Short Strand

The Short Strand (Irish: an Trá Ghearr) is a working class, inner city area of Belfast, Northern Ireland.

[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.

[6] This included the first glassworks in the area, established by Benjamin Edwards in 1776, which also used sand from the river to make its glass.

[8] On 21 July 1920, after hours of intimidation and violence by Loyalists, most Catholic and Socialist workers were forcibly removed from their jobs at the Harland and Wolff shipyard.

Expulsions continued for several days at locations within Belfast to include several hundred female textile workers.

In the early years of the Troubles, Catholics in Short Strand numbered about 6,000, while their Protestant neighbours totalled about 60,000.

On 27 June 1970, the Provisional IRA fought a lengthy gun battle with loyalist militants around St Matthew's church.