Clarawood

Clarawood is a housing estate in the suburbs of Belfast, Northern Ireland.  It consists of roughly 600 homes and has a population of about 1500 people.

Situated amongst mostly more affluent areas of East Belfast such as Orangefield, Sandown Road, Cherryvalley, Richhill, Shandon and Orby, Clarawood is seen as a more working class community and has a unique character kept alive by its core of close knit long term residents.

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An aerial view of the estate. Clarawood is the long curved road running down the centre of the picture with the L - shaped block to its left. The park is the green area with the prominent circle

Introduction

The top entrance to Clarawood off the Knock Dual Carriageway also showing the style of housing

Built in the 1950s, Clarawood (pronounced Claire - ah - wood NOT Clah - rah -wood) was originally known as Clara Park Estate and was one of many public housing developments built by the UK Government under the new Welfare State ethos in the post World War Two era. "Squalor" was seen as one of the 5 giant societal evils and new high standard housing was built everywhere with former slums being demolished and entire neighbourhoods being relocated. The Belfast Corporation, the forerunner of Belfast City Council, got final approval for the development in April 1953 and building work on the actual housing commenced shortly thereafter.

Entrance at the bottom of Clarawood

The big flats and maisonettes at Clara Way were added in the 60s, several bungalows beside the church in the 1980s and 1 large detached house in the 2000s. The homes are generally all the same design apart from the later additions. This, along with the 2 sharply defined entrance and exit points at the top and bottom of the estate, mixed with the fact that it was public housing situated within private middle class areas gave the estate a clear identity as a unit.

Originally the estate was all public social rented housing apart from Knockmount Gardens which was actually first planned to exit onto the Knock Road but then was built the other way round. The estate has been managed by the Housing Executive since it was established in the early 1970s. Over the years and especially since Thatcher's "Right to Buy" policy of the 1980s many tenants have bought their homes at discounted prices and just under half the estate is now private. This fraction would most likely be higher if not for the large proportion of flats.

Clarawood had its own primary school for many years, the Robert Bell, which closed in the education cuts of the 1980s and there have been various shops over the years.

History and construction

The go ahead for a new housing development at what was known as the Clara Park site was approved in March 1949 and inspected by the Housing Committee of The Belfast Corporation in October that year. Numerous housing estates were built by the Corporation after the war and Clarawood was part of a wider wave of construction which included Taughmonagh, Ballysillan, Annadale, Flush Park, Highfield and many others. By the time it came to be built it was in fact described as the last of the large housing estates. Plans had been in progress for a while by 1949 and early on it was identified that a primary school would have to be part of the development. Over a period of several years the land was gradually vested and various preliminary works undertaken such as the laying of water mains, removal of traditional grazing rights, testing of the ground and arrangements for the electricity supply.

In February 1951 the first plans for the actual estate were presented and the final layout was decided in May 1952. The construction of the various housing estates at the time required the approval and input of numerous committees and Government departments who could focus on their own particular realm of expertise. In the case of Clarawood this resulted in such things as using concrete for the roads rather than tarmac as the ground was soft and designing the layout to deliberately encompass open spaces and green areas.

In early 1953 the first tender was put out for the roads and sewers and it was awarded on 20 February with work beginning shortly afterwards.

The bulk of the estate was built in 4 main phases and there were separate contracts for each of them:

1. Clarawood Crescent, the lower end of Clarawood Park and Clarawood Grove
2. The Star Flats
3. Knockwood Park, Crescent, Grove, Knock Link, Grove, Green etc...
4. The shops, veranda and flats

One of the construction firms folded during phase 3 and the tender was taken over by another firm in late 1955.

The total cost came in at around £600,000 pounds for the original phases plus over £300,000 for Clara Way, equivalent to nearly £15 million today (2016). This would average out at approximately £25,000 per home (2016 value). With a typical home in Clarawood even after the housing crash still being worth minimum £60,000 the estate was exceptional value for money. At equivalent rent values the estate paid for itself within 10 years.

Some of the names of streets in the estate were going to be completely different at the start eg: Sangora Park & Drive, Clarewood Crescent & Park, Sandell Avenue & Drive, Clare Grove, Green & Link. However the current names prevailed and were finalised in March 1954.

In April 1955 as construction continued the Corporation celebrated the 5000th house completed since the end of the war and visited Clarawood to hand over the keys to the new tenant personally. Tenants were of couse moved in as the homes were completed and gradually the estate filled up.

In 1956 as the estate grew ever larger, a road connection to Clara Park was opened and the former bedsits at 26 - 34 Knockwood Park were approved. These were designed as old peoples dwellings and a common room and caretaker's flat were originally to be included. These latter were scrapped and the bedsits themselves were much later refurbished into family homes after getting a bad name.

