IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Balholm Drive, BELFAST, BT14 7NA

The Ardoyne is a small Roman Catholic enclave surrounded by two larger Protestant areas (Ballysillan and Shankill/Woodvale) - the violence that has been seen here since the early days of the conflict has led to it being regarded as one of the best known 'interfaces' in Belfast.

At the start of Ardoyne Road.

This mural which has been painted by the Ardoyne community sets to portray this area, which is synonymous with violence, as one which is making a new start - full credit to them. It replaced this Civil Rights themes mural: https://goo.gl/maps/fXPXjjmgJvK1VMF59

This is the 800m stretch of road past the Ardoyne Shops which has become the bone of such contention between Loyalists and Nationalists.

A typical street in the Ardoyne - long terraces are the order of the day, not forgetting the front garden (many now converted into driveways).

Adorned with several concrete bollards and CCTV cameras - a sign of what you can be dealing with at this well known Belfast 'interface', where the Crumlin Road and Woodvale Road meet with Twaddell Avenue.

This street is typical housing for the Ardoyne area of North Belfast.

Beyond the roundabout is the Ardoyne Shops flashpoint. In 2013, the Parades Commission which regulate all marches in Northern Ireland in its wisdom ruled that the 12th of July Orange Parades can march past the Ardoyne shop fronts on their way into the city centre in the morning, but cannot march along an 800m section of the road past the shops on their return in the evening. The marchers claim that they have not been able to return home and have set up a permanent protest camp - Camp Twaddell in Twaddell Avenue near the roundabout. A police presence has been maintained throughout to help preserve the peace at a cost of some £300,000 a week.

Camp Twaddell was set up in response to the 2013 decision of the Northern Ireland Parades Commission that the 12th of July Orange Parades could march past the Ardoyne shop fronts in the Catholic Ardoyne Ward on their way into the city centre in the morning, but could not march along an 800m section of the road past the shops on their return in the evening. The marchers claim that they have not been able to return home and set up a permanent protest camp - Camp Twaddell in Twaddell Avenue at the roundabout. A police presence has been maintained throughout to help preserve the peace at a cost of some £300,000 a week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkSFAJWZVIw

Links Ardoyne Road with Berwick Road.