SCHOOLCHILDREN have helped uncover the remains of 19th century houses in West Belfast.
Pupils from St Peter's Primary School and St Joseph's Primary School were invited to take part in a community archaeological excavation organised by archaeologists from Queen’s University Belfast.
The Community Archaeology Project Northern Ireland, which is run by Queen’s University and funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, organised the excavation with the Grosvenor Community Centre at Belle Black Community Garden on Distillery Street.
The team had been digging for two weeks and found the walls, drains and floors of the houses, which were built in the 1880s and demolished in the 1970s to make way for the Westlink.
A number of items uncovered during the search included the ornate remains of a clay pipe bowl from the 1800s to a fragment of 19th century pottery depicting the evils of alcohol, as well as everyday items including tobacco pipe stems and a fully intact glass Bovril jar.
Dr Colm Donnelly from the School of Natural and Built Environment at Queen’s led the excavation.
"We run a community archaeological programme funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund," he explained.
"It allows members of the public to take part in archaeological excavations. This week we had pupils from St Peter's and St Joseph's PS get the chance to take part in a genuine archaeological excavation.
"150 years ago this would have been green fields. Distillery Street was then built to give access to the new Royal Irish Distillery. Developers then came and built houses for the workforce in Belfast.
"There were old streets including Venice Street, Turin Street and Genoa Street. We believe the developer had a particular liking for Italy.
"In the 1970s, this area totally changed because of the reconstruction of the Westlink.
"The people that lived there moved out and we would love to hear from people who lived here.
Joe Black and Rachel Black from Grosvenor Community Centre
"This was a chance to re-live history. The children have learnt so much. Not many people have a notion that there were houses once here or even knew about the distillery, which was one of the biggest exporters of whiskey in Ireland."
Did you live in Venice Street, Pisa Street, Turin Street and Genoa Street? Contact Dr Colm Donnelly from QUB at c.j.donnelly@qub.ac.uk.
