Falls Road
The Falls area was amongst the first to see the sort of sectarian violence that would become the “Troubles”. It began in August 1969, after the “Battle of the Bogside” in
Derry/Londonderry. While there the clashes were mainly between Catholic protesters and the RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary), in
Belfast it was Protestants/Unionists themselves who incited violence against Catholics/Nationalists, allegedly in part assisted by the RUC too, who in any case failed to protect Catholics. In
Bombay Street whole rows of houses were burned out on 15 August and several Catholics were killed. There were riots, violence and casualties elsewhere too, many Catholics lost their homes and/or businesses, but Bombay Street to this day stands as the worst incident of these very early days of the “Troubles”, which are sometimes even described as “pogroms”.
In response to this situation spiralling out of control,
Great Britain sent in the army. Initially they were welcomed by the Republican side, as they were seen as a protecting force. But the honeymoon didn’t last long. Heavy-handed policing soured the atmosphere and soon enough the army became targets of the revived
IRA’s paramilitary actions.
A crucial element in this development came in July 1970, when the British imposed a curfew and started searching Republican houses for weapons. The resistance and army tactics soon turned into veritable civil-war-like scenes on the Falls Road, with gunfights, petrol bombs and the police using CS gas as well as their guns. Again a number of Catholics were killed, many more wounded, including also several among the army’s soldiers. Hundreds of people were arrested. The backlash of the “
Falls Curfew” was markedly increased support for the
IRA amongst Catholics. Yet it also led to a split between different factions of the IRA who’d then proceed to fight each other as well.
Around the same time the first incarnation of the separation fortifications were set up that became known as the “
Peace Line” or “
Peace Wall”. This was progressively fortified further over the years and still stands today as the most visual reminder of the “Troubles” between the Republican Falls district and Unionist/Protestant
Shankill.
On the Falls Road, the British Army maintained a strong presence over the next few decades, including an army post at the top of Divis Tower, a twenty-storey residential skyscraper that is now the only remaining part of a once large housing estate from the late 1960s known as Divis Flats, consisting of 12 interconnected blocks of flats plus the tower (the blocks have meanwhile been demolished and replaced by terraced housing). The Divis complex was itself a hotspot in the “Troubles” from the first child killed by RUC gunfire in Divis Tower during the August 1969 violence to a bomb attack on the estate in September 1982 in which three people were killed (one British soldier and two Catholic teenagers who had the misfortune of being passers-by at the time of the blast). The army post atop Divis Tower wasn’t removed until 2005 as part of the Peace Process arrangements.
Until it came to that, the Falls Road saw many more instances of violence, especially in the 1970s but also up to the 1990s, too many to cover here in detail. If you go on a guided tour of the district (see
below) you can learn such details first hand.
Suffice it to say here, that since the Peace Process with the Good Friday Agreement largely ended the “Troubles”, the Falls Road area has become not only peaceful but a tourist magnet, the main destination for political guided tours for visitors interested in Belfast’s turbulent recent history.
What there is to see: I saw the Falls Road and surrounding area first on a
Black Taxi Tour on my first visit to Belfast in December 2012 – described in detail in
this separate chapter. The murals on the so-called Solidarity Wall have changed a fair bit since then as I found out on my second visit in April 2023.
For that second visit I allocated a lot more time to
West Belfast and especially the Falls Road. To begin with, I booked a place on one of the
political walking tours that feature guides from both sides of the “Troubles”, and both ex-political prisoners. But I also explored the area further unguided afterwards. Yet the walking tour was an excellent introduction that I cannot recommend enough. So I’ll describe that first.
The first half of the ca. three-hour tour was led by an
ex-IRA man and
former political prisoner of 12 years who now works for Sinn Féin and is involved in youth work and dialogue fostering projects, as well as in tour guiding.
Interestingly, he wore a jacket featuring the emblem of the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation. This quickly brought up the key word of Brexit … And indeed that’s something very much resented in
Northern Ireland as it cost them so much EU funding (and they know fair well that London will not compensate for those losses). In fact I have not encountered a single person in the country on either side of the Republican-Unionist divide who had anything positive to say about Brexit.
With regard to the “Troubles”, the guide’s narrative first focused on Divis Tower and the former Divis Flats housing estate and its role in local history, and he had a folder with historic photos for illustration. We then moved into the eastern end of the Falls Road (same street as Divis Street, it just changes name). One focus here was the legendary
Solidarity Wall, aka
International Wall, and its many murals expressing support for other groups affected by political troubles and repression, from Palestine to the Tamil region in
Sri Lanka, and from
Cuba to the PKK in
Turkey. Few of these murals are permanent and I noticed the absence of several I remembered from my
Black Taxi Tour back in 2012. In other words: these works of art are in constant flux (e.g. I read in November 2023 that a new mural calling for a ceasefire in Gaza was added in response to the then current developments in the Middle East). So there is little point in going into details that may no longer apply before too long. But note that the string of murals on these walls (of a flour mill complex on the other side) also continues north into Northumberland Street.
