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Everybody kens a Place Names wee bit o’ Ulster-Scots of Belfast has a rich Ulster-Scots heritage which stretches back over 400 years. For centuries, the town's population was largely Ulster-Scots, both in identity and speech; and the impact of this can be seen kirks today in the Ulster-Scots place names that can be found all over the city. burns ...... braes ...... & loanens PUBLISHED BY

Northern Everybody kens a wee bit o’ Ulster-Scots www.UlsterScotsAgency.com reland

USLW Places A6 Booklet.indd 2-3 20/11/2019 23:34 Ulster’s Three Cultures

Ulster is a special place, a place apart. It has a cultural landscape that is unique in the , unlike either Britain or the rest of . This has come about through centuries of interaction between three distinct peoples, the Irish, the Scots and the English, who have been the principal elements of our community since the early .

This diversity can be seen in all sorts of ways, from the main churches we attend, to our musical traditions, our traditional dances and the sports that we play, which have their origins in England, and Ireland. It can even be seen in the symbols that we use to represent ourselves, from the shamrock, rose and thistle to the crosses of St Andrew, St George and St Patrick.

One of the greatest examples of our unique cultural wealth is our linguistic diversity. Everyone in Ulster speaks English, but we also have two cherished minority languages, Irish and Ulster-Scots, which people all over the are fighting to preserve and promote.

Ulster’s triple-blended culture has been regularly depicted as a combination of Irish shamrock, Scottish thistle and English rose. This example is a mosaic at the Ulster Reform Club in Belfast’s Royal Avenue.

USLW Places A6 Booklet.indd 2-3 20/11/2019 23:34 The Town of Belfast Although Belfast was founded by an Englishman, Sir Arthur Chichester, in 1603, it soon became a magnet for lowland Scots, who made the short journey across the North Channel in search of economic opportunity and religious freedom. By the 1630s, the number of English and Scots in the town was roughly equal, but by 1700, after a second large wave of Scottish migration in the wake of the Glorious , the town was overwhelmingly Scottish. At the end of the 18th century, Belfast was still a small town, with a population of around 19,000, but it was essentially a Scottish and Presbyterian town. When Amyas Griffith arrived from in 1780 as Surveyor of Excise, he noted that

“the common people speak broad Scotch, and the better sort differ vastly from us, both in accent and language.” When the French aristocrat, Le Chevalier de la Tochnaye visited Ireland in 1797 he said,

“Belfast has almost entirely the look of a Scotch town and the character of the inhabitants has considerable resemblance to that of the people of Glasgow. The way of speaking is much more Scotch than Irish.”

‘The Pass Loning’ or ‘Pass Loanen’ shown on this 1791 map is today the Donegall Pass. ‘Loanen’ is the word for ‘lane’. 4 Courtesy Linen Hall Library. 5

USLW Places A6 Booklet.indd 4-5 20/11/2019 23:34 The Growth of Belfast In nearby Carnmoney, it was noted that During the 19th century, Belfast expanded rapidly. “their idioms and saws [sayings] are strictly Scottish”. In just forty years the population increased from It was from these ‘strictly’ Ulster-Scots speaking areas that 19,000 to 70,000 and this was largely as the result much of the population of North Belfast came. of industrialisation. William Ritchie had come over from in 1791 to establish what would become Across the Lagan, the parish of Knockbreda covered what the Belfast shipbuilding industry; and many mills and is now east Belfast, but was then largely open space and other factories were springing up. fields. Here the Ordnance Survey Memoirs reported that As the town expanded northwards, people flooded “the inhabitants of this part of Ireland are half Scotch in from adjacent areas of Antrim, which were in their language and manners.” Ulster-Scots settled and Scots speaking. The Ordnance Street after street of new houses was built to accommodate , compiled in the 1830s, recorded of the Survey Memoirs the workers in the factories and those who came from people of the neighbouring parish of that their Mallusk rural areas of Antrim and Down brought with them the “dialect, accent and customs are strictly Scottish”. Ulster-Scots language that they had spoken since childhood.

1840s Belfast viewed from Knockbreda 6 7

USLW Places A6 Booklet.indd 6-7 20/11/2019 23:34 BALLYCLARE ‘the general character of the people is strictly Scottish … Their idioms and old saws savour strongly of the country of their ancestors.’ Ordnance Survey Memoirs (1830s) MALLUSK ‘Their dialect, accent, idioms and customs are strictly Scottish.’ Ordnance Survey Memoirs (1830s)

CARNMONEY ‘in their habits and character, the people, that is the natives of the parish, are essentially Scottish. … Their idioms and saws are strictly Scottish and many of ‘the language in use here is ... them are pithy and quaint.’ strangely tinctured with the Ordnance Survey Memoirs (1830s) Scottish idiom and accent’ (1819)

KNOCKBREDA ‘The inhabitants of this part of Ireland are half Scotch in ‘The Scottish idiom is most observable in their language and manners’ the baronies of and Castlereagh, Ordnance Survey Memoirs (1830s) although extending as far as Hillsborough and Dromore. Until recently it was spoken as broadly as in Ayr or Wigtownshire’ History of the County of Down (1875) 8 9

