The Malone Road () is a radial road 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 ...

, leading from the university quarter southwards to the affluent suburbs of Malone and Upper Malone, each a separate electoral ward. The road runs parallel to the

Lisburn Road Lisburn Road is a main arterial route linking Belfast and Lisburn, Northern Ireland. The Lisburn Road is now an extension of the "Golden Mile (Belfast), Golden Mile" with many shops, boutiques, wine bars, restaurants and coffee houses. The road ...

and is linked by over a dozen side streets, while at its northern end, the Stranmillis Road rejoins the Malone Road to form University Road, which in turn joins with the Lisburn Road to become Bradbury Place. Most of the road is in the BT9 postcode district. At the southern end of the Malone Road lies Malone House, a mansion in the late Georgian style. The house is now maintained by

Belfast City Council Belfast City Council () is the Local government in Northern Ireland, local authority with responsibility for part of Belfast, the largest city of Northern Ireland. The council serves an estimated population of (), the largest of any district c ...

. The residential streets leading off the Malone Road and Upper Malone Road are known for their high property prices, and the area is therefore a byword in Northern Ireland for affluence.

History

The Troubles

On 25 August 1971 during

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 ...

Henry Beggs, a 23-year-old Protestant civilian, was killed by an

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various Resistance movement, resistance organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dominantly Catholic and dedicated to anti-imperiali ...

(IRA) bomb placed at the Northern Ireland Electricity Service office on Malone Road. In June 1979 Private Alexander Gore of the

Ulster Defence Regiment The Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) was an infantry regiment of the British Army established in 1970, with a comparatively short existence ending in 1992. Raised through public appeal, newspaper and television advertisements,Potter p25 their offi ...

(UDR), also 23, was killed in an IRA gun attack at the Malone Road army barracks. The Malone Road army base was closed and sold to private developers in 2003.

Education

The district contains two of Belfast's best known

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

s. At the northern end of the road, number 1 Malone Road is

Methodist College Belfast Methodist College Belfast (MCB), locally known as Methody, is a co-educational voluntary grammar school in Belfast, located at the foot of the Malone Road, Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1865 by the Methodist Church in Ireland and is one of e ...

, while further south lies Victoria College, Belfast. The district also hosts Queen's Elms Village, the main halls of residence for students from

Queen's University Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

, housing over 1,000 students. Inchmarlo, the preparatory department of the

Royal Belfast Academical Institution The Royal Belfast Academical Institution is an independent grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. With the support of Belfast's leading reformers and democrats, it opened its doors in 1814. Until 1849, when it was superseded by what today ...

, is also located in the area.

Sports

The Malone Road is home to St Brigid's Gaelic Athletic Club founded in 1998 within the St Brigids Parish. St Brigids GAC the biggest club in South Belfast having won numerous County Titles in both codes of Gaelic Football and Hurling from junior age groups up to Senior Level. Aquinas Football Club were also founded in the area. Off the Malone Road are many private sports clubs, the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

grounds at Bladon,

Belfast Harlequins Belfast Harlequins is a multi-sports club located off the Malone Road in south Belfast, Northern Ireland. The club name provides the overall umbrella for rugby union, men's and ladies' field hockey, hockey, and Squash (sport), squash. The club i ...

and Methody sports ground at Deramore Park, the

playing fields at Osborne Park and Bladon and the Queen's University Belfast playing fields at Upper Malone.

Churches

There are four churches in Malone, including St Brigid's

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, Fisherwick

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

Church, St John's Church Malone

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

Church and McCracken Memorial Presbyterian Church.

Flora and fauna

The wild plants, "weeds", are listed and discussed in the "Urban Flora" by Beesley and Wilde. They noted that the residents keep their gardens relatively weed-free. In the area ' (Common Figwort), ' (Foxglove) and ' (Red Campion) were noted in an old lane off the Malone Park. ' (Broad-leaved Hellborine), an

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Eart ...

, was spreading up New Forge Lane and ' (Three-cornered Garlic) was recorded from Cranmore.

Notable residents

The Malone Road area of Belfast has been home to many notable and historical people. From Moyses Hill, who received a 61-year lease in 1606Lamour, P. (1991). ''The Architectural Heritage of Malone and Stranmillis.'' UAHS. John Eccles was the first known resident o
Cranmore House
, later

John Templeton Sir John Marks Templeton (29 November 1912 – 8 July 2008) was an American-born British investor, banker, fund manager, and philanthropist. In 1954, he entered the mutual fund market and created the Templeton Growth Fund, which averaged gro ...

lived on the road. Malone Road has also been the home of restaurateur and chef Paul Rankin, actress Séainín Brennan, and television presenters Rose Neill, Donna Traynor, Jim Fitzpatrick and Paul Clarke. It was satirised in two novels by Gareth Russell, later adapted into a trilogy of plays, and by comedian Paddy Rafferty in his television show and successful stand-up act.

References

External links

Malone House
{{coord , 54.5740, -5.9462, dim:4000, display=title Roads in Northern Ireland Streets in Belfast