In 1957 the path to Orby was approved (but not built until the 60s when the Laburnum & Orangefield playing fields were developed) and in 1958 the path to the Orangefield schools was approved. By the end of 1957 the vast majority of the original estate had been completed and tenants had moved in. Land at the bottom of the estate was identified for 26 old peoples bungalows in 1958 and these were complete by early 1961.

In June 1965 the final go ahead for the multi - storey flats and maisonettes, otherwise known as Clara Park Extension No.1, was given along with permission for a road at Knockmount Gardens. Flats had been planned for a site in Ladas Drive but this was unsuitable and so the project moved to Clarawood whose own site was uneconomical for ordinary housing. Work on the flats had started by January 1966 and by 1968 they were ready. High rise blocks of flats had been seen after the war as the answer to housing problems throughout the UK and the authorities in Belfast initially agreed. By the late 60s though they had fallen out of favour, especially after the Ronan Point disaster in London in which a gas explosion caused those flats to collapse killing 4 people. A review was ordered and Clarawood House had its gas removed and replaced by electric heating etc by 1971. With multi - storeys now being viewed differently housing development policy in Belfast changed and huge projects such as the 7 massive 24 storey blocks planned for Springfield / Black Mountain were scrapped.

Clara Way and Knockmount Gardens were completed in 1968 and therefore the whole of the estate aside from the very minor later additions was in situ by the end of the decade.

Facilities

The shops have always been the focal point of the estate and a gathering point for all ages. The 6 retail outlets have included a wool shop, newsagents, grocery, off licence, bakery, hairdressers, taxi depot and more. For many years Jean’s and Brian’s were the twin institutions and it was only on the retirement of both of these characters that units were amalgated and a bigger Spar store was opened in the 2000s which is now a Day Today with an attached beauty salon.

Central part of the estate showing the shops

As mentioned above the local Robert Bell Primary School served the estate for many years and was indeed used at times as a youth club and community centre as well. A victim of the cuts in the 1980s, the school then lay empty until the top end was turned into the Anne Napier Centre in the early 1990s. The main building was then refurbished by the Belfast Education and Library Board and became Clarawood School, a special school serving the entire Belfast area. The school has been greatly invested in by BELB and additional parts added ever since.

Connected to the school were the playing fields affectionately known to all Clarawood people as "Parkies". A pavilion was built in the mid 1960s but burned down in the late 1980s and the pitches lay unkempt for some time until a lottery grant was secured and the space turned into Clarawood Millennium Park in 1999. The park has been said by residents to be the single best thing to happen to the estate in a number of local surveys. A central part of it was a brand new childrens' playground, there had been several others over the years including at Laburnums, the back of the big flats and on the site of the 3 bungalows beside the church, however these were demolished.

Clarawood Millennium Park

Dedicated community facilities were absent until the Tenants Hall was built in the 1960s after a local collection. Later extended and upgraded the Tenants Hall had a regular programme of events and Saturday night social events for a long time but is currently unused (2016). At one point in the early 70s it had 2 wooden huts to be used for a Youth Club but these closed after various problems such as the "vigilantes" using them at nights.

A Sunday School operated in the Tenants Hall for several years in the late 60s & early 70s before closing and then a different church started a new one a few years later. A prefab hut was eventually put up on vacant land beside the top of Parkies, another added a few years later and in 1994 these were removed and replaced by a brand new permanent church building. Clarawood Gospel Hall became Clarawood Community Church in 2014.

The Oak Partnership was formed by several churches and the YMCA in 1999 and opened its Oak Centre in 2 former shops in 2002.

The Anne Napier Centre closed in the early 2000s and was completely refurbished and reopened in 2005. Operated by a new Clarawood Community Association it ran a number of activities including a youth club until 2013. It is now managed by BELB.

There have been various chippy vans down through the years at various sites and the estate was also served by a number of door to door salespeople and ice cream vans for example many residents will recall Mr Softie and the Black Cat.

Facts and figures

There are exactly 606 homes in Clarawood:

166 flats in 4 styles

32 maisonettes in 2 styles

120 semis in 4 or 5 styles

29 bungalows in 2 styles

4 detached houses

255 terraced in a number of styles with 109 of these being end terraces

All the flats are 2 bedroom, the bungalows are 1 bedroom, the maisonettes 3 bedroom and the rest a mix of 2 and 3 bedroom. There are two 4 bedroom homes in the estate. Two other maisonettes exist but their use was changed after a fire and there is 1 more flat used by the caretaker of Clarawood House. Most houses have gardens and almost all streets have open areas.

44% of homes are privately owned, the vast majority of the rest are rented from the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE), the government public housing body.

