East Belfast
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The part of Belfast, Northern Ireland, that lies to the east of the River Lagan. This is largely a Unionist stronghold and several wall murals in this district demonstrate that, occasionally in rather drastic and martial ways. But that’s why they are of interest to dark tourists, especially as a contrast to the much better known (and much more visited) Republican equivalents on and around the Falls Road.
>Combinations with other dark destinations
More background info: For general history and the broader context of the “Troubles” see under Belfast, especially West Belfast and also under Northern Ireland in general.
East Belfast is traditionally a predominantly (ca. 90%) Unionist/Protestant part of the city, with only a small Republican/Catholic enclave around the Short Strand. This has been the location of some violence from both sides during the “Troubles”, beginning in 1970 with a gun battle known as the “Battle of St. Matthew’s” (after the Catholic church in the north-eastern corner of the Short Strand district), in which three were killed and more than two dozen injured. The fight followed a march of the Orange Order and is seen as the first engagement of the newly founded “Provisional IRA”.
To this day, much of the Short Strand enclave is surrounded by “Peace Walls” like that between the Falls Road and Shankill districts (see also Black Taxi Tours), and it too is still gated.
Clashes between Unionists and Republicans in this part of town continued even years after the Good Friday Agreement had nominally ended the conflict in 1998, e.g. in 2002 with both the UVF and the IRA stirring up violence which included rioting, petrol bombs and gunfire. Similar events followed in 2011, and in 2015 there was an inner-IRA feud within the Short Strand with one person murdered.
On the other hand, East Belfast also has a proud non-violent heritage, not least in its industries, from large linen mills to the fabled Harland & Wolff shipyards – for the latter see Titanic Quarter! The shipyards also provided much of the employment for residents here, where the “Yardsmen” are still much revered (even with a monument – see below). There’s also still a Harland & Wolff Welders Football and Social Club in East Belfast.
And speaking of football, East Belfast was also the home of legendary footballer George Best, a top local hero to this day. The house that was his childhood home has even been turned into holiday rental called, simply, George Best House.
Other local heroes associated with East Belfast are/were musician Van Morrison and author C.S. Lewis. The former appears on murals, the latter has a whole square named after him that features sculptures inspired by his fantasy novels “The Chronicles of Narnia”.
What there is to see: On my first visit to Belfast in December 2012, East Belfast featured only briefly, namely as part of the Titanic Tour I went on, but I remembered seeing those rather martial-looking Unionist murals from the car (see below).
So when I returned to Belfast in April 2023, I decided to venture into this part of town properly, this time on foot. I stuck mainly to its principal thoroughfare Newtownards Road, which is something like the East Belfast equivalent of the Shankill Road in West Belfast.
I walked the length of Newtownards Road from west to east. The first point of interest along the way was a large mural depicting the “Titanic”, labelled “ship of dreams”, though the actual nightmare of its sinking was also hinted at with a reproduction of the famous image of a boy holding a poster with the newspaper headline “Titanic Disaster – Great Loss of Life”.
Near the south-western corner of what is now the Dr Pitt Memorial Garden is a monument commemorating victims of the 1970 “Battle of St. Matthew’s” (see above), solely from a Unionist perspective. A tombstone-like slab stands in the middle of a small patch surrounded by a fence and red-brick pillars.
Near the south-eastern end of the Memorial Garden is a group of sculptures called “The Yardsmen”, celebrating the workers of especially the Harland & Wolff shipyards, where RMS “Titanic” was built (see also Titanic Quarter!). The famous pair of yellow cranes known as Samson and Goliath tower over the northern part of East Belfast and are clearly visible from this stretch of Newtownards Road too.
Further down this street I saw another large mural also commemorating the tragedy of the sinking of the “Titanic” in 1912. But it’s not all so celebratory when it comes to the “Titanic”. On one depiction of the grand ship I found a graffito sprayed above it that simply read “It sank”.
The other very visible theme of the murals here is obviously the “Troubles” or rather the Unionist stance in it. The first set of such murals is to be found just east of the Memorial Garden on a stretch of walls and the backs of a set of terraced houses along the north of the road which culminates in the proclamation of a “Freedom Corner” (a name also found in the USA especially with regard to the American Civil Rights Movement). In addition to glorifying Unionism and the various organizations founded for this cause there was also a rather grim mural depicting a street-fighting scene, even including a young boy. Another mural celebrated the role of women in the support of the Unionist side.
Just as on the Shankill Road, there’s also a powerful celebration of the Ulster Volunteer Force in the “Great War” (i.e. WW1) and its significant sacrifice in the Battle of the Somme. The commemoration comes in the forms of both large murals and a separate monument with a low brick wall around it. This is to be found opposite the corner with Belvoir Street.
