Today marks 100 years since Ireland was partitioned and Belfast became the capital of Northern Ireland, in 1921. 10 things you might not know about Belfast:
- The name derives from “Beal Feirste”, which is Irish for “mouth of the sea bank ford.” This is because the first settlement in the area was founded on the marshy ford where the River Lagan and River Farset cross.
- Belfast’s Obel Tower is 85m high with 27 floors. Even though it's not as tall as the Statue of Liberty or Big Ben, it is nonetheless the tallest building in Ireland. The second tallest building in Belfast is Hastings Grand Central Hotel at 80m. The bar on its top floor is the highest bar in Ireland.
- Historically, Belfast's main industries were shipbuilding and production of rope, tobacco and linen. The linen industry was so important that the city was given the nickname of Linenopolis at the end of the 19th century. Today the main industries are IT and film making and, I hesitate to say, since in this world at time of writing this really seems like a dying industry – tourism.
- The Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast is where the Titanic was built. At the time, it was the world’s biggest shipyard and employed 15,000 people. Not only was Titanic longer than the world's tallest building of the time, it weighed 46,328 tonnes and was the largest man made moveable object in the world. Today, there is a museum there dedicated to the ill-fated ship, which was not only designed to resemble a ship, but is the exact same height as the Titanic. The shipyard is responsible for another of Belfast's landmarks. Two cranes named Goliath and Samson, which were built in the 1960s and 70s, the biggest free standing cranes in the world, are actually taller than Belfast's tallest building, at 96m and 106m respectively. They were built as temporary structures, but became an emblem of the city and are still there.
- Talking of emblems, the symbol of Belfast is a seahorse. This came about because 17th century merchants printed coins with seahorses on them. Belfast's coat of arms has two seahorses on it. The motto of Belfast is “Pro tanto quid retribuamus”. It means “We received so much, what can we give in return?”
- A more modern emblem is the Beacon of Hope sculpture by Andy Scott, which is 19.5 metres high and was constructed in 2007. Made of stainless steel and cast bronze, it is a sculpture of a woman standing on a globe and holding up "the ring of thanksgiving". Ireland has a habit of giving its public art nicknames and the Beacon of Hope is no exception. It is referred to as Nuala with the Hula, the Belle on the Ball and the Thing with the Ring.
- From 1968 to 1998, Northern Ireland and specifically Belfast went through a political conflict known as the Troubles, between Protestants and Catholics. For thirty years, it made Belfast a hostile and unsafe place to live and to visit. Over 45,000 bombs went off in Belfast alone during that time. One of its hotels, The Europa Hotel, was bombed 36 times, because it was the hotel reporters used to stay in when they came to report on the Troubles. However, the idea wasn't to kill people, just make them go away, so there would always be a warning so that the hotel could be evacuated and the only damage was structural. Even so, it became a place nobody wanted to stay in. It may well owe the fact it never went bust to former US President Bill Clinton, who chose to stay there with all his entourage in 1994. Now, it's a vibrant and welcoming city and much safer. In fact, when I visited in the early 2000s, I felt safer there than I did in London!
- Belfast has its very own leaning tower, The Albert Clock. The clock is sinking into the ground, having been built too close to the harbour on unstable, soft ground. It leans, currently, by 4 feet. According to urban legend, the reason it leans is because there was once a brothel nearby and the prostitutes used to lean against the tower while waiting for sailors.
- Belfast city hall boasts a chandelier weighing 1.5 tons. It's a replica of the original, which was melted down to make munitions during WWII. It also has a carpet in its dining room which is so large that when they need to change it, about every 25 years, they need a crane to remove it.
- The city has a library which is over 200 years old. It was founded in 1788 and contains some very famous books, including a first edition copy of James Joyce’s Ulysses, and the first printing of the American Declaration of Independence outside of America. Its oldest book is a tome about health and well being called De Anima, dating back to 1490, written by the Eastern physician, Avicenna.
My Books:
If you like stories about:
- Superheroes
- Psychic detectives
- Romance
- Alternative dimensions
- Time travel
- Secrets
- Friendship
- Family relationships
- Ghosts
- Adventure
- Crime
If you want to read about superheroes who aren't the usual Marvel/DC staples, who don't all live in the USA.
If you like quirky tales.
If you like to support independent self published authors.
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