Looking Back On Old Smithfield
With Joe Graham
They called it the "Umbrella Of Belfast", for on a wet day peole would flock for shelter among the many dozens of enclosed stalls. The famous McBurney family with the Premier Record Shop was always a favourite haunt. One could listen to the lastest pop song or the ageless Irish Ballad, you might even buy one.
Smithfield Market (1819 Street Directory)
" Held every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from Nine till Eleven o'clock, for the purchase and sale of wheat, barley and oats; and for hides on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays " (Unquote).
Smithfield, ancient site of Lamas fair, for centuries a market centre, mostly famous in its earliest days as the pork market and also for its weekly horse fair. There was a very interesting Public House in Smithfield at one time , above which hung the sign…
“Ye Gentlemen and Archers good, Come in and drink with Robin Hood
If Robin Hood be dead and gone, Come in and drink with Little John“.
The pub which was on the east side of the Smithfield Square, (Central Cinema side) The pub was owned by a named John, this 'little John' was about 6foot inches and builkt like a brick wall, needless to say his customers were well behaved no matter how 'merry' they got.
A complete maze of stalls and trades
Smithfield was also the site for my favourite Ghost story, I say favourite because never will you hear of anyone who had seen the ghost of Biddy Farrelly speak of being frightened, indeed her ghostly appearance brought smiles to the faces of those who seen her. It is said that sometime before her death Biddy was left £250 in the will of a friend who died in Dublin. This friend was the High Sheriff of that City, and how you may ask did a wee ‘bag lady’ get to befriend such an important man?. Well it was like this, Luke White was reared in Bell’s Lane, Smithfield and later, about 1850, ran a book stall at nearby Croakens Lane., which ran from Hercules Street (Royal Avenue) to Smithfield and it was during this time he befriended the sweet wee pauper Biddy Farrelly. Biddy would have bought sheet music or printed songs from White’s bookstall and sold them around the streets. However soon after wards he moved to Dublin and set up there as an auction business and flourished, moved up in the world and joined the high circles of Dublin society where he met and married the daughter of a wealthy businessman. Later he died and left behind him a huge fortune of £2,000,000 and as I have said he left Biddy £150 , a lot of money in those days.. well…our Biddy loved a wee drink , and now you know how her ghost
Gresham Street was famous for its pet shops you could buy anything from a snake to a day old chick and all in between. Canaries, Budgies, Parrots, sure it was said that Paddy Murphy was so ugly he couldn't even get a bird in Gresham street.
An 1819 map of the Smithfield area
Gresham Street in the late 1700’s was known as Hudson’s Entry, a quite make shift thoroughfare named after local land leaser Christopher Hudson, who was in the Tannery business. In the ‘mid 1800’s the run down dwellings of the street were seen as a less desirable place to live and so attracted the less fortunate, or privileged, of residents. For a while the street became known as Smithfield Street before adopting the name Gresham Street. In the late 1800’s. An interesting old ghost story can be told of the old street that, centred round a fire at the “Lucifer Match Factory” in 1804. Four employees were killed and people spoke of hearing wailing cries in the area long after the incident. This is believed to be the first major industrial accident in the history of Belfast.
Above; Hercules Court , off Garfield Street
There are many ghost stories linked to Smithfield and some are not without foundation. A tragic incident in Smithfield was also the source of a ‘time slip’ ghost story. On the site where once stood the old U.T.A Bus Depot, corner of Winetavern Street and Smithfield once stood the spinning mill of J & J Herdman, it was here on the 20th January 1902 that several of the floors of the old building collapsed under the weight of the heavy machinery killing many workers some of whom were merely fourteen years of age, in the floors below. People. Including the priests from nearby St. Mary’s rushed to help rescue those trapped. It was said the deafening screams could be heard in Carrick Hill and it was those deafening screams that people, up to forty years later, reported hearing many times. Some spoke of an almost re-enactment of the tragic affair ( time slip phenomenon) of the terrible wails lasting up to an hour. Whiter this was the reason why for thirty years Belfast Corporation avoided touching the derelict site I can only guess. It lay in that state until the early 1930’s before it was agreed to build the new Ulster Transport Authority Bus depot on the site . The site in the earliest days had housed an old prison then in been the Smithfield Flax Mill built on site of former old prison.
An old UTA type bus which one would have seen at the Smithfield bus depot at Winetavern Street.Winetavern Street was known as Pipe Lane, Clay Pipe manufacturing took place here, here also Sir James Murray (1788-1871) invented Milk Of Magnesia. This street once housed a unique ‘museum’, a freak show where one see such oddities as a two headed calf or a lamb with five legs. Other streets close to Winetavern Street now long gone were Winetavern Street Place, Duffin’s Court, Laws Entry and of course Samuel Street which survived into the 1980’s.
Winecellar Entry , off High Street, has a long link with the wine business of Belfast, it was here that Valentine Jones had the biggest wine business in the North of Ireland. Jones, a founder member of the Linenhall Library was only sixteen years of age when he married.
The old Central Picturehouse being pulled down here is a good ariel view showing the old Smithfield bus depot, Joe Kavanagh I buy anything shop.
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