A slideshow of photos I took during my second visit to Andersonstown in Belfast City on Monday 30th December 2019. Andersonstown is a suburb in the west of Belfast City, at the foot of the Black Mountain and Divis Mountain. It contains a mixture of public and private housing and is largely a working-class area with a strong Irish nationalist and Irish Catholic tradition. The district is sometimes colloquially referred to as "Andytown". This area stretches between the Shaws Road, the Glen Road and the Andersonstown Road. The area is in County Antrim. Historically, it was part of the Barony of Belfast Upper, the parish of Shankill and the townland of Ballydownfine (from Irish Baile Dúin Finn 'townland of the fort of Finn'. The area was also 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. In 1832, it was described as a village consisting of eleven families, some of whom were named Anderson. These were likely to have been from the Scottish Lowlands. Previously a rural farming area, it rapidly developed in 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 district. As the population of the area increased, Twinbrook and Poleglass housing estates were built further out of Belfast. The area is bounded by Andersonstown Road on the south, Glen Road on the north and Shaw's Road on the west. The Black Mountain district electoral area consists of six electoral wards: Shaw's Road, Andersonstown, Colin Glen, Turf Lodge, Falls Park and Beechmount. The electoral ward named Andersonstown and that named Shaw's Road covers the area of Andersonstown. There are five Roman Catholic churches in Andersonstown: St Agnes' Church, St. Michael's Church, Church of St Teresa of Avila, St Matthias' Church and Holy Spirit Church. There are several schools including Holy Child Primary School and De La Salle College. St Mary's Christian Brothers' Grammar School and the Christian Brothers School are located on the upper Glen Road. Casement Park, the main Gaelic Athletic Association stadium for Antrim GAA, is in Andersonstown. Casement Park has not hosted an intercounty mach since 2013 as it awaits its redevelopment. 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. On the Glen Road, the path that leads into the mountains known as Glen Road Heights is home to both Sport & Leisure Swifts F.C. and St. Teresa's GAC, with the two clubs grounds being almost adjacent to one another. The local newspaper named Andersonstown News voices an Irish Republican viewpoint. Produced by the Belfast Media Group, which also publishes papers in other areas of the city, editions appear on Mondays and Thursdays. The district is also the subject of the novel Titanic Town by Mary Costello and the movie adaptation by Anne Devlin. The area is part of the Black Mountain district electoral area for Belfast City Council. In the 2014 Belfast City Council election this district elected five Sinn Fein, one SDLP and one PBP councillors. In the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, the area was a major centre of civil disturbances during The Troubles. A large British army fort – known as Silver City - was built in the central Broom Hill part of Andersonstown. On 5 April 1979, two British Army soldiers were shot dead by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) whilst closing security gates at Andersonstown joint Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and British Army base. The PIRA in Andersonstown was part of the First Battalion of the Provisional IRA Belfast Brigade. 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. Kieran Doherty, a Teachta Dála who was one of the ten republican prisoners to die during the 1981 Irish hunger strike Andersonstown is linked to Belfast City Centre and East Belfast by the G1 Glider Rapid Bus service which has operated since 2018. Andersonstown is located nearby the M1 Motorway.

• published: 20 Mar 2021
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