Visiting Northern Ireland: Hornby Street, Belfast
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Looking Homeward
There is something so comforting about going home and seeing where you grew up. I've had the privilege of looking around my hometown with a great guide: my mother, who was born in 1927 and who has a wonderful sense of the history of the city of Belfast, Northern Ireland. We toured the part of town where she was born and lived as a child, looking for landmarks she could remember.
Some buildings are just the same--rows of tiny terrace houses on Ogilvie Street, Killowen Street--and some are gone. Churches and bars remain; they are the two mainstays of city life. We found Hornby Street, where Mum lived when she was very young, completely demolished and rebuilt. It was bombed during the Second World War, the air raid shelter receiving a direct hit. But by then Mum's family had moved to Carlingford Street, to one of the houses built in 1919 or 1920 for soldiers returning from the First World War. Mum's grandfather was in an even earlier war--the Boer War (1899-1902).
But back to Hornby Street. It was raining, of course, and cold. But Mum was animated, pointing to the Great Eastern Bar where her grandda went for his pint; we didn't go in ourselves, but had to laugh at the fact it was still there, intact. Hornby Street is truncated and blocked by a pedestrian walkway leading to the rest of the houses. Times change.
Literary Belfast
There is a thriving literary tradition in Belfast, with the poets Derek Mahon, Michael Longley, and the Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney lending their names to the rich cultural history of the area. As far as I am concerned, however, the real literary history of Belfast resides in the oral tradition in families here. I grew up on stories about the Shipyard (Harland and Wolf, where the Titanic was built), about the family members who had been in wars and come home safe, about those who went off to Canada, and about those who stayed behind.
One of my most prized possessions is a silver spoon--no, I wasn't born with it in my mouth--it's an old army-issue spoon my great-grandfather had in his kit, and it's stamped R.I.R.--Royal Irish Rifles. It has been to Novia Scotia, to India, Malta, and South Africa; he married in the first, had children Maisie and Maud in the next two, and then served in the last during the war there. Home again in Belfast, the spoon was hammered out flat to make a good cooking utensil (for flipping fried eggs, don'tcha know).
There is no doubt in my mind that Seamus Heaney is the greatest poet writing in English of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. His erudition in the classics and Early English alone make him an outstanding scholar; his translation of Beowulf lives: it positively sings, never mind the true, honed craft of his beautiful poems. But I'm sure Seamus Heaney himself would agree that what makes the people here so lyrical is all the practice they get relating family histories.
- Did you know?
Belfast's Sirocco Works invented air conditioning and the Royal Victoria Hospital became the first building in the world to be fitted with air conditioning.
- Visiting Northern Ireland: The Mournes
There are few places in the UK now where you aren't on camera--CCTV is everywhere, watching you park your car and load your groceries. While some of the cameras are undoubtedly dummies, there's no telling...
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Northern Ireland Flag Embroidered Patch Irish Iron-On National Emblem
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Making Sense of the Troubles: The Story of the Conflict in Northern Ireland
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The Ghosts of Belfast
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Belfast: The Sad Reality
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Revival in Belfast
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Ah Teresa.. This made me cry. My grandmother always wanted to "go home" to Ireland. Though she was 2nd generation American she grew up on the stories, as well, and always considered Ireland "home." We never got to make the trek with her. Thank you for sharing this and helping me to understand what she felt.
I enjoy reading your hubs so much. It's almost as good as being there. The pics are wonderful. I'm not familiar with Seamus Heaney, so I'm gonna have to look him up. Thank you again!
I'm happy for you and your mother.
I know you're not one for melodramatic nostalgia but this one maade me grab my iPod and search for U2 - oh yeah, Where the Streets Have No Name. Would you mind if I call this a "suweet" hub? :D
Thank you all for visiting this trip down memory lane. Yeah, Cris, it's nostalgia at its nostalgiest, innit? Cayman: ah, then you are Irish indeed!
Ah Teresa, it's grand to read about Belfast. It's a long time since I was last there, but I have very fond memories of it.
I visit one town in Northern Ireland on a tour of Ireland. I didn't know that they suffered any bombing in WWII; that was interesting.
Amanda, I was just telling my mum about you remembering the expression "come down the Lagan in a bubble." We were having a good laugh at that. I'm so glad I'm not the only one who loves Belfast; it's so nice to know you have fond memories.
Pete: yes, indeed--the shipyards in Belfast were a real target during the second WW. Belfast was blitzed, in fact, although on a smaller scale than London.
Thanks for sharing those memories of your mother's with us Teresa
Ah Duchess: thank you for reading them.
Thanks, Teresa, for another interesting Hub. I have never been to the old sod, but would love to do so. My father had an abiding love of ships and Harland and Wolf was a great name to him. I sailed on some of the products of those yards in the old Union Castle Line myself in days of yore!
Also I am rather partial to the music of Van the Man, a Belfast lad, to be sure.
Love and peace
Tony
I'm a great fan of Van Morrison myself, Tony. Grew up listening to Moondance and Astral Weeks. Essential listening.
What an interesting Hub, and how lovely that you made that visit with your mother. Both of us wish that we had spent more time listening to our mother's memories!
On Belfast - Pat has been for both work and fun. It is a great city to visit, very friendly.
I had the pleasure of visiting Belfast a few years back. I was at a Bed and Breakfast in Dublin and I said to myself - "Why don't I walk over there to the bus terminal and go up to Belfast?" So I took a bus up the Dublin Road and spent a day walking around Belfast which was so quiet and peaceful!
I bought a comic book (I think it was entitled Two Fat Ladies) and made the mistake of lending to a colleague who never returned it. It was saucy and fabulous!
Anyway I said all that to say that I have this great desire to return. I saw cities and I want to see all the prehistoric sites - like Queen Maeve's Grave.
Well, returning is on my list of "100 Things I Desire to Do."
I must become your fan because then I can keep up with all that's happening there and it will allow me to live vicariously until I return.
Lovely hubs! Thank You!
You have inherited the innate ability of the Irish for fabulous story-telling Teresa. Best to you and your Mum!
Such a nice and rainy city...
This, of course, is the best enticement I've got yet to visit Belfast.... should have started with this when trying to sell me a visit :-P
I enjoyed this "visit" to Belfast. There is always something nice about seeing a few things from our past that have not changed.
Even just these few pictures make me want to visit. Maybe someday...
Oh yes - Belfast is a great city and Seamus Heaney - yes !
My best friend is intending to go to Brunei next week where she grew up. Although she feels a bit sad that her dad, who recently passed away, could not longer be with her. Your hub made me think that it would be a joy to go back "home" and reminisce the good old days. :)
Thanks for sharing with us some great stories and pictures from your vacation to Ireland. Belfast..also home to the Harland & Wolf shipyard that keeled the Titanic.
Such rich history around you there, I can only imagine how pleasing it must be to visit!
Caymanhost says:
3 months ago
Enjoyed this hub greatly. I lived and worked in Derry for several years and as a coach driver traveled all over Ireland meeting countless wonderful people along the way and listening to so many of the stories they have to tell, and tell so well.
Those days seem far away now, but it is a place that will always hold a special place in my heart.
Seamus Heaney is indeed an immense talent from a place that has produced so many literary and cultural icons.