Belfast adjacent coimtks. 'ju^- >*^^7^^- ^aL>w^>^( GUIDE TO BELFAST. ELFAST-Scal ROAD MAP OF THE ENVIRONS OF BELFAST-Scale 4 miles to an inch • ^ U '^ BELFAST, 1902. A Guide to Belfast AND THE COUNTIES OF DOWN & ANTRIM. PREPARED FOR THE MEETING OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION BY THE BELFAST NATURALISTS' FIELD CLUB. 'W JGelfaet: M'CAW, STEVENSON & OKK, LIMITED, THE MNENHAI.L PRESS. 1902. — PREFACE. 'hen the Brilisli Association met at Belfast in 1S74, a (luide was prepared for the occasion by the IkMfast NaturaHsts' Field Club, describing and illustrating the history, trade, agriculture, geology, botany, zoology, and archaeology of Belfast and the adjacent counties of Down and Antrim. This work was the first of the "Handbooks" which are now con- sidered an indispensable adjunct to the Association's meetings. The 1874 "Guide" long remained a standard work of reference on the district, and lately it has gone out of print. The present " Guide " has the same origin as its pre- decessor, and follows the same general lines. It has been written by members of the Belfast Field Club, with the co-operation, in certain subjects, of fellow-workers outside the Club, whose assistance is gratefully acknowledged : of Dr. R. F. Scharff, A. R. Nichols, G. H. Carpenter, and J. N. Halbert, all of the National Museum in Dublin, in the department of Zoology ; and of H. J. Seymour, of H.M. Geological Survey, in the department of Geology. The authorship of the various sections is as follows : Belfast, John Vinycomb and Alec Wilson ; Geology, Phillips J. St. J. ; Botany, Henry Hanna, R. Lloyd Praeger, and Rev. C. H. Waddell ; Zoology, G. H. Carpenter, J. N. Halbert, Rev. W. F. Johnson, A. R. Nichols, H. Lamont Orr, Robert Patterson, R. Lloyd Praeger, R. F. Scharff, R. Welch, Joseph Wright ; Antiquities, Francis Joseph Bigger and William J. Fennell. The general editing of the " Guide " has been done by Francis Joseph Bigger, editor of the Ulster Journal of ArchcEology; R. Lloyd Praeger, editor of the Irish Naturalist] and John Vinycomb. Belfast, September, 1902. 209098fi CONTENTS. BE LFAST- Page. History and Description ... ... ... ... ... I-32 Trade ami Commerce ... ... ... ... ... 33^56 GEOLOGY— Physical Fcatvires — Slraligrapliical Geology — Igneous Rocks 57-106 BOTANY— Flowering Plants and Vascular Cryptogams — Mosses and Ilepatics — Fungi—Alg;\; ... ... ... ... 106- 148 ZOOLOGY— \'ertebrala — Mollusca — Arthropoda — Gcphyrea — Chsetopoda — Brachiopoda — Polyzoa — Rotifera — Nematoda — Nemertinea — Platyhelmia — Echinodcrma — Coelenterata — Porifera — Protozoa ... ... ... 148-242 ANTIQUITIES— Prehistoric Remains —Cams and Cromleacs —Souterrains — Raths— Crannoges — Round Towers—Ancient Crosses — Sculptured Stones — Ancient Ch\irches ^ Abbeys — Castles 243 279 Index 2S1-283 BELFAST: HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE. By John VinycoxMB, m.r. i.a. Belfast Lough and Harbour. HE City of Belfast is situated at the extremity of Belfast Lough, formerly called Carrickfergus Bay, from the town and castle of that name, and at a period when Belfast was too insignificant a place to be noticed upon maps of the time. The lough is an arm of the sea, about twelve miles in length, the breadth at the entrance is about five miles, which decreases gradually towards the extremity where the river Lagan joins it at the city harbour, with its miles of quays and docks for foreign-going ships, iron shipbuilding and marine engineering works, etc., which here line both sides of the harbour. On approaching Belfast by steamer, the stranger cannot fail to be struck with the picturesque beauty of the lough, the smiling villages scattered along its margin, and the hills rising behind on either side, running in a nearly parallel course from the entrance of the lough, and stretching far away up the valley of the Lagan. On the County Antrim side the most prominent of the hills near the city are Ben Madighan, now called Cave Hill (i,i88 feet), with its bold precipitous cliffs and the great [)rehistoric fort of MacArt standing out in bold relief on its highest point ; the Black B 2 Guide to Belfast. mountain (1,273 feet), with Divis (1,507 feet) rising behind it, and overlooking the city ; while the range of the Castlereagh hills appears on the southern or County Down side of the valley. One of the first places of importance that meet the eye on entering the lough is Carrickfergus Castle, the great military stronghold of the Anglo-Norman invasion, built by John de Courci in 11 77, standing conspicuously on the 1 History ana Progress. I! In 1613 the lough extended into what is now the heart of the city. Various extensions of the land have taken place from time to time, and where once the lonely heron waded undisturbed in the shallows of the lough, the harbour works have extended for miles into the sea, and