Further down the road just before the corner with Dee Street I spotted the most martial set of murals I saw in East Belfast, on both sides of the road, and both depicting uniformed and masked UVF fighters with machine guns accompanied by heavy-handed slogans. Somewhat ironically there was a contemporary poster at the bottom of one of these murals that said “The possibility of a return of violence is very real” …
However, all these more troubling messages contrasted with several much more reconciliatory murals promoting peace, “unity in the community” and a “better future”.
Just yards from one of those murals came one of the best-known iconic sights of Newtownards Road: “The Union Jack Shop”. This sells not only Union Jacks in all manner of forms, but also Royalist trinkets such as mugs with faces of various British royals on them.
A short distance onwards is the EastSide Visitor Centre. This is primarily a cafe but also has lots of information about East Belfast. On the west wall of the Centre is a large mural depicting various local heroes against the backdrop of one of the Harland & Wolff shipyard cranes, including a George Best in footballing action as well as various musicians (including the inevitable Van Morrison).
Ca. 150 yards further down Newtownards Road ends and I just turned round and walked back all the way to Belfast city centre. I found it a worthwhile excursion!
Meanwhile, however, I have discovered that I was really just scratching the surface. I’ve since dfound out that there are also guided walking tours on offer in East Belfast (called “EastSide Voices Conflict Tours”), which may be similar to the one I took in West Belfast. Some of these tours in East Belfast also include a visit to a Loyalist Conflict Museum, which basically presents the story of the UDA (it might be a Unionist counterpart to the Irish Republican History Museum). Apparently it’s located by the Great Eastern pub about halfway down Newtownards Road. I must have walked right past it, but I never saw any hint of this museum. Maybe it’s not advertised on the outside. Otherwise I would of course have tried to pop in (if it had been even regularly open).
Some tours take in the Short Strand Republican enclave (see above), others a Museum of Unionist Military History (which goes far beyond just the “Troubles” further into history) inside the Ballymac Friendship Centre near the Pitt Memorial Garden. Some tours combine different such parts. That would certainly be interesting to explore should I go back to Belfast one day.
In addition, much further out, in the far south of East Belfast, is also a Museum of Orange Heritage, which is mainly about the Orange Order that has for so long played such a prominent role on the Unionist side of the conflict.
So all in all, there is a lot more to discover in East Belfast than most outside visitors ever attempt. Most Troubles-related tourism in Belfast concentrates on West Belfast, while the east is often overlooked. It shouldn’t be. I’d certainly like to explore it in more depth some other time. But the insights I got on this brief excursion were already valuable I found.
Location: east of the River Lagan that bisects Belfast. The main thoroughfare of East Belfast is Newtownards Road, the western end of which is about a mile (1.6 km) from Belfast city centre (measured from the City Hall), from where it runs for about 0.8 miles (1.4 km) eastwards before becoming Upper Newtownards Road.
Google Maps locators:
Western end of Newtownards Road: [54.6003, -5.9094]
1970 Battle of St. Matthew’s monument: [54.5999, -5.9053]
Somme/UVF memorial: [54.5993, -5.8999]
Union Jack Shop: [54.5984, -5.8936]
EastSide Visitor Centre: [54.5981, -5.8911]
Ballymac Centre: [54.6006, -5.9058]
Museum of Orange Heritage: [54.5716, -5.8939]
Access and costs: easy and free when done independently; guided tours (for a fee) are also available.
Details: fairly easily reached from Belfast city centre and walkable. Head towards the river and cross it on Queen’s Bridge and carry on along the street Bridge End until this does end too and feeds into the western end of Newtownards Road. From there amble along until the road’s end. If you don’t want to walk it all the way back you can also take a bus (the 3 lines go along Newtownards Road and into the city centre).
Time required: not all that long, less than an hour (unless you pop into one of the watering holes along the way – see below) for just walking Newtownards Road. But there are further options, like guided tours and museums, that could warrant several hours more.
Combinations with other dark destinations: The closest other dark sites covered on this website are those in the Titanic Quarter a bit to the north of the western end of Newtownards Road and walkable from there.
From the Titanic Quarter train station that is en route you can also conveniently get to the suburb of Cultra for the Ulster Transport Museum, which also has a Titanic exhibition section.
For yet more see under Belfast in general.
Combinations with non-dark destinations: East Belfast doesn’t feature any proper tourist attractions – for those you’d have to head back to Belfast city centre or to the north around the Titanic Quarter.
That said, though, C.S. Lewis Square behind the EastSide Visitor Centre is worth a look for its sculptures inspired by Lewis’s “The Chronicles of Narnia” fantasy stories. There are also some cool murals/graffiti around here.
Also along Newtownards Road are a couple of watering holes you might want to consider for a pit stop, in particular the taproom of the principal craft beer brewery in Belfast. This has its home in a converted and refurbished former linen spinning mill complex now called Portview Trade Centre in Newtownards Road’s eastern part en route to C.S. Lewis Square. Another port of call for hopheads (and whose name also begins with a B) can be found right at the end of Newtownards Road at No.442-446.
