South Belfast : HISTORY
Aidan Campbell has previously published 11 local history books. Profits are donated to various local charities. He regularly gives illustrated An account from 1744 declared ‘Belvoir, an agreeable seat of Hon. Arthur Hill stands about two miles south of Belfast pleasantly seated on the River Lagan’. The creation of Belvoir Park (which originally extended to over 600 acres) dates back to the early 1700s when Arthur Hill (later 1st Viscount Dungannon) bought the townlands of Ballylenaghan, Breda and Galwally. Belvoir Park Golf Club extends to 130 acres and was founded in 1929 and the Belvoir Park housing estate was built during the 1960s. LEFT: Thomas Harper (pictured) has been described as ‘Porter in charge at the Galwally Drive to Belvoir Park known in Estate papers as The Low Lodge it was demolished in the 1930s.’ In this PRONI photograph the caption is ‘Gate Lodge, Annadale entrance to Belvoir Park – Old Harper at porch – the Lodge Keeper’.
talks to groups and societies. The books retail at £10.00 each and are on sale at Hillmount Garden Centre, Gilnahirk and Marie Curie Hospice. www.eastbelfasthistory.com
left: This chemist shop was opened in 1955 by Victor Corrie. It was the first to be opened in the area and had the address of 77 Saintfield Road, The Inns. The shop unit has since been demolished. The staff of The Inns Pharmacy in the early 1980s included Linda Carson who is wearing a sash when she was the winner in a Northern Ireland-wide competition, run by the National Pharmaceutical Union, for ‘Pharmaceutical Assistant of the Year’ and she had to travel to London to take part in the national final. Fellow staff members are pharmacist, Eileen Hamilton (left) and Olive Finlay.
purdysburn The Belfast Book 1929 records: ‘The Purdysburn Estate is situated five miles to the south of Belfast in a fold of the Castlereagh Hills. The principal portion of the property was acquired by Belfast Corporation in 1895 … from the representatives of the late Narcissus Batt D.L. Additional land for Mental Hospital purposes has since been acquired and the entire Estate now comprises 500 acres.’ The old Purdysburn ‘Mansion
House’ (pictured right) dates to c.1825 and was demolished in 1965. The name of Purdysburn apparently derives from a John Purdis who had a connection with owners, the Batt family, and the Burn is a small river at the southern boundary of the estate which is a tributary of the Lagan. The Purdysburn Hospital site was laid out on the ‘Villa Colony System’ and the name has changed over the years from the original ‘Belfast Lunatic Asylum’ to the current ‘Knockbracken Healthcare Park.’
South Belfast Life 21