the ceaseless din and hammering of the iron shipbuilding yards and engineer- ing works fill the air. Hundreds of acres of land have been reclaimed from the lough on either side of the river, on which extensive ranges of warehouses and docks for the accommodation of foreign shipping have been constructed, and for the carrying on of the iron and steel shipbuilding, for which Belfast is now famous. A rambling old bridge of twenty-one arches formerly existed here, erected in 1689, over which Schomberg's heavy artillery, in passing in the same year, caused such damage, that three years later a large portion collapsed, and so remained until comparatively recent times. The present Queen's Bridge was built in 1843. Anciently a ford existed at or near this place, from which the town takes its B2 4 Guide to Belfast. name (Bel or Beal, a ?nouth, a ford, an entrance, and Fearsad, a sandbank). The River Lagan. —According to O'Donovan the Irish word lA^An signifies a hollow or narrow district between hills or mountains. The river takes its rise in SLiebh C]\oob (Slieve Croob), in the heart of County Down ; its course beyond the city is now mainly a canal, and passes through some most charming scenery. It is a favourite haunt of artists and lovers of nature, the tow-path affording a delightful walk for many miles amid picturesque SCENE ON THE KIVER I AGAN. surroundings. The Lagan is a stream of no considerable size, but, with the deepening of the channel and the creation of the harbour, it has been utilized as a water-way into the interior of the country. The inland trade by water is carried on by the L.'^gan Navigation Company, which connects the Harbour of Belfast with Lough Neagh, and by the Ulster Canal, which connects Lough Neagh with the Upper and Lower Lough Erne. Four bridges now span the river in its course through the city. From the Queen's Bridge, which joins the city proper with its populous suburb, Bali ymacarrett (Bally MacArt), the town of MacArt [O'Neill] ), there is a quay of two History and Pj'ogress. 5 miles for steamboats the whole length of Donkgall Quay, extensive docks and shipbuilding yards, beyond which there is a straight course out to the open sea. Queen's Quay on the County Down side is devoted to the discharging of coal steamers; beyond this are Abercorn Basin and Queen's Island Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Works. An extensive reclamation of land is at present being made on the County Down side, and the formation of the new Muscrave Channel, which will very largely increase the accommodation of shipping interests. A daily service of steamers is carried on between Belfast and the principal cross-( hannel ports. There are also weekly, bi-wt-ekly, and tri-weekly sailings to many other British ports, besides regular steamers trading to various foreign countries. Steam-ferries, which cross the harbour at different points, ply regularly during the day. A range of capacious sheds, for the protection of cargo waiting shipment or delivery, extends the entire length of the steamboat quays, and the different railway companies can bring their goods trains along the quays for direct shipment, or vice versa, of goods in transit. The Harbour Comimissioners (Sir James Musgrave, Chairman), who control and regulate all matters connected 6 Guide to Belfast. with the Port and Harbour Trust, have their offices in a handsome and commodious building, situated near the Clarendon Dock. The Custom House and Inland Revenue Office is a substantial building facing the quay, at the foot of High Street. On the esplanade in front are two forty-six pounder Russian guns from Sevastopol. CUSTOM HOUSE. The first great stimulus to the trade of the port was given by Lord-Deputy Wentworth in 1637, who purchased from the Corporation of Carrickfergus, then the chief town of Ulster, the right of importing certain commodities at one- third of the duties payable at other places. HISTORY OF BELFAST. " J~) elfast as a town has no ancient history," and does V\ not lay claim to a remote origin like so many towns in Ireland. Its record is simply one of industrial progress, dating no farther back than the time of James I. In later times, however, it has been remarkable alike for its rapid growth in area and population, no less than for the commercial enterprise and intelligence of its citizens. As the capital of the Province of Ulster, and History and Progress. 7 the great manufacturing and commercial centre of Ireland, Belfast occupies the unique position of being the most progressive city in the country—possibly in the United Kingdom. In 1757 it contained only 1,779 houses, mostly straw-thatched, and a population of 8,549, which has gone on increasing until it amounts to 348,965, according to the census of 1901; the area of the town, however, having been largely increased so as to include all the suburbs.