USLW Places A6 Booklet.indd 8-9 20/11/2019 23:34 Ulster-Scots Place Ulster-Scots place name terms Names in Belfast and definitions Bracken - large fern Holm - small grassy island The names the Ulster-Scots of Belfast gave to features in the landscape, or to their homes or to streets that they Brae - brow of a hill / hillside Kirk - church built, have left a legacy that bears witness to the strong Burn - stream Knock - hill Scottish character of the city. Loney - lane Lang - long In North Belfast, on the slopes of the Cave Hill, brae (hillside) appears prominently, while in East Belfast, on Cairn - pyramid of stones Loch - lake the shore of the Lagan and Belfast Lough, strand (beach) Wynd - narrow lane or alley Loop - bend or wind in a river provides many names. There are burns (small streams) - large stream - old Scots unit of money all over the city, including Purdysburn, Minnowburn and Water Merk Wedderburn in South Belfast. The Knock (prominent hill) Knowe - hillock Moss - marsh, bog in East Belfast also provided many street names. Flush - boggy ground Mote - mound of earth Big houses were often named for a nearby geographical Forth - fort, fortress Nether - low feature or an association with Scotland. These included - small road / rowan Glencairn (after the Cunningham seat in Dumfriesshire) and Rodden Maryburn in West Belfast and Strathearn and Netherleigh Strand - beach, shore in East Belfast. In turn they influenced the names of nearby Strath - broad river valley streets. Wedder - castrated sheep Belfast also has over one hundred streets which are named after places in Scotland, many containing Scots language Whin - gorse elements, including Braemar, Langholm, Lochinver, Merkland, Selkirk, and Stratheden. This Guide to Scots origins of place names Many more Ulster-Scots place names, no longer reflected in Britain (published by Ordnance Survey, in official street names, also survive in the historical record 2004) includes a glossary of hundreds of Scots language words. It is available or in the memory of older Belfast people. online as a free PDF download. 10 11

USLW Places A6 Booklet.indd 10-11 20/11/2019 23:34 Bracken Hill Avenue Cairns, The Forthriver Dale Kirk Street Bracken Hill Close Cairns Street Forthriver Drive Knockbracken Park Bracken Hill Mews Carnbrae Avenue Forthriver Green Knockbreada Drive Bracken Hill View Church Wynd Forthriver Link Knockbreda Gardens Brae Hill Crescent Commons Brae Forthriver Parade Knockbreda Park Brae Hill Link Connswater Grove Forthriver Park Knockbreda Park Mews Brae Hill Parade Connswater Link Forthriver Pass Knockbreda Road Brae Hill Park Connswater Mews Forthriver Road Knockburn Park Brae Hill Road Connswater Street Forthriver Way Knockcastle Park Brae Hill Way Duncairn Avenue Glenburn Park Knockdarragh Park Braemar Street Duncairn Gardens Glencairn Crescent Knockdene Park Braeside Grove Duncairn Parade Glencairn Pass Knockdene Park North Burnside Avenue Fairyknowe Drive Glencairn Road Knockdene Park South Burnside Park Fairyknowe Gardens Glencairn Street Knockdhu Park Burntollet Way Fairyknowe Park Glencairn Walk Knock Eden Crescent Buttermilk Loney Flush Drive Glencairn Way Knock Eden Drive Cairnburn Avenue Flush Gardens Glenholm Avenue Knock Eden Grove Cairnburn Crescent Flush Green Glenholm Crescent Knock Eden Parade Cairnburn Dell Flush Park Glenholm Park Knock Eden Park Cairnburn Drive Flush Road Highburn Crescent Knock Green Cairnburn Gardens Forthbrook Court Highburn Gardens Knock Grove Cairnburn Grange Forth Park Highcairn Drive Knockhill Park Cairnburn Park Forthbrook Court Hillburn Park Knockland Park Cairnburn Road Forth Park Holmdene Gardens Knock Link Cairndale Forthriver Close King’s Brae Knocklofty Court Cairnmartin Road Forthriver Crescent Kirk Crescent Knocklofty Park 12 13

USLW Places A6 Booklet.indd 12-13 20/11/2019 23:34 Knockmarloch Park Loopland Drive Scotch Row Wedderburn Avenue Knockmount Gardens Loopland Gardens Selkirk Row Wedderburn Gardens Knockmount Park Loopland Grove Stoneycairn Court Whincroft Road Knocknagoney Avenue Loopland Parade Strand Close Whincroft Way Knocknagoney Dale Loopland Park Strand Court Whinny Heights Knocknagoney Drive Loopland Road Strand Mews Whinny Hill Drive Knocknagoney Gardens Merkland Place Strand Walk White Brae Knocknagoney Green Merkland Street Strandburn Court Willowholme Crescent Knocknagoney Grove Milewater Road Strandburn Crescent Willowholme Drive Knocknagoney Park Milewater Street Strandburn Drive Willowholme Parade Knocknagoney Road Minnowburn Drive Strandburn Gardens Willowholme Street Knocknagoney Way Minnowburn Gardens Strandburn Parade Woodburn Drive Knock Road Minnowburn Mews Strandburn Park Woodburn Street Knocktern Gardens MinnowburnTerrace Strandburn Street Knockvale Grove Mossvale Street Strandview Street Knockvale Park Motelands Strathearn Mews Knock Way Mountain Loney Strathearn Park Visit the Knockwood Crescent (Upper Whiterock Road) Stratheden Street Discover Knockwood Drive Netherleigh Mews Strathmore Park Ulster-Scots Knockwood Grove Netherleigh Park Strathmore Park North Knockwood Park Purdysburn Hill Strathmore Park South Centre Langholm Row Purdysburn Road Strathroy Park to find Avenue Purdysburn Village Tillysburn Drive out more Lisburn Road Roddens Crescent Tillysburn Grove Lochinver Drive Roddens Gardens Tillysburn Park Loopland Crescent Roddens Park Upper Knockbreda Road 14 15

USLW Places A6 Booklet.indd 14-15 20/11/2019 23:34