Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Belfast in 1690

This illustration is from an old, old book:

#alttext#

UPDATE: The pics below, of King William Park in Belfast (near the Moravian Church at the end of the Lisburn Road) are posted as a follow-up to the comments from "Napalm". I worked close by for about 10 years. Click to enlarge.







A riveting account of William of Orange's "Glorious Revolution" can be found in US political journalist/commentator Michael Barone's book "Our First Revolution: The Remarkable British Upheaval That Inspired America's Founding Fathers"- available here on Amazon. Irish history often reads better in the hands of someone who's not stuck in the usual Hibernocentric mindset.

2 comments:

Burnsy said...

Cool! I love old maps of Belfast. I've read that King William III on his way from Carrickfergus marched into Belfast through the North Gate which i believe is located where North Street is today... As the main road into Belfast from the north in 1690 was the old Antrim road (now known as the Shankill road) it is quite possible that King Billy rode down the Shankill! :-)

Burnsy said...

Heh, i've been past that corner a hundred times over the years and i don't recall ever noticing that plaque! Although in my defence i've usually been in a bus or car.
i guess if willy ever did parade down the shankill they'd likely had a plaque up there too. Ah well, i still like to think he did... and maybe he popped into Violet's fruit shop for a few apples (or more likely oranges) just like that other Bill, the one from the USA!