Photo request - Shore Road at the bottom of Fortwilliam park

[maureenr25]

Hi, thanks for your reply.  Yes, I know Finaghy also and I told the girl that was no Fort William near there only in Belfast but she insists she has a letter from her relative and the letterhead is printed on it saying:  Fort William, Finaghy, N. I.  So I just thought i'd see what folks on this thread had to say about it.  Then again she had info about a cemetery called "Drambag"  and instantly I knew it was "Drumbeg"  as I have relatives there.  So I told her and sure enough we found her relatives in Drumbeg.  So who knows maybe she should be looking at this Fort William addresses. Thanks again.

[apalachie]

I don,t know the circumstances of the death but there are a lot of nursing homes and a hospice around The Fortwilliam Area. This area was and still is a pretty affluent area.

[maureenr25]

Thanks A,  I will question her again.  I know they come from money and well educated.  James Lee was the Manager of Malone Reformatory many years ago and is buried in Belfast City Cemetery and he was related to her, also Lance Curran  the judge whose daughter patricia was murdered in 1960 something.  These people were related to her.  I found the burial site at Drumbeg of patricia last Sept. when I was on a visit there.  I will get further details of her queries and post them if you don't mind helping her.  Thanks again. Maureen

[apalachie]

Maureen25, the best place to look for information like this is on the GENEOLOGY THREAD OF THIS FORUM as it is perused everyday by people who know a lot more than me, so if I were you I would get as much info together and then open a topic on that thread, another way of finding out were she died is seeing that she has a date of death on the cert, she can look up the obituary columns of the local newspapers for that date and it might say where exactly she died and was buried from,Good Luck.

Belfast Telegraph
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Irish News

[maureenr25]

Thanks Apalachie for all your help.  I will do that.
I'm away on holidays soon but will get at it when I get back and let you know if anything comes up.
Thanks again,
Maureen

[spicyjulie]

Hi. I have just started looking into the history of Mount Vernon area. I will try and find what you are looking for and get back to you as soon as I find anything. In the mean time, would it be possible to have a look at anything you have on Mount Vernon school please.

[mmcgoverne]

This is the terrace, originally "Rookby Villas" where the Misses McCloy lived.


Corner of York Park from 189 Shore Road where my own Grand-parents lived, looking up towards Fortwilliam.


Loughview Villas, demolished around 1990 (or 1991).


Aerocrete!


McCloy's old shop and surrounding houses.


Demolition of the gate-lodge at the bottom of Fortwilliam Park.

Margaret, if you see these I have a few more of this locale including a photo of Mount Vernon House school (an aerial view). If anyone can show me a photograph of the white-washed cottage up a short lane nearly opposite McCloy's shop I would be over the moon. Even if it could be described to me I'd be delighted as I was always intrigued by it as a child, but you could only see its gable wall from the Shore Road. I have been finding out things about it for over 20 years and have managed to acquire a photo of the Johnson family's children who lived in it in the 1950's. They are standing in the garden, but unfortunately you can't see the cottage which was then numbered 276 Shore Road. It first appeared in the 1895 street directory listed as "Fortwilliam Park Cottage" but its name was later changed to "Belleview Cottage" before the Shore Road started to be listed numerically some time in the 1930's.

Oh Dargan thank you so much for these wonderful evocative pictures, sorry, I kind of gave up on any pics being posted, so I didn't check back on this thread! Oh the last pic is so tantalisingly close to where our houses and the garage was!!!!
 
And as for the wee house up a short lane opposite McCloys, I'm racking my brain, I can remember a few tiny wee (terraced?) houses across the road from us, just round the corner from the bottom of the hill, as you say nearly bang opposite the shop, but I don't think even back in the early 70's they were occupied? But please correct me if I'm wrong? I will speak to my mum and my uncle Harold, both of whom lived along that stretch of the Shore Road for a "quer few years". Thanks again for your post, I am actually trying to write up some memoirs of my family, and boy did these pictures stir up a few memories! I used to go down to the Misses McCloy's house with my mum now and then for a cup of tea when I was very wee, they'd give me a biscuit or an orange, and they had a piano in the front room, and one of them would play songs like "Come Into the Garden, Maud" on it -memories!!
 
