Sailortown (Belfast)

The 1907 dock strike called by trade union leader James Larkin commenced in Sailortown before spreading throughout the city.

[7] Visiting sailors from many European nations (in particular those bordering the Baltic Sea) and from even as far away as India and China added to the resident population, which was mixed Protestant and Catholic.

[7] The late 19th century saw the arrival of many Italian immigrants; this community, known as "Little Italy", was largely based around Little Patrick Street adjacent to the southern end of Sailortown.

St Joseph's Church, built in 1880 on Princes Dock Street, was closed by the Diocese of Down and Connor in 2001, due to falling attendance.

In addition to the docks and warehouses, Sailortown had linen mills, factories, a large fire station, a hotel, boarding houses, a variety of shops and businesses, and many pubs and taverns.

Many local men found employment as dock labourers, carters or merchant seamen; the women worked in the mills and cigarette factories.

[7] During the period when Belfast reached its apex as the hub of the shipbuilding, engineering, and linen manufacturing industry, there were more than 2000 men working in the docks.

The strike lasted until 28 August, and was largely unsuccessful; the British Army was eventually sent in to restore order after the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) mutinied.

Despite being host to a steady stream of foreign sailors, Sailortown was a close-knit community and viewed strangers with mistrust and suspicion.

Jobs in Sailortown were traditionally passed from father to son; Lenny Murphy's grandfather had also worked as a dock labourer.

Many buildings in Sailortown were engulfed with fire, the docks were hit and the Victorian York Street Spinning Mill was completely destroyed.

The population was largely dispersed and rehoused in districts such as the Shore Crescent, a Protestant development adjacent to the Greencastle suburb of North Belfast, and the New Lodge.

[7] From the mid-1980s, the "Rotterdam Bar", an old historic pub at the corner of Pilot Street and the harbour gates close to Clarendon Dock, was a popular venue for live music – in particular alternative rock bands.

[16] On 21 July 1972, known as Bloody Friday, the Provisional IRA set off 22 bombs in Belfast; one of the explosions destroyed the premises of a seed merchant on Garmoyle Street.

Several months before Stephen was killed in the Cavehill Road blast, a bomb exploded in the vicinity of the mission and destroyed part of the building.

In February 2003, UDA brigadier John Gregg and associate Rab Carson were shot dead whilst travelling in a taxi in Nelson Street near the docks.