Chapel Lane Belfast

As a boy of 12 or so years of age, so, in the late 1960s, a real treat was a Saturday afternoon in Belfast City Centre with my grandfather, – for although he seemed to spend ages browsing through the stock in various tool and equipment stores, – what would probably be known now as DIY shops. But the compensation for this period of boredom would be when we eventually got to Smithfield, the old ‘shambles’ style covered market in between Royal Avenue and Millfield, off Gresham Street. Smithfield wasn’t a market with stalls, nor a modern style shopping centre, but a unique shambles of musty run-down outlets packed with books, records, tools, second hand furniture, bric-a-brac and much much more, including a popular ‘joke shop’ – every small boy’s favourite.

To get to Smithfield from the city centre bus stops required a walk along Queen’s Street, and then along Chapel Lane, and past the Roman Catholic Church of St Mary, and its strange and imposing Marian shrine. To a small boy, not of the Catholic persuasion, and unused to Catholic piety, the shrine appeared mysterious, unwelcoming and even frightening. We hurried past it with eyes looking away and heads bowed.

Fund out more about the old Smithfield Market here: http://smithfieldmarket.rushlightmagazine.com

I haven’t revisited Chapel Lane for around 30 years, so while in Belfast recently I thought it no harm to walk along the street, armed with the Fujifilm X-T50 camera. The church and shrine were as I remember them, although the surrounding street has greatly changed and the shrine is now overshadowed by an ugly multi storey car park.

The church itself dates back to just after the repeal of the Penal Laws in the late 18th century, when around  365 Catholics were living in Belfast, without a church in which to gather. Local Anglican and Presbyterian congregations had special offerings and raised the funds for their Catholic neighbours to build a place of worship, and work on St Mary’s was begun in 1782. 

The Irish famine had caused a large number of Catholics from rural areas to come to Belfast seeking work, and the existing building became to small. It was rebuilt in 1868, and remains relatively unchanged, as a Grade 2 listed building to this day, with several updates and structural improvements, the last of these being in 2017, when the roof and walls were repaired and the grounds repaved. The adjacent grotto was constructed in 1954.

Find out more about St Marys RC Church here: http://www.stmarysbelfast.org

Interestingly, just a few yards along the street, and on the opposite side, at the corner of Chapel Lane, is the building that used to house the now-defunct Berry Street Presbyterian Church congregation. As the first Catholic Church in Belfast was being planned for Chapel Lane, in 1872, a group of Presbyterian dissenters (anti-burghers) also began to meet, on the adjacent Berry Street, running between Chapel Lane and Royal Avenue.  After a series of twists and turns in local Presbyterian Church history, the church fell into disuse, until it flourished again under ministry of Rev Hugh Hanna, numbers swelling greatly as the 1859 revival swept across Ulster.  Hanna was forced to relocate to Carlisle Circus, at the top of Donegall Street, where St Enoch’s Presbyterian Church was formed.

Find an account of the 1859 revival at Berry Street here: https://ukwells.org/wells/berry-street-presbyterian-church

But Berry Street’s days were not over.  Another congregation of Presbyterians, meeting at Academy Street moved to the Berry Street building in 1876, and renovations were made in 1928, and 1968. 

But Berry Street Church has had a long history of congregations that began well and dwindled, and in the early 21st century, history repeated itself, and the Presbyterian cause in the building came to a close. 

When I visited the area in August 2025, the old Berry Street building has been given another life, the home of Teen Challenge and ‘Crown Jesus Ministries.’ (I know little of the latter).  And the Smithfield Market I knew as a boy is long gone, the result of a devastating fire, the result of paramilitary activity in the late 1970s, replace now by a more modern collection of eclectic retail outlets.

Find out more about Smithfield Market here: https://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/smithfield