Short Strand

54°35′53″N 5°54′34″W / 54.59805°N 5.90936°W / 54.59805; -5.90936

An Irish nationalist mural on Beechfield Street in Short Strand, showing British troops leaving Ireland and wishing them Slán Abhaile

The Short Strand (Irish: an Trá Ghearr) is a working class, inner city area of Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is a mainly Catholic and Irish nationalist enclave surrounded by the mainly Protestant and unionist East Belfast.[1][2][3][4]

Short Strand is located on the east bank of the River Lagan in the townland of Ballymacarrett, which is part of County Down. The borders of the Short Strand are Albertbridge Road (to the south), Short Strand Road (to the west), Newtownards Road (to the north) and Bryson Street/Clandeboye Gardens (to the east). At the Short Strand's northeast corner is St Matthew's Catholic church.

For decades, Protestants and Catholics have regularly clashed at the edges of the Short Strand. This has led to fierce rioting and, occasionally, gun battles. Much of the Short Strand is surrounded by peace lines.[5]

  1. ^ English, Richard (2004). Armed struggle: the history of the IRA. Oxford University Press US. pp. 134–135. ISBN 978-0-19-516605-7.
  2. ^ Shanahan, Timothy (2009). The Provisional Irish Republican Army and the morality of terrorism. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 24–25.
  3. ^ Liam Clarke (24 May 2009). "'Loyalist victim' was shot by IRA crossfire". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 6 January 2010. Retrieved 25 June 2010.
  4. ^ David McKittrick (5 June 2002). "Reid talks to republican and loyalist leaders in bid to stop Belfast rioting". The Independent. London. Retrieved 25 June 2010.
  5. ^ Lundblad, Mattias; Frandsen, Johannes (5 June 2019). "PHOTOS: 'I Haven't Met Anybody in the Area Who Actually Wants to Take the Walls Down'". ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved 6 April 2024. Short Strand, a small Catholic enclave in Eastern Belfast, is completely surrounded by walls separating it from the Protestant areas.