born 1945), British musician and film score ...
, at Castlereagh College, where they both studied.


Politics

Sections of the Woodstock and Cregagh roads mark the official boundary between the Westminster constituencies of Belfast East and Belfast South, with the area being divided between the two. This division is replicated in the Belfast East and Belfast South Stormont constituencies, which make use of the same electoral map. In local government, the area falls under the authority of Belfast City Council, with the roads running through the Titanic and Lisnasharragh district electoral areas (DEAs). The Cregagh area also lends its name to one of the Lisnasharragh DEA's six wards. With the upper Cregagh Road forming the ward's eastern edge, it encompasses the Cregagh Estate and streets as far south as Upper Knockbreda Road, and as far west as Knockbreda Park and Mount Merrion Avenue. As part of the DEA, Cregagh has been represented by Councillors Michael Long and Eric Hanvey ( Alliance Party of Northern Ireland) (APNI), Brian Smyth (
Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
), ( Alderman) Tommy Sandford and Sammy Douglas (DUP), and Séamus De Faoite ( Social Democratic and Labour Party) since June 2022. Sandford, a former UVF prisoner who became a community worker in Cregagh, had been a member of the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) but left in 2009 over its continuing links to the loyalist paramilitary group, joining the DUP the following year. The ward lies within the Belfast East constituencies. Following the 2022 Assembly election, Naomi Long and
Peter McReynolds Peter McReynolds (born 21 March 1987) is a Northern Irish politician who is an Alliance Party Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). He was elected as an MLA in the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election for Belfast East. Early life and ...
(APNI),
Joanne Bunting Joanne Bunting (born 7 June 1974) is a Unionist politician from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the is ...
and David Brooks (DUP), and Andy Allen ( Ulster Unionist Party) (UUP) have represented the area as Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs).
Gavin Robinson Gavin James Robinson (born 22 November 1984) is a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician and barrister. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Belfast East in the UK House of Commons since the 2015 general election. He was Lord Ma ...
(DUP) has represented the constituency in the House of Commons since
2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
. East Belfast has historically been strongly Unionist, with Nationalist parties consistently performing poorly at elections, and Cregagh reflects this trend. However, the constituency does have a strong centrist presence, appearing to be something of a stronghold for the Alliance Party. It is between this party and the DUP, which has proven to be the dominant political rivalry in the area.


Transport

Woodstock and Cregagh are served by Service 6 of the
Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...
buses provided by
Translink Translink (or TransLink) may refer to: * TransLink (British Columbia), the public transport operator in Vancouver, Canada * Translink (Northern Ireland) Translink is the brand name of the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company (NITHCo), a ...
which links the areas with Belfast city centre at one end and
Forestside Shopping Centre Forestside Shopping Centre (better known as Forestside) is located in Newtownbreda in the southern suburbs of Belfast, Northern Ireland. The first phase of the centre, the Sainsbury's store, opened in March 1997. The popularity of the centre has ...
at the other.Route 6


References

{{County Down Geography of Belfast Townlands of County Down Wards of Northern Ireland Civil parish of Knockbreda