Shankill

Proud heritage

The Shankill has emerged from its history intact. It is an authentic working-class community, where the murals on almost every gable wall tell the story of its violent past and its belief in the future. Predominantly Protestant it is a neighbourhood that is proud of its heritage which stretches back beyond Celtic lore. This is real Belfast, with "no frills attached".

The Shankill is much more than the sum of its recent past. Its history goes back two millennia, when an ancient track, rising out of marshland (now downtown Belfast) connected counties Down and Antrim. On this track, likely trodden by St. Patrick, the first Christian settlement in this part of County Antrim was founded in 455 AD. (Shankill, or Sean Cill in Irish, means Old Church). The ancient Shankill Graveyard in which the original church stood can still be visited today.

St Matthew's

St. Matthew’s stands nearby successor to the “Old Church”. Built in 1872, of gothic round tower design, in the shape of a shamrock, its architecture is unique to these islands. At its door sits a Ballaun stone, recovered from Shankill Graveyard. Of Druid origins, it was subsequently used by the old church for Christian baptisms and generations have known it as “the wart stone” because of its alleged mystical powers to cure warts.

The Shankill was also at the heart of Belfast’s linen industry – “Irish Linen” and two of the original mills, though no longer operational, stand nearby on the Crumlin Road and at Conway Street.

In more recent times the Shankill suffered from major Government redevelopment programmes which bulldozed many of the original streets and up-rooted much of the population. But the area is coming back to life as evidenced by the “Road’s” mile long bustle of shops, cafes, pubs, churches and community organisations, including a high quality, low cost hostel at Farset International.

Memorials

That said, memory of the recent conflict is never far away as witnessed by the memorials to those who died in the area; the dozens of paramilitary, political, cultural and community murals and the ever-present “peace walls” which still snake through the area, the longest of which in Cupar Way, is being transformed into an outdoor gallery of world class art works.

If ancient Shankill was “original Belfast”, then modern Shankill is “authentic Belfast” – a working class community with its rough edges but friendly people, both open yet reserved. It is more than just a Road!