Margaret 

PS- and that bit of ground after the McCloys shop was where my uncle Clifford had a temporary soujourn, way before the petrol station was built ;-)

[Dargan]

Margaret, I am so glad these photo's helped. I come from very nearby myself and have very fond memories. The small cottage I spoke of was in between two semi-detached houses built around 1972 and sadly firebombed (or something) perhaps only a year or two later, and a row of 4 terraced houses on Fortwilliam bend. The cottage was up a short lane and you could only see its gable wall. People called the Johnstones lived there in the fifties and I managed to acquire a picture of them in the garden from some contacts I've built up over the years (people I've swapped pictures with). Unfortunately you don't see the cottage in the picture. From the front of the road, when I used to pass by, you could only see the gable wall and no detail, and I have, all my life, wondered what this cottage looked like if viewed from a standpoint that revealed it all properly. I'd love to hear anything about what you and your family remember. Again, I'm glad you have seen these. All the best.

[Dargan]

Margaret, I have had a bit of time to-day to sort these out for you. I hope they are useful. I took them in 1990 when a bit of demolition was going on. The third picture may show the site of the garage belonging to your family. The second picture is the view towards Crusaders' football ground from the uppermost floor of a house during demolition! There was nobody preventing me from doing this back then as "health and safety" was in its infancy!!

[Dargan]

That looks great, Rathlin. You can see more detail now. It was actually a newspaper cutting that someone sent me years ago. Thanks for that.

[Richard 202]

Dargan, thank you so much for your photos! It's very rare to get photos of the Shore Road area from the 70's & 80's, and as it's where I grew up I always try to find images that remind me of my youth.

That second photo is especially fantastic, that's how I remember the old Troxy cinema (converted to a carpet shop).

That last photo with the little row of shops brings back memories, I remember my granny buying potted herrings & tripe from the shop on the right. Wasn't it called Fannins, or was that the shop on the left?

Thanks again for these superb photos, if you have any others please do share!

[Dargan]

Hi Richard. I'm glad you got something from them. I've been meaning to put them on for ages but I moved house this year and I'm up to my eyes in other stuff. Fannins was the other side of the Troxy at the end of the row. The son Arthur ran it with his Father. He was a plump, bald guy and the Father reminded me a bit of Bing Crosby! Do you remember the fish and chip shop which I think had an upstairs milk-bar just beyond Fannins after Lee Whiteside's shop? There was also a little bakery too called something like "The Willowfied", though I'm not 100% certain of that name (will look in the few directories I have). I've also been putting on pictures on "Anyone From the Shore Road?" thread. They might interest you too. Sorry, I'm not awfully good at computers and don't know how to link you to it, but it's on Belfast History and Memories. I'll see what else I have lurking around that might be of interest. If you ever hear of anyone who knows of the white cottage at the bottom of Fortwilliam which was up a short lane on the Shore Road, I'd be over the moon to hear about it!

[Dargan]

Bottom of Lowwood Park.


My Grandparents' house is the one the dog is near the gate of. It was at the corner of York Park.


Houses of Fortview terrace just before demolition.


Corner of Fortwilliam Parade. I can recall when this shop was a very busy fruit and veg. store.

Hope you recognise these scenes Richard. Will look out more and see if they are worth posting! (All taken in 1990/91).

[Richard 202]

Bottom of Lowwood Park

Oh my word, back when the garage was actually still OPEN! 

I have wondered what it must look like now inside, as it's been closed for the past 15-20 years. Probably quite dark & eerie I'd imagine!

Thanks again Dargan, I am over the moon to see all these photos. It's an area of Belfast that didn't seem to get photographed nearly as much as the likes of the Falls & Shankill.

[mmcgoverne]

Bottom of Lowwood Park.


My Grandparents' house is the one the dog is near the gate of. It was at the corner of York Park.


Houses of Fortview terrace just before demolition.


Corner of Fortwilliam Parade. I can recall when this shop was a very busy fruit and veg. store.

Hope you recognise these scenes Richard. Will look out more and see if they are worth posting! (All taken in 1990/91).

Hi Dargan
 
You've brought tears to my eyes!  Thank you SO much! I'm faily sure my dad used to take me to the tyre place, there were lupins growing on the bank behind it, I'd see them when I went to school...I agree with Richard, you have been a real goldmine, there are so few pictures I have found of the area between Troxy's and Lowwood Park. The wee greengrocers - my mum used to take me to that for her shopping, then we 'd go into the combined wool/toy shop a bit furrther down Shore Road, and thewre was also a bakers and some sort of cafe upstairs along that row..cross the road for the butchers, and if I was good I could have a Penguin or Wagonwheel...the third B&W picture, if it was ajust a SMUDGE to the right, would show the garage....getting closer! What is amazing to me is how closely my memory tallies with these pictures - I used to sit opposite that little triangle at the bottom of Fortwilliam, there was a bench and my mother would watch me out the window. It's very emotional for me, those were good times before everything went badly wrong for our family, thank you again Dargan x