Stranmillis () is an area in south

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 also 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 t ...

for

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 ...

, part of the Laganbank district electoral area. As part of the Queen's Quarter, it is the location for prominent attractions such as the

Ulster Museum The Ulster Museum, located in the Botanic Gardens in Belfast, has around 8,000 square metres (90,000 sq. ft.) of public display space, featuring material from the collections of fine art and applied art, archaeology, ethnography, treasures ...

and Botanic Gardens. The area is located on Stranmillis Road, with Malone Road to the west and the

River Lagan The River Lagan (; Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster Scots: ''Lagan Wattèr'') is a major river in Northern Ireland which runs from the Slieve Croob mountain in County Down to Belfast where it enters Belfast Lough, an inlet of the Irish Sea. The ...

to the east. Its name, meaning "the sweet stream" in Irish, refers to the Lagan, whose waters are still fresh at this point, before becoming brackish as the river flows onward toward its mouth in

Belfast Lough Belfast Lough () is a large sea inlet on the east coast of Northern Ireland. At its head is the city and port of Belfast, which sits at the mouth of the River Lagan. The lough opens into the North Channel and connects Belfast to the Irish ...

. Stranmillis Road begins at the junction of University Road, Malone Road and College Gardens, heading uphill and southwards past Friar's Bush Graveyard and a small shopping district, before descending towards the River Lagan. The route then swings to the west around the outside of Stranmillis College and uphill again, before rejoining the Malone Road. The north end of Stranmillis Road contains many shops and restaurants, while the south end of the road is mainly housing. Ulster Museum 4

The Malone and Stranmillis Historic Urban Landscape featured on the 2010 tentative list of sites proposed for addition to the

List of World Heritage Sites of the United Kingdom The UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites are places of importance to cultural heritage, cultural or natural heritage as described in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, establis ...

, as an area of architectural interest featuring examples of the

Arts and Crafts Movement The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America. Initiat ...

History

In the 9th or 10th century A.D. a rath was built on the bank of the Lagan. The site is one of Belfast's best surviving ringforts and now lies in the grounds of Stranmillis College. In 1603

Sir Arthur Chichester Arthur Chichester, 1st Baron Chichester (May 1563 – 19 February 1625), known between 1596 and 1613 as Sir Arthur Chichester, of Carrickfergus in Ireland, was an English administrator and soldier who served as Lord Deputy of Ireland from 1605 ...

was granted expansive lands in

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

, including all of the land west of the Lagan from Carrickfergus to Dunmurry, and the site of the future City of Belfast. In 1606 he leased his Stranmillis lands for 61 years to Moses Hill, who built a plantation castle. This was described in the Report of the Plantation Commissioner around 1611 as being located at a place called "Stranmellis". The castle guarded a crossing point of the Lagan, close to today's King's Bridge. The site of the castle has been traced to some Victorian farm buildings in the centre of the current estate, and historian

George Benn George Benn (1 January 1801 – 8 January 1882) was an Irish historian of Belfast. Biography Benn was born on 1 January 1801, at Tanderagee, County Armagh. His grandfather, Jonn Benn, came from Cumberland about 1760 as engineer of the Newry canal ...

stated during the 19th century that the ruins of the building existed "almost within living memory". Hill also built a second castle at Malone, on the site of what is now Malone House. Before the lease expired, the Hill family moved out of Stranmillis and the lands reverted to the Chichester family to become the Countess of Donegall's Deer Park. In 1683 Richard Dobbs described it as "a very fine Park, well stored with Venison and in it a Horse Course of Two Miles". A Donegall document defines it as "Stranmellis Park".

Places of interest

Several well-known Belfast landmarks are located in the area, including: * Botanic Gardens, a public park opened in 1828, including some rare species in the 19th-century Palm House and Tropical Ravine. *The

is situated adjacent to the park and has been located in Stranmillis since 1929. *The Lyric Theatre moved to its current location on the bank of the Lagan in 1968. The theatre was fully redeveloped between 2007 and 2011.

Stranmillis College and Queen's University

Stranmillis University College Stranmillis University College is a university college of Queen's University Belfast. The institution is located on the Stranmillis Road in Belfast. It had students in . The school offers the BEd, PGCE and TESOL, as well as other courses. ...

is located at the midway point of the road. Established as a teaching college in 1922, it is now a constituent college of Queen's University. Several prominent Queen's University buildings are located on Stranmillis Road, including the David Keir Building and the multi-storey Ashby Building, while the University's Physical Education Centre is located close to the river and adjacent to the Botanic Gardens.

Friar's Bush Graveyard

Friar's Bush Graveyard is one of the oldest Christian sites in Belfast, with some graves dating to the early mediaeval period. The site is marked on a map of 1570. In the 18th century when Catholics were forbidden to build a church in Belfast they met at Friar's Bush which was then outside the town boundary, for Holy Communion. Mass ceased in 1769.

River Lagan

The Stranmillis Embankment along the Lagan marks the eastern edge of the Stranmillis area. A

towpath A towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a land vehicle, Working animal, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat, often a barge. This mod ...

runs from here along the river, south to the city of

Lisburn Lisburn ( ; ) is a city in Northern Ireland. It is southwest of Belfast city centre, on the River Lagan, which forms the boundary between County Antrim and County Down. First laid out in the 17th century by English and Welsh settlers, with t ...

and north as far as

Jordanstown Jordanstown () is a townland (of 964 acres) and electoral ward in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is within the urban area of Newtownabbey and the Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council area. It is also situated in the civil parish of Car ...

. On Lockview Road where Stranmillis meets the river, a number of boating organisations including Queen's University Belfast Boat Club have access to the water.

World Heritage Site nomination

In 2010 the Malone and Stranmillis Historic Urban Landscape was added to the tentative list of sites proposed for addition to the

as an area of architectural interest featuring examples of the

. The site was not put forward for the UK shortlist in 2011.

References

External links

Stranmillis Information and Resources
{{Northern Ireland roads Electoral wards of Belfast Streets in Belfast