Alexandra Park (Belfast)

A Victorian park with a wall through the middle of it

Take the wall out of it for a moment and Alexandra Park is a very good ordinary Victorian park. It opened in 1888, was named for Princess Alexandra, and it has the things that era built: tree-lined avenues, mature specimen