Botanic Gardens (Belfast)

Coordinates: 54°34′50″N 5°55′50″W / 54.58056°N 5.93056°W / 54.58056; -5.93056
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Botanic Gardens Belfast
Palm House and flower bed
Map
TypeBotanical
LocationBelfast, County Down
Coordinates54°34′50″N 5°55′50″W / 54.58056°N 5.93056°W / 54.58056; -5.93056
Area28 acres (110,000 m2)
Opened1828 (1828)
Owned byBelfast City Council
StatusOpen All Year
Collections
Public transit accessBotanic railway station
WebsiteBelfast City Council web page

Botanic Gardens is a public garden in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Occupying 28 acres (110,000 m2) of south Belfast, the gardens are popular with office workers, students and tourists. They are located on

Queen's University nearby. The Ulster Museum is located at the main entrance.[1]

History

The gardens opened in 1828 as the private Royal Belfast Botanical Gardens. It continued as a private park for many years, only opening to members of the public on Sundays prior to 1895. Then it became a public park in 1895 when the Belfast Corporation bought the gardens from the Belfast Botanical and Horticultural Society. The Belfast Corporation was the predecessor of Belfast City Council, the present owner.[2][3]

The Palm House

The gardens' most notable feature is the

Irish National Botanic Gardens at Glasnevin, both of which Turner went on to build. The Palm House consists of two wings, the cool wing and the tropical wing. Lanyon altered his original plans to increase the height of the latter wing's dome, allowing for much taller plants. In the past these have included an 11 metre tall globe spear lily. The lily, which is native to Australia, finally bloomed in March 2005 after a 23-year wait. The Palm House also features a 400-year-old Xanthorrhoea
.

  • Plaque in three languages
    Plaque in three languages
  • Early spring flowers
    Early spring flowers
  • Urn
    Urn
  • Aloe saponaria
    Aloe saponaria

Other features

The gardens contain another glasshouse, the Tropical Ravine House. Built by head gardener Charles McKimm in 1889, it features a unique design. A sunken ravine runs the length of the building, with a balcony at each side for viewing. The most popular attraction is the Dombeya, which flowers every February.[5]

The Palm House and the Tropical Ravine House were symbols of Belfast's growing industrial might and prosperity in the Victorian era and attracted over 10,000 visitors a day. The gardens also feature one of the longest

Lord Kelvin
stands at the Stranmillis Road entrance.

  • The Palm House
    The Palm House
  • Botanic Green in winter
    Botanic Green in winter
  • Inside the Palm House
    Inside the Palm House
  • Botanic park sign post
    Botanic park sign post
  • Belfast born physicist Lord Kelvin at the entrance to the Botanic gardens
    Belfast born
    Lord Kelvin
    at the entrance to the Botanic gardens
  • Tropical Ravine House in 2018, after refurbishment
    Tropical Ravine House in 2018, after refurbishment

Concerts

Concerts and

Tennents ViTal festival was held in the gardens. Performers included Kings of Leon, Franz Ferdinand, The Coral, The Streets and The White Stripes. In 2006 Snow Patrol, The Raconteurs, Editors and Kaiser Chiefs played at the festival.[6]

On 26 August 1997 U2 played their first Belfast concert in over a decade as part of the PopMart Tour. 40,000 fans attended, with thousands more lining the perimeter fence and watching from rooftops on Ridgeway Street. Local band Ash and Howard B were the support acts.[7]

Celine Dion was due to perform in the Botanic Gardens on 29 May 1999 during her Let's Talk About Love World Tour, however the show was cancelled along with her performance in Dublin on 27 May 1999.

In popular culture

  • While the consumption of alcohol is banned within the park, groups of young people drinking are common during the summer months. The opening scene of Colin Bateman's novel Divorcing Jack finds the protagonist Dan Starkey with a crate of Harp Lager in the gardens.[8]
  • The park figures prominently in The Fall, as it is the favorite destination of young Olivia "Livvy" Spector, whose serial killer father, (Peter) Paul Spector, and babysitter Katie both take her there, on different occasions. CCTV captures Spector's presence there on the same Saturday as one of his victims, Sarah Kay, whose sister tells the police the siblings met there weekly. Indeed, by eavesdropping on the sisters' conversation at the park that day (in series 1), Spector learns Sarah Kay has not changed her back door locks, which knowledge he uses to his advantage. And in series 2, when Katie takes Livvy out of school without the Spectors' knowledge or permission, Paul finds them there, on a hunch.

Botanic Station

Frequent trains operated by

Northern Ireland Railways run to Botanic railway station
.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Botanic Gardens". WalkNI. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
  2. ^ "Belfast Botanic Gardens - history". Friends of Belfast Botanic Gardens. Archived from the original on 14 August 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
  3. ^ "Belfast Botanic Gardens and Palm House". Discover Northern Ireland. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
  4. ^ "Palm House". Friends of Belfast Botanic Gardens. Archived from the original on 14 August 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
  5. ^ "The Tropical Ravine". Friends of Belfast Botanic Gardens. Archived from the original on 14 August 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
  6. ^ "Vital Music - History". Vital Music. Archived from the original on 19 August 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  7. ^ "August 26, 1997 - Belfast, Northern Ireland - Botanic Gardens". U2 Station. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
  8. ISBN 9780203139295
    . Retrieved 8 April 2013.

Further reading

McCracken, E. 1971. The Palm House and Botanic Garden, Belfast. Ulster Architectural Heritage Society.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Botanic Gardens, Belfast.
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