We also passed some permanent
memorial plaques and
murals, some still expressing strong political points (mostly directed against the British and the police, and for Irish unity), others glorifying Republicans who lost their lives in the “Troubles”, be it as civilian victims of army/police or Unionist acts of violence or in active “service” for the Republican paramilitaries. The latter applies, for example, to the
Garden of Remembrance on the south side of Falls Road which is dedicated to “fallen”
IRA fighters. Along the way, the guide also pointed out some still visible bullet holes on an old building – something that I would have failed to notice without the guide!
A bit further down the road we then came to what is probably the most famous of all the
murals in West Belfast, namely the one depicting the well recognizable smiley image of
Bobby Sands, the poster-boy face of the hunger strikers of 1981 (see
Northern Island). This is on the side of the building that serves as the local
headquarters of Sinn Féin on the corner of Sevastopol Street. Nearby is also a memorial to all the hunger strikers of 1981.
After that we walked off Falls Road into the Clonard district, including a stop at the imposing Clonard Monastery on Clonard Road, before turning right towards Kashmir Road, where the Peace Wall is especially visible from the southern side where it bends eastwards along a patch of open land.
Branching off Kashmir Road to the north-west is
Bombay Street. This is where the “Troubles” really began in
West Belfast in August 1969 (see
above). The terraced houses along Bombay Street you see today were erected later, as the original ones were largely destroyed in the violence back then. The last house’s side wall features a large panel commemorating the events of 1969. The most dramatic sight to behold here, though, is the rear of these terraced houses, whose facades and back gardens are covered by protective “cages” of metal mesh. This is because they directly face the Peace Wall and apparently the houses need to be protected against “missiles” (stones, bottles, etc.) thrown over the Peace Wall from the other (Protestant/Unionist) side – see under Shankill. What a way to live it must be in such a “caged” house …
By the way, the Peace Wall along this stretch isn’t just a wall. The bottom half is, made of concrete and partially clad in green corrugated iron, but on top stands a wire-mesh fence which doubles the height of the whole structure. Together it’s actually more than twice as high as the Berlin Wall was!
Further up Bombay Street is one of the largest memorial complexes in West Belfast, called “Clonard Martyrs Memorial Garden”. It’s actually a square rather than a garden proper (I couldn’t spot any live plants, only a couple of wreaths) surrounded by a red brick wall and metal gates/fences. It has three sections, with a black marble Celtic cross in the centre bearing a general dedication, while behind the cross on the rear wall are two large black marble slabs on which the names of all those from the Clonard area who lost their lives in the “Troubles” are inscribed. It’s quite a long list. Above the rear wall is a huge panel with somewhat faded portrait photos of those victims. The side wall of the house directly adjacent to the memorial garden features another large photo panel with images of the destruction of Bombay Street, another victim’s portrait and the all-too-familiar legend “never again”.
After this we proceeded to Lanark Way and its gates in the Peace Wall, which to this day are still closed and locked at night and only remain open during the day. Our guide reported of some joint campaign from both sides aimed at having longer gate opening times so that especially people who have business to do on the other side don’t find themselves shut out after 6 p.m., which would then require a long detour via the city centre or the western suburbs in order to enter the other district from the side.
It was also at this point that our group was handed over to the second guide, now from the Unionist side who would then conduct the other half of the walking tour. For an account of that second part see
this separate Shankill chapter.
In addition to the guided walking tour I also allocated time to
independently walk up Falls Road, especially further up than what the tour had covered, including the
Irish Republican History Museum, and all the way to
Milltown Cemetery. Along the way I spotted more
murals and
memorial plaques, some for individuals, some for collectives (such as another large memorial to the hunger strikers of 1981). But the densest concentration of such things remains at Lower Falls Road.
On my walk from the
Shankill district to Falls Road I also passed through another one of those
gates in the Peace Wall that are closed at night, namely on
Northumberland Street. Here it’s actually a double set of gates, with a kind of no man’s land in between (officially dubbed “interface area”) where there are yet more memorials, including a “cross of crosses” (a Christian cross into which lots of little cross shapes are cut) and a large mural of a soaring eagle. This is also how far the northern branch of the “Solidarity Wall” goes, and you can find various representations of freedom fighters from other eras and areas, e.g. a Martin Luther King and even a Bob Marley.
A similar double set of gates can also be found on
Howard Street, while the gate on
Percy Street (east of the flour mill behind the Solidarity Wall) looks permanently closed. There’s even barbed wire across its width (it is hence more reminiscent of the
Green Line in
Nicosia,
Cyprus).