Over the decades the majority of NIHE homes have been regularly updated so that most have had new kitchens, rooves, porches, fences, bathrooms, heating and windows. 20 former bedsits in Knockwood Park were refurbished into ten new 3 bedroom houses in the 2000s and the bungalows at the bottom of the estate had extensions built on a few years ago.

All the streetlights in the estate have been replaced and the paths have all been relaid (except for Clara Way).

There are 7 other properties namely:

The shop

The Oak Centre

An empty retail unit

The Church

The Anne Napier Centre

The School

The Tenants Hall

View showing the Anne Napier Centre, big flats, gate into the Park and the Church

According to the latest census information the estate population is about 1200. However it has been identified by Clarawood Community Association that the census information is not accurate, for example in the 2001 census a significant number of people identified themselves as Pakistani when it is known that there were absolutely not this number of Pakistani people living in the estate. Also in the 2011 census there were only 571 homes meaning that almost 6% of the estate did not exist. This is statistically significant. Based upon direct local knowledge and estimates of the number of people living in Clarawood who might officially have an address elsewhere, and the number of people who revolve around the estate or who spend time there regularly with family, the population should be thought of as nearer 1400 or 1500.

Demographically there are roughly 200 children & young people, roughly 300 pensioners and a fairly even mix of single people and couples. About 15 - 20 children are born each year and generally the same amount of people pass on, obviously there are fluctuations in these from year to year.

The estate is very predominantly white and Protestant, there are very small numbers of ethnic minorities mainly Black and Chinese (only about a dozen people) and a small Catholic population (about 50) the majority of whom are long term estate residents and fully accepted as part of the community. Small numbers of Eastern Europeans have moved in over the last few years, there are probably around half a dozen families.

Whilst sections of the estate have become middle class in recent years there remains an undercurrent of deprivation. On world terms the inhabitants are of course doing extremely well, however there is lots of hidden poverty and hidden societal problems. Those living in Clarawood tend to be poorer, unhealthier, less educated and less upwardly mobile than those in the areas around them.

In light of Welfare Reform and the changes to both Government, the economy and public works in general; and based upon the evidence from England & Wales where some of these reforms have been implemented much earlier and have already taken root, estates such as Clarawood are likely to find themselves, in the not so distant future, under pressure in every sphere and slipping backwards. Almost 1 million people on the mainland are now relying on foodbanks and many have lost their homes and even their families. Health and mental health is declining, people are being forced into low paid menial jobs, opportunity is choking and the whole nature of society is changing. Clarawood is likely to be affected by these same problems.

Culture

Many people have lived in Clarawood all their lives and built wide family networks. Others come and go but this generational connection keeps a core of community in the estate. Lots of the people who originally moved into the estate were young families or couples and despite this being 60 years ago a number of them are still alive and still living there. Residents were drawn from a wide selection of places but in general tended to come from the more central East Belfast areas and thus there are connections between many of the families and places such as the Newtownards Road or Woodstock.

Clarawood has always been seen as a staunchly loyalist area and indeed one of its major cultural traditions would be the 11th July bonfires and celebrations, this being the highlight of the year for many. Groups such as the Orange Order would have solid local memberships and there even used to be a flute band. Annually the lampposts around the estate will be decorated with flags and as a generally Protestant and Unionist area the locals have had to cope with the changing Northern Ireland political framework since the Good Friday Agreement and the effects of a rising globalisation. In some grassroots loyalist areas attitudes have been hardening on one level however for many of the younger generation who did not live through the Troubles and who have not known some of the hardships, tragedies and polarisations of the communities which they brought there are more important everyday issues and they are not interested in the sectarianism of the past.

With the rise of a wider drug culture in Northern Ireland (there has been a dramatic rise in the number of people using cocaine and growing marijuana for example), Clarawood has not been bypassed. However many residents have no connection to this sort of thing at all.

Paramilitary groups would have a local presence, sometimes high profile, but again many residents will not see any sign of it at all.

Clarawood has always had a mix of hardworking people who gradually better themselves and a benefit culture. Parts of the estate have even become what could be termed middle class in recent years. Owning your own home, running 2 cars, taking 4 holidays a year is not uncommon for some. Others are out of work, cannot pay their rent and struggle to survive on government benefit. The core of a long term community exists as mentioned above, but there is also now a significant proportion of estate residents who have simply chosen it as a nice suburban place to live and have had no previous or family ties to it.

Clarawood street scene

Clarawood itself sits in a majorly historic area of the country. The Knock Burial Ground, the prominent leafy area surrounded by a thick wall on the hill above the estate, was the site of one of the earliest churches in Ireland. Nearby used to be the remains of Craigmac, and in the area were several other important homes of the landed gentry such as Orangefield. Many of the street names in this area of East Belfast were taken from previous times. Some metal boundary posts of Belfast in former times can still be seen if you know where to look. There is an important ancient mound nearby at Shandon.

