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The Loop | October 2015 | News
Local History
The biggest publication in East Belfast
UP ON CYPRUS AVENUE BY AIDAN CAMPBELL Van Morrison sang this line of his famous Cyprus Avenue song at his recent 70th birthday concert. Van was brought up in Hyndford Street on the Beersbridge Road and his parents were married in St Donard’s Church of Ireland. But why was it named ‘Cyprus Avenue’?
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Cyprus Avenue was the venue for Van Morrison’s recent concert although it looked rather more demure in this early 1900s scene to the right, looking in the direction of what was then known as Upper Beersbridge Road (as opposed to lower Beersbridge Road) with Kirkliston Drive leading to the immediate left. A solitary lady walks along the footpath and a couple of gentlemen with a horse and cart stand and look at the camera (are they making a delivery?). The island of Cyprus came under British control in 1878, and the siege of Plevna occurred during the Russo-Turkish War. Both events happened at roughly the same time as the area was under construction with grand villas. This probably also gave rise to the naming of Cyprus Gardens and nearby Plevna Villas. Singer Van Morrison was born at Hyndford Street and recalls being ‘up on Cyprus Avenue…..the avenue of trees’ in one of his songs.
THE RULES OF RETAIL
BACK ON TRACK
The tower of St. Donard’s Church overlooks the crossroads. The 1943 Belfast Street Directory reported that the occupant of 330-336 Beersbridge Road was Stewarts Cash Store Ltd which is out of view just to the left. This was Joseph L. Stewart’s first store which he opened on 30th September 1911 and he always required a disciplined attitude from his employees and it was commented that: ‘Cleanliness was the order of the day. No person with a dirty coat ever served a customer’. Sound advice a hundred years later! J.L. Stewart eventually created a retailing empire in Northern Ireland and owned 72 shops. This is a late 1947 view of the Bloomfield Road and Beersbridge Road junction with plenty of trolleybus cables in sight.
A busy scene at Bloomfield station in the early 1900s which the Belfast & County Down Railway opened in May 1879. Looks like dairy cattle are being herded along the Beersbridge Road and the horse and cart is probably the farmer who has milk churns on board. The new station was designed by engineer Berkeley Dean Wise (who lived nearby at Knock Road). This portion of the railway line had been opened in 1850 with the aim of eventually providing a service to Donaghadee and the connecting mail-packet ship to Portpatrick in Scotland. However the route from Larne to Stranraer was instead favoured which meant that the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway gained the benefit via their route to Larne Harbour.
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
Bloomfield Presbyterian Church was constructed at the junction of Cyprus Avenue and Beersbridge Road in 1898. The Belfast City boundary had been extended in 1896 so that the district of Bloomfield was then included within Belfast, but it was still a largely rural area with very little building development. One of the grand villas in the area was neighbouring ‘Bloomfield House’ (approximately located at the top of Bloomfield Road where Grand Parade begins) which was the home of one of the original trustees of Bloomfield Presbyterian Church, Mr. David Lyttle.
THE WAY YOUNG LOVERS DO...
Located at 421 Beersbridge Road, this is how St. Donard’s Parish Church looked in 1989. Van Morrison’s parents were married here on Christmas Day 1941.
Aidan Campbell has previously published 11 East Belfast local history books entitled: Beaconsfield, Knock, Cherryvalley, Gilnahirk, Castlereagh, Cregagh, Stormont, Sydenham, Belmont and East Belfast Revisited Volumes 1 & 2. Newtownbreda is Aidan’s latest local history book and it is published on 9th October 2015. Aidan regularly gives illustrated talks to local groups and societies. The books retail at £10.00 each and most are available at Hillmount Garden Centre, Marie Curie Hospice, Hamilton News Cregagh and The Wingrove, Ballyhackamore with profits donated to local charity. Book sales online at: www.eastbelfasthistory.com