IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Ferndene Road, BELFAST, BT16 2EW

A Castlereagh Borough Council sign on the Comber Road, on the inward side of the New Line. Castlereagh district will cease to exist after the reorganisation of local government. To quote from the Council’s website “In April 2015, as part of the reform of local government in Northern Ireland (previously known as the Review of Public Administration), the majority of households in Castlereagh will merge with Lisburn City Council with 38% of the population of Castlereagh and 21% of Lisburn moving to the new Belfast City Council.” My reading of the map is that the area on the left will be part of the Ballyhanwood ward and the right the Enler ward of the new Lisburn and Castlereagh district. The original “Castlereagh” was a barony http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barony_(Ireland) – later divided into Castlereagh Upper and Lower. This link http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/local_history/geographical_index/baronies_.htm is to a map of the NI baronies. Their names survive for conveyancing and registration of title.

Part of a vacant site, on the north eastern side of the Comber Road Image, almost opposite the New Line.

The remains of an old pump on the Comber Road. Not listed but referred to in the list where the description includes “A cow tail closed head lever pump with a plain shaped spirally decorated column and a fluted cap. 'Grainger & Son Comber' is embossed around the top of the column. It is located in a walled recess on the east side of the road outside several semidetached houses which it served. Not shown on the 1919 OS 25 inch map (PRONI Ref OS 10/3/5/10/4); first shown on the 1931 edition (/2). A local informant sated [sic] that it worked until the arrival of mains water in 1963.” Image shows the inscription.

See Image The inscription “Grainger & Son Comber”. My amateur research suggests that this might have been Andrew Grainger, plumber and gas fitter of Comber, the supplier, rather than the name of the casting foundry. Further information welcome.

A culverted storm drain, flowing into the Enler, downstream from Graham’s Bridge Image The flow is greater than usual and the river muddier after heavy rain overnight.

Dundonald station was on an embankment at the apex of the Old Dundonald Road (left) and the Comber Road. The station has gone but the trackbed is now part of the Comber Greenway Image – marked by the conspicuous clump of trees. This view is towards Knock station Image and Queen’s Quay Image The Comber Road (foreground) was crossed by an underbridge. Image shows a similar view from the Greenway.

See Image The site of the station is marked by the trees but the “old railway” effect is not so obvious. The photograph was taken from the Comber Greenway, on what was the trackbed, where the line crossed the Comber Road (middle) by an underbridge. For the record, part of the Greenway (right) is new and doesn’t quite follow the course of the line.

A footbridge, close to Millar’s Lane (behind me), taking the Comber Greenway across the Enler River Image This stretch of the Greenway follows the river before rejoining the old railway on the Millmount Road Image

The crossing which takes the greenway across the busy Comber Road. The railway crossed the road at this point on a bridge of which there's no trace remaining that I could see.

Fallen chestnuts and shell beside the Comber Greenway.