During World War 2 unexploded bombs were set off on waste land at what is now Clarawood, there used to be several farms in the area including at the bottom of the estate and older people report riding motorbikes on the site before it was built. During the Belfast Blitz people came from their homes to sleep up in Orangefield Park and the open spaces including under the big oak tree near the bowling pavilion.

Older residents again report apple orchards and an open river in what is now Laburnum Playing Fields (the Glen River was culverted and its valley filled in with waste from work on the Knock Road in the early 60s as part of the development of Laburnum Playing Fields, the land being unsuitable for housing, it was eventually culverted right down to the Knock River) and even in recent times some residents will recall "the horsey field".

Various residents have worked in key industries in the past such as the shipyard or the ropeworks or the factories of the Castlereagh area, however with the change in the economy from manufacturing to services such as retail, call centres or IT work, many have had to learn new skills.

Environment

Clarawood is a very good environment to live in. It has its own park, its own wood, is extremely green and leafy with open spaces, clean air, a river, grass and an abundance of urban wildlife. Most homes have gardens. When viewed from above the estate looks much more appealing than the supposedly “better” areas that surround it. Most of the trees were planted in the late 70s and early 80s and have grown to maturity. Before that it was more bare. Many of the estate's trees are protected by a Local Landscape Policy Order.

A green Clarawood as seen from the big flats in the height of summer

On one side the estate is bounded by other housing. On another it is bounded by the Knock River. On another by the A55 Knock Dual Carriageway and on the last by the new Connswater Community Greenway. This fixes the size of the estate which enhances its distinct identity.

Wildlife encountered in Clarawood includes foxes, squirrels, hedgehogs, bats, mice, voles, rats and the occasional badger. Birds of many shapes & sizes including sparrowhawks, herons, ducks, geese, egrets, kingfishers, jays and oystercatchers have been seen along with more common garden kinds like thrushes and starlings. Frogs, toads, newts and fish also inhabit the area.

It is thought that the maintenance of the good quality of the open spaces with a little thought and foresight will allow this wildlife to flourish thus enhancing the ecosystem, making lives and livelihoods better. Also the maintenance of the green areas of the estate contribute to the provision and protection of a continuous wildlife corridor, essential in an era of climate change and urban sprawl.

The design of the estate was intended to foster a healthy community lifestyle and the green areas add to estate life in a great way. Instead of closely packed, dense housing with minimal open space the estate is quite different. The fact that it is built on hills also helps with this – in some streets where residents would be looking into their neighbours’ windows the gradient allows for a variation in the arrangement of the housing and changes views.

It would be possible to build many more houses in the estate clogging up the green spaces. It has been suggested however that this would be completely detrimental to the lives of the people who live there – including any who would move into the new houses. The entire character of the estate would change, the heavy aspect of greenery would be lost and the space which helps with daily life would be lost. It would also be totally against environmental policy in terms of landscape and housing development and especially in terms of flooding, sustainable drainage and of course mitigation and adaptation to climate change.

Flooding periodically affected the bottom of the estate since Clara Way was built. By the early 80s work had been undertaken to deepen the Knock River channel and the problem was solved, however it then gradually silted up and after several weather events during which there was unusually heavy rainfall flooding has happened at least 6 times since the mid 2000s. As part of the East Belfast Flood Alleviation Scheme major work is currently in progress to permanently protect the affected homes.

Transport

The estate is served by Translink Metro bus route number 18 Gilnahirk via Bloomfield & Clarawood. This generally runs every 20 minutes during the day and every hour in the evenings. Sundays have a more sparse service.

Alternatives are the 4 to Ballyhackamore or the 5 to Braniel.

Metro also run an Easibus service to Connswater 3 days a week.

Anecdotally...

While Clarawood to some is just another aging nondescript estate somewhere in the verges of Belfast, to many who live there or who have lived there it is a unique place with unique people. Fiercely proud of where they come from many residents view Clarawood as God's own country. It takes years to be accepted as truly part of the community and even then if you are not from some one of the families who have long Clarawood histories you might always be some sort of outsider.

Real Clarawood people - while sometimes at each other's throats - always pull together and help each other. They are neighbourly and friendly and understand that life and its hardships face us all. They want the best for the estate and everyone who lives in it and they are willing to put themselves out for others or for the general good. They have had their local and personal tragedies and troubles but they also know how to enjoy life and the place they live in helps them to have a very distinct and cherished identity and sense of belonging which is hard to find elsewhere.

Moonlit view of Clarawood

Other

You're not a true Clarawood person unless...

You grew up playing hunt, rap the doors and you did the hedges

You know which famous local character loves torches and running

At some point you went to a summer scheme

You've waited for a bus that never came