IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Crumlin Road, BELFAST, BT14 7GD

Crumlin Road. Nelson McCausland, Paula Bradley and William Humphrey (Democratic Unionist Party).

A former Roman Catholic boys' school on the Crumlin Road. Owing to low enrollment - it sadly closed its doors in August 2008.

Crumlin Road. Fiona Ferguson (People Before Profit Alliance).

Along Ardoyne Road at Glenbryn. This is a Church of Ireland (Anglican) congregation sited at an 'interface' - see Image

Crumlin Road. Tom Burns (Independent).

This is one of the most sudden and certainly one of the most contentious religious divides in Northern Ireland. In the 1960s the whole Ardoyne was a mixed area which was viewed as one step above the slums and terraces of the Shankill. Although Protestants and Roman Catholics lived side by side as neighbours - everyone knew who was on whose side. When the conflict fired up in 1969 - suspicion arose and Protestants moved towards the northern end of the Ardoyne, towards Ballysillan which was established as Protestant. Roman Catholics, on the contrary, moved towards the Ardoyne roundabout and the Holy Cross Chapel. This shift eventually caused an imaginary line between Alliance Avenue and Glenbryn Park. The continual violence here prompted the construction of a Peace Wall. Thankfully there has been a marked decrease in sectarian violence here since the 2001 Holy Cross dispute. This is taken from the Protestant 'Upper Ardoyne' looking towards the Roman Catholic area - which begins roughly where the Peugeot 106 is emerging.

Flush bracket bench mark on the front of the former Everton Public Elementary school on the Crumlin Road in Belfast (now part of a large Health and Social Care complex). The number on the bracket is OSNIBM 1018. Placed here in the 1930s, the mark only seems to appear on the 1938 plan of Belfast, levelled to 233.8 feet above sea level - unusually, I can't see it on any later maps.

Once upon a time the Crumlin Road was the main road from Belfast to Aldergrove Airport and its predecessor at Nutt’s Corner Image The main way now, for most traffic, is via the M2 and Templepatrick Image On the other hand this is still the handiest way for many who live in north Belfast. The sign is on the inward side of the Ballysillan Road. See also Image

This is on the other side of the 'Peace Wall' visible to the right - which divides Alliance Avenue (Image) and Glenbryn Park (Roman Catholic and Protestant respectively). Since this once mixed area became a Protestant ghetto - it has become known as the Upper Ardoyne, differentiating it from the Roman Catholic Ardoyne.

When this school was built - the Ardoyne was a mixed (Protestant and R.C.) area. When The Troubles started and both communities moved to opposite sides of the neighbourhood - this Catholic school was left on the wrong side. Unfortunately, in June 2001 tensions flared when local loyalist began to harass the school children and their parents while walking along the Protestant section of Ardoyne Road - eventually leading to the walk to school being undertaken between lines of riot police. The situation was eventually eased when children were permitted to enter via St Gabriel's College on the other side of the campus.