Tag Archives: Local History

Exploring Chapel Lane: A Journey Through Belfast’s History

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.

Catholic Grotto in Chapel Lane, Belfast.
Continue reading Exploring Chapel Lane: A Journey Through Belfast’s History

Templemore Baths Belfast (Part 2)

In December 2019 I had my attention attracted (or ‘distracted’ since I was driving!) by the old Templemore Avenue Baths, – for there were no cars parked in fort of it – which is unusual, and that fact prompted me to actually get out of the car and make some photographs.

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 So,you can see the original post here:

Templemore Baths (Part 1)

So, when I discovered that one of my ‘Baby’s First Year’ mums worked at the Baths, needless to say I asked for quick look inside, and so with the help of David, Sam and Sharon, I got a great tour of the inside of the building, and just in time too, for the building just about to be stripped inside, and incorporated into a new state of the art leisure complex being built on the adjacent site.  Here’s some (but not all) of the photos…

The Boiler Room was my starting point.  in a lower floor below ground level, the machinery there is still working (for the community group who have been using the building) but no less interesting for that.

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The Baths had two pools, and the small of the two has been disused for quite some time.

The larger pool is still in use at the time of writing.  It features little changing cubicles along the sides of the pool – probably considered unhygienic by modern standards, but perfect for the period in which the structure was built.  Thanks to David for removing the pool cover to let me see the water!

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I sat in one of the cubicles to get a swimmer’s view of the pool…

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The most interesting part of the building is the actual bathrooms themselves, and these will be in Part 3 – following in a day or two.  I’ll post a link here.