Further up the Falls Road, especially beyond Dunville Park, it is really just an ordinary residential street with mixed small businesses but with nothing of that feel of history as the Lower Falls Road stretch … until you come to
Milltown Cemetery that is. That’s also as far as I walked, to where the road splits and the A501 continues straight as Glen Road while the final stretch of Falls Road dips south and becomes the B102, which goes past a large shopping centre and industrial park before turning into Andersonstown Road.
All in all, the Falls Road, especially the Lower Falls part as well as the Clonard district with Bombay Street are absolutely must-sees for any dark tourist in
Belfast. I can also recommend the political walking tours that take in both sides – well worth it for the input you get from these authentic guides with their own remarkable personal histories. The upper parts of Falls Road are comparatively missable, so you could just as well simply get a bus to Milltown Cemetery rather than walk it all.
Google Maps locators:
Access and costs: fairly easy to get to, free on an independent basis, guided tours charge a usually reasonable fee.
Details: You can of course simply rock on up and walk the length of the Falls Road on your own, independently. That is free and possible to do at virtually any time (though note that the gates between the two communities are locked overnight, in fact from the early evening onwards). There are street-level information panels in several places and many of the famous murals more or less speak for themselves, though by no means all of them.
So, in order to get more history and local insights out of it, a
guided walking tour (or, alternatively, a
Black Taxi Tour) can only be highly recommended. That way you also don’t have to navigate to the more hidden corners (like Bombay Street) off Falls Road itself.
I used the outfit that calls itself simply “Belfast Political Tours” and picked their three-hour “Conflicting Stories Walking Tour” with first a Republican and then a Unionist guide (the first half is described
above, the second one separately
here). You can and should book your slot ahead of time online through their website (URL is the same as their name, all in one word plus .com). The cost per person was 23 GBP at the time of writing. The meeting point is at the murals just east of Divis Tower on Divis Street, which is the eastern extension of the Falls Road (both carry the number designation A501). To get to the meeting point you can walk it (ca. 15 minutes from the City Hall), or get a bus (e.g. G1 or any of the 10s).
The same outfit also offers other tours, such as “conflicting stories” tour by taxi, which has the same itinerary as the walking tour, but due to the limited space in a taxi is of course much more intimate (and the price jumps up fivefold). They also offer tours focusing more on the murals, and one with a special perspective of women (“Women in Conflict”).
There are other outfits offering similar tours, some shorter (and a bit cheaper), some sounding pretty much identical to what I experienced. But since I didn’t use any of these other operators, I cannot say much else about them.
In any case, I would recommend booking online well ahead of time, especially in high season, as these tours are popular.
Time required: My guided walking tour lasted pretty much exactly the three hours it was advertised as (just very slightly over). To see more of the area independently you have to add some extra time.
Also of significance in this context is
Crumlin Road Gaol in the north of West Belfast. The
Ulster Museum in the south of the city also has an excellent section about the “Troubles” and is well worth seeing.
East Belfast is also interesting for some of the Unionist murals along Newtownards Road.
Combinations with non-dark destinations: If it wasn’t for the violent recent history that is so palpable here, and hence the topic of guided tours,
West Belfast and the Falls Road wouldn’t see many tourists at all, being, as it is, otherwise a comparatively dull residential area without any classic tourist attractions. Clonard Monastery might be an exception, as it is quite an imposing cathedral-like structure. But otherwise there really isn’t much to see here.
To get to the more mainstream proper tourist attractions you have to head east into central
Belfast.
Falls 1 - Divis Tower
Falls 2 - facade with bullet holes
Falls 3 - Brits and joyriders not welcome
Falls 4 - Bobby Sands mural
Falls 5 - murals on the International Wall
Falls 6a - Clonard Monastery
Falls 6b - memorial garden
Falls 7a - Peace Wall
Falls 7b - protective cage
Falls 8 - Bombay Street
Falls 9a - gate in the Wall
Falls 9b - still locked at night
Falls Road is the name of the main artery that runs through the Republican/Catholic part of West Belfast, but is often used to also refer to the whole district around it. It is the main focal point for “Troubles” tourism in Belfast, especially a stretch of the street which is famous for its many more or less political murals. Around it are also various memorials commemorating particular events during the “Troubles”.
Falls 1 - Divis Tower
Falls 2 - facade with bullet holes
Falls 3 - Brits and joyriders not welcome
Falls 4 - Bobby Sands mural
Falls 5 - murals on the International Wall
Falls 6a - Clonard Monastery
Falls 6b - memorial garden
Falls 7a - Peace Wall
Falls 7b - protective cage
Falls 8 - Bombay Street
Falls 9a - gate in the Wall
Falls 9b - still locked at night
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