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Sandy Row
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Sandy Row
Sandy Row is an inner city area of south Belfast, Northern Ireland, which is predominantly Protestant working-class. In 2018, the population was estimated to be around 4,000. It is a staunchly loyalist area and heartland of the paramilitary Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and Orange Order.
Sandy Row is in south Belfast, beginning at the edge of the city centre, close to the Europa Hotel. The road runs south from the Boyne Bridge over the old Dublin railway line beside Belfast Grand Central station, then crosses Donegall Road and ends at the bottom of Lisburn Road. At the north end of the road was Murray's tobacco factory, opened in 1810, while at the other is a large Orange hall.
Formerly known as Carr's Row. For more than a thousand years, a road built along the Lagan River sandbanks was the principal thoroughfare leading southwards from Carrickfergus. "Carraig Fhearghais" – the rock of Fergus (5th century). During the late 1700s, 'Carr's Row' was originally a small village area on the outskirts of the town of Belfast.
To the north is the Boyne Bridge was built in 1935 to cross over the railway tracks leading to the nearby Great Victoria Street station. It was these tidal waters that deposited sandbanks alongside the road and provide the sandy road surface that led to the village being renamed in the early 1800s from the original name of Carr's Row, to Sandy Row, shown therefore as such on the 2nd edition OS Map (1846/62). With much development of the area, the redirection of the Blackstaff river and the construction of the Lagan Weir (1994), the sand lines of the row are long lost to history.
Its growth in population was in large part due to the expansion of the linen industry in Rowland Street.
In the 19th century Sandy Row became a bustling shopping district, and by the turn of the 20th-century, there were a total of 127 shops and merchants based in the road. It continued to draw shoppers from all over Belfast until the outbreak of the Troubles in the late 1960s. The rows of 19th-century terraced houses in the streets and backstreets branching off Sandy Row have been demolished and replaced with modern housing. Six of the houses which formerly lined Rowland Street have been rebuilt in the Ulster Folk Museum.
It is a traditionally Protestant, close-knit loyalist community, noted for its elaborate Orange Order parades on the Twelfth, with over 40 Arches erected in its streets and a marching band of teenaged girls known as the "Sandy Row Girl's Band". In addition to the arches spanning the road, buildings and homes are decorated with flags, bunting and banners. The first Orange Arch was erected by Frank Reynolds in about 1921. In 1690, on his way south to fight at the Battle of the Boyne, King William III of England and his troops travelled along Sandy Row. Tradition holds that part of his army camped on the ground where the Orange Hall now stands. The Hall was opened in June 1910 by Lady Henderson, wife of former Lord Mayor of Belfast, James Henderson. By 1908, there were 34 Orange Lodges in the district. In the 19th and 20th-centuries, there was much sectarian fighting and rioting between Sandy Row Protestants and Catholics from Pound Loney, in the Lower Falls Road.
In the spring 1941 Belfast Blitz during the calamitous 15/16 April raid, the Luftwaffe dropped a parachute landmine at the top of Blythe Street, killing and fatally injuring over ten people including children. Terraced houses on both sides of the street were badly damaged, many with their facades blasted off. The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester paid a visit to the devastated street.
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Sandy Row
Sandy Row is an inner city area of south Belfast, Northern Ireland, which is predominantly Protestant working-class. In 2018, the population was estimated to be around 4,000. It is a staunchly loyalist area and heartland of the paramilitary Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and Orange Order.
Sandy Row is in south Belfast, beginning at the edge of the city centre, close to the Europa Hotel. The road runs south from the Boyne Bridge over the old Dublin railway line beside Belfast Grand Central station, then crosses Donegall Road and ends at the bottom of Lisburn Road. At the north end of the road was Murray's tobacco factory, opened in 1810, while at the other is a large Orange hall.
Formerly known as Carr's Row. For more than a thousand years, a road built along the Lagan River sandbanks was the principal thoroughfare leading southwards from Carrickfergus. "Carraig Fhearghais" – the rock of Fergus (5th century). During the late 1700s, 'Carr's Row' was originally a small village area on the outskirts of the town of Belfast.
To the north is the Boyne Bridge was built in 1935 to cross over the railway tracks leading to the nearby Great Victoria Street station. It was these tidal waters that deposited sandbanks alongside the road and provide the sandy road surface that led to the village being renamed in the early 1800s from the original name of Carr's Row, to Sandy Row, shown therefore as such on the 2nd edition OS Map (1846/62). With much development of the area, the redirection of the Blackstaff river and the construction of the Lagan Weir (1994), the sand lines of the row are long lost to history.
Its growth in population was in large part due to the expansion of the linen industry in Rowland Street.
In the 19th century Sandy Row became a bustling shopping district, and by the turn of the 20th-century, there were a total of 127 shops and merchants based in the road. It continued to draw shoppers from all over Belfast until the outbreak of the Troubles in the late 1960s. The rows of 19th-century terraced houses in the streets and backstreets branching off Sandy Row have been demolished and replaced with modern housing. Six of the houses which formerly lined Rowland Street have been rebuilt in the Ulster Folk Museum.
It is a traditionally Protestant, close-knit loyalist community, noted for its elaborate Orange Order parades on the Twelfth, with over 40 Arches erected in its streets and a marching band of teenaged girls known as the "Sandy Row Girl's Band". In addition to the arches spanning the road, buildings and homes are decorated with flags, bunting and banners. The first Orange Arch was erected by Frank Reynolds in about 1921. In 1690, on his way south to fight at the Battle of the Boyne, King William III of England and his troops travelled along Sandy Row. Tradition holds that part of his army camped on the ground where the Orange Hall now stands. The Hall was opened in June 1910 by Lady Henderson, wife of former Lord Mayor of Belfast, James Henderson. By 1908, there were 34 Orange Lodges in the district. In the 19th and 20th-centuries, there was much sectarian fighting and rioting between Sandy Row Protestants and Catholics from Pound Loney, in the Lower Falls Road.
In the spring 1941 Belfast Blitz during the calamitous 15/16 April raid, the Luftwaffe dropped a parachute landmine at the top of Blythe Street, killing and fatally injuring over ten people including children. Terraced houses on both sides of the street were badly damaged, many with their facades blasted off. The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester paid a visit to the devastated street.