
Divis Tower is a 19-floor, tower in
Belfast
Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
,
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
. It is located in Divis Street, which is the lower section of the
Falls Road. It is currently the
fifteenth-tallest building in Belfast.
History
The tower was built in 1966 as part of the now-demolished Divis Flats complex, which comprised twelve eight-storey blocks of terraces and flats, named after the nearby
Divis Mountain. The tower, a vertical complex of 96 flats housing approximately 110 residents, was designed by architect Frank Robertson for the
Northern Ireland Housing Trust.
The site on which the Tower stands was previously the location of the Sir
Charles Lanyon-designed Falls Road Methodist Church, which opened in 1854 and closed in 1966. The site was sold to Belfast Corporation for approximately £11,000. A television documentary has been made about the tower.
The Troubles
British Army observation post
Divis Tower was a flashpoint area during the height of the Troubles. A stronghold of the
Irish Republican Socialist Party
The Irish Republican Socialist Party or IRSP () is a minor communist, Marxist–Leninist and Irish republican party in Ireland. It is often referred to as the "political wing" of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) paramilitary group. ...
and
Irish National Liberation Army
The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA, ) is an Irish republicanism, Irish republican Socialism, socialist paramilitary group formed on 8 December 1974, during the 30-year period of conflict known as "the Troubles". The group seeks to remove ...
(INLA), the building was referred to as the "Planet of the Irps" (in reference to the film
Planet of the Apes
''Planet of the Apes'' is a science fiction media franchise consisting of films, books, television series, comics, and other media about a Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, post-apocalyptic world in which humans and intelligent apes c ...
; IRSP supporters are referred to as "Irps")
In response to
Provisional IRA
The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA), officially known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA; ) and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland ...
and INLA activity in the area, the British Army constructed an observation post on the roof in the 1970s and occupied the top two floors of the building. At the height of
the Troubles
The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...
, the Army was only able to access the post by
helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...
.
Shootings
On 14 August 1969, nine-year-old Patrick Rooney, the first child killed in the Troubles, was killed in the tower during the
1969 riots
1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...
, when 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 ...
(RUC) fired a
Browning machine gun from a
Shorland armoured car into the flats. The RUC claimed that it was coming under
sniper
A sniper is a military or paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with telescopic si ...
attack from the tower at the time. Rooney's death occurred during a day of street violence in the area. Chairman of the enquiry into the riots,
Mr Justice Scarman, found the use of the Browning machine gun "wholly unjustifiable".
On 17 April 1972 the British Army, specifically the
Parachute Regiment, shot dead an 86 year old civilian Patrick Donaghy through the window in his home in Divis flats, killing him instantly. Patrick Donaghy was one of the oldest victims of the entire conflict and the oldest victim killed by the British forces.
On 25 February 1975,
Official IRA
The Official Irish Republican Army or Official IRA (OIRA; ) was an Irish republican paramilitary group whose goal was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and create a " workers' republic" encompassing all of Ireland. It emerg ...
operations officer Sean Fox was shot dead by the INLA on Cullingtree Row in the within the flats complex as part of a feud.
On 12 May 1981, a British Army sniper killed INLA member Emmanuel McClarnon from the top of Divis Tower, on the night that
Francis Hughes
Francis Joseph Sean Hughes (28 February 1956 – 12 May 1981) was a volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) from Bellaghy, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Hughes was the most wanted man in Northern Ireland until his a ...
died on
hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fasting, fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are ...
.
On 26 June 1981, a 29 year old civilian named Vincent Robinson was found shot dead at the Divis Flats. The Provisional IRA carried out the killing claiming he was an
informer
An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a "snitch", "rat", "canary", "stool pigeon", "stoolie", "tout" or "grass", among other terms) is a person who provides privileged information, or (usually damaging) information inten ...
after he was picked up by the RUC at his
Andersonstown
Andersonstown, known colloquially as Andytown, 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 ...
home on 17 June. It was later suspected that the killing was orchestrated to protect the identity of a British agent known as '
Stakeknife' and is being re-investigated as part of
Operation Kenova.
On 24 July 1981, a 36-year old Catholic civilian, Peter Doherty, was shot in the head with a
rubber bullet
Rubber bullets (also called rubber baton rounds) are a type of baton round. Despite the name, rubber bullets typically have either a metal core with a rubber coating, or are a homogeneous admixture with rubber being a minority component. Altho ...
by a
Royal Marines
The Royal Marines provide the United Kingdom's amphibious warfare, amphibious special operations capable commando force, one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighting arms of the Royal Navy, a Company (military unit), company str ...
Commando. Doherty died in the
Royal Victoria Hospital a week later on 31 July.
INLA 1982 bombing
In September 1982, an INLA unit detonated a bomb hidden in a drainpipe along a balcony, killing British soldier Kevin Waller, who was aged 20, and two boys, Stephen Bennet (aged 14) and Kevin Valliday (aged 12); three other civilians and another British soldier were injured in the blast.
Dismantling of the post
Following the IRA's statement that it was ending its armed campaign, the Army decided to dismantle the observation post, dubbed a 'spy' post by
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...
. Removal of the observation post commenced on 2 August 2005. In 2009, the top two floors of the tower were reinstated as residential properties. As part of a £1.1 million refurbishment programme by the
Northern Ireland Housing Executive
The Northern Ireland Housing Executive is the public housing authority for Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's largest social housing landlord, and the enforcing authority for those parts of housing orders that involve houses with multiple ...
, eight extra flats were provided.
In popular culture
Both Divis Tower and the former Divis Flats have featured in multiple works of popular culture.
In films
In the film ''
'71'', new recruits to the British Army, who are deployed in Belfast, are told never to enter Divis Flats. However, when a father and daughter find the protagonist lying unconscious in the street, injured by bomb shrapnel, they carry him to their home in the building and tend to his wounds. Only then do they realise he is a soldier, which presents problems for all three of them.
In photography
Divis Flats and Divis Tower feature in numerous photographs of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
In television
Divis Tower was featured in the BBC Northern Ireland sitcom ''
Give My Head Peace
''Give My Head Peace'' is a satire, satirical television comedy series on BBC Northern Ireland that pokes fun at political parties, paramilitary groups and the Sectarianism, sectarian divide in Northern Ireland. The programme is written by Tim McG ...
''. The characters of Da, Cal, Ma, and for a while Dympna and Emer, all nationalists, lived in "Flat 47A, Divis Tower".
As the home of
Jean McConville Divis Flats is a recurring setting in the TV series ''
Say Nothing''. The series details her murder and follows the activities of Irish Republican
Dolours Price.
In books
Divis Tower and the surrounding residential areas feature prominently in
Patrick Radden Keefe's 2018 book ''
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland'', a book about the
murder of Jean McConville
Jean McConville (''née'' Murray; 7 May 1934 – 1 December 1972) was a woman from Belfast, Northern Ireland, who was kidnapped and murdered by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and secretly buried in County Louth in the Republic of Ire ...
during The Troubles.
It is also featured in Michael Magee's book 'Close to Home' published in 2023.
References
{{Authority control
Buildings and structures completed in 1966
Buildings and structures in Belfast
Residential buildings in Northern Ireland
Towers in Northern Ireland
20th-century architecture in Northern Ireland
1966 establishments in Northern Ireland