Andersonstown
| Andersonstown | |
 Andersonstown Road, 2007 |
|
| Population | (2001 Census) |
|---|---|
| Irish grid reference | O003360 |
| District | Belfast City Council |
| County | County Antrim |
| Country | Northern Ireland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Postcode district | BT11 |
| Dialling code | 028 |
| EU Parliament | Northern Ireland |
| NI Assembly | West Belfast |
| List of places: UK • Northern Ireland • Antrim | |
Andersonstown (Baile Andarsan/Baile Mhic Aindréis) is a suburb of Belfast, Northern Ireland. The area was originally known as Whitesidetown after the family that owned the land but they were dispossessed for the support they gave to the Society of United Irishmen, resulting in a change of name.[1] The district is sometimes colloquially referred to as "Andytown" or A Town.
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[edit] History
It sits at the bottom of the Black Mountain and Divis Mountain and contains a mixture of public and private housing. It is largely populated by the Irish nationalist and Roman Catholic community. Andersonstown is also an electoral ward of Belfast. The consensus view[citation needed] is that the area begins at the tip of the upper Falls Road, where it becomes the Andersonstown Road, close to the junction with the Glen Road. It is bounded at the western end by the Shaw's Road, forming a large triangle.
The area rapidly expanded during the 1950s and 1960s as the local housing authority built hundreds of houses for people who were rehoused during the redevelopment of the lower Falls Road. Schools - Holy Child School and La Salle Secondary School - were built, along with a library. As the population of the area increased Twinbrook and Poleglass housing estates were built further out of Belfast.[citation needed]
[edit] The Troubles
During the 1970s and 1980s, the area was a major centre of civil disturbances during the civil conflict known as The Troubles. During this period a large British army fort - known as Silver City was built in the central Broom Hill part of Andersonstown.[2] However there was generally less strife than in, for instance, neighbouring districts such as Lenadoon, which in 1972 saw clashes between the IRA and Ulster Defence Association and a subsequent demographic shift in the estate from Protestant to Catholic[3], and Ballymurphy, the scene of the Ballymurphy massacre and Springhill massacre.
On 5 April 1979 two British Army soldiers were shot dead by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) while standing outside Andersonstown joint Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and British Army base.[4] The PIRA in Andersonstown was part of the First Battalion of the Provisional IRA Belfast Brigade.[5]
On 26 June 1980 Miriam Daly, a lecturer at Queens University Belfast and an Irish Republican Socialist Party activist, was found tied up and shot dead at her home in the area. Widely blamed on loyalist paramilitaries, no group ever claimed responsibility for the murder.[6]
Kieran Doherty, a Teachta Dála who was one of the ten republican prisoners to die during the 1981 Irish hunger strike, was a native of Andersonstown.[7]
[edit] Features
According to the 2008 estimate the Andersonstown ward has a population of 5,064.[8] It remains a predominantly working-class area. There has been considerable effort to attract employment to the area and to improve the physical infrastructure.[citation needed] It has four Catholic churches: St Agnes', St Teresa's, St Michael's and St Matthias'.
[edit] Sport
Casement Park, the main Gaelic Athletic Association stadium for Antrim GAA is located in Andersonstown.[9]
Donegal Celtic F.C., an association football club, play their home games at Donegal Celtic Park on Suffolk Road on the outskirts of Andersontown. In 1990 an Irish Cup game between Donegal Celtic and Linfield F.C., a club with a mainly Protestant following, was moved away from the area on the orders of police due to fears that violence would break out. The game was played at Windsor Park but despite the move a riot broke out anyway.[10]
[edit] Culture and media
The local newspaper named Andersonstown News voices an Irish Republican viewpoint.[11] Produced by the Belfast Media Group, which also publishes papers in other areas of the city, editions appear on Mondays and Thursdays.[12]
The district is also the subject of the novel Titanic Town by Mary Costello and the movie adaptation by Anne Devlin.[citation needed]
[edit] References
- ^ Belfast History From Joe Graham The Belfast History Man
- ^ Peter Taylor, Provos: The IRA and Sinn Fein, Bloomsbury, 1998, p. 193
- ^ Tim Pat Coogan, On the blanket: the inside story of the IRA prisoners' "dirty" protest, Palgrave Macmillan, 2002, p. 64
- ^ "A Chronology of the Conflict - 1979". Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN). http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch79.htm. Retrieved 29 January 2010.
- ^ J Bowyer Bell, The Secret Army: The IRA 1916-1979, Poolbeg, 1990, p. 374
- ^ F. Stuart Ross, Smashing H Block: The Popular Campaign Against Criminalization and the Irish Hunger Strikes 1976-1982, Liverpool University Press, 2002, p. 81
- ^ Brendan O'Brien, The long war: the IRA and Sinn Féin, 1985 to today, Syracuse University Press, 1993, p. 123
- ^ Ward Information for Andersonstown ward 95GG01
- ^ Casement Park
- ^ Tara Magdalinski, Timothy Chandler, With God on Their Side: Sport in the Service of Religion, Routledge, 2002, p. 32
- ^ John Horgan, Irish media: a critical history since 1922, Routledge, 2001, p. 176
- ^ BMG
Coordinates: 54°34′42″N 5°59′38″W / 54.57833°N 5.99389°W
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