It’s amazing what you can see from the top of a double-decker bus

THE REINTRODUCTION by Citybus of double-decker buses on some routes is a great boon to those of us who never tire of the wonders of Belfast.  Climb up to the front of one of these fine new buses for a whole new perspective on the city.  It must work as some advertisers are beginning to place adverts on the top of bus stops.

 
Anyone travelling into the city centre is likely to have seen a couple of open-top double-deckers and a restored old Routemaster bus running out of Castle Place, taking tourists around the city.  One of these buses comes by the end of my street in the Shankill area several times a day as part of the popular Living History tours.  Try one of these tours some time, even if you think you know a lot about the history of the city.  You might be surprised.

 
But enough of the specialist tours.  There are fascinating things to see on the normal bus routes.  Thousands of everyday road users will probably never give a second glance to the stone wall on the front of the Antrim Road opposite St Malachy’s College as they approach Carlisle Circus.  Few will even wonder what lies behind that wall.  Travellers heading into town on the upper saloon of a double-decker, however, will see that an old cemetery lies on the other side of this wall.

 
This is Clifton Street cemetery – opened in 1797 as the New Burying Ground as a fundraising effort by the Belfast Poorhouse.  The old cemetery was beside St George’s Church at the bottom end of High Street.  Many of the great and the good of Belfast have been buried here, often side-by-side with the desperately poor who died in distress from hunger, want or disease.  It’s truly a fascinating place to visit for anyone interested in the history of Belfast, Ulster or Ireland as a whole.

Sadly, the cemetery is not open to the public every day, but there are occasional walking tours conducted by the locally-based Glenravel History Project.  These tours take place every second Saturday during the summer months.  The entrance to the cemetery is in Henry Place, just opposite the Belfast Orange Hall.

 
For the benefit of Wizard Ads readers, I went on one of these conducted tours a few weeks ago.  Some sixty people of all ages turned up, so they seem popular enough.  Joe Baker, the editor of Belfast magazine, a local man who has taken a great interest in the cemetery during its restoration, led this tour. 

 
Joe gave a good-humoured account of the establishment of the cemetery, some of its more illustrious ‘inhabitants,’ the tale of the gruesome body-snatching trade, the mass cholera graves and some of the quirky oddities that make our city such an interesting place.   One headstone has the inscription, “Young Moulders Here!” Another has the following sobering reflection:

Remember man as you pass by
As you are now so once was I
As I am now so you shall be
Prepare yourself to follow me

 
After the tour ends, time is set aside to allow folk to wander around to look at individual headstones at their leisure.  Visitors are asked to donate £1.50 if they enjoyed the tour.  Those who do are then given a fascinating short booklet on the cemetery.  Nobody kept their hands in their pockets on my tour!  It was great value and I recommend it to all Wizard Ads readers.  Unfortunately, you will now have to wait until next year as the last tour of the summer took place on Saturday, August 28^th.  However, interested readers can instead look out for the next series of Glenravel tours in the autumn which will feature the old Crumlin Road prison.  Find out more from their new website, www.thebarrack.com

NOTES IN THE MARGIN: North Street Arcade

 
POLICE ARE convinced that the recent fire in the historic North Street Arcade was caused deliberately.   Some of the displaced traders have managed to find alternative premises in the North Street area.  To date, Kozo Paper, the petshop and McKernan’s shoemakers have reopened for business.  In the meantime, a drive to rebuild and restore the Arcade has been launched by former traders and other interested parties.  We wish it well.  Belfast needs places like this with a bit of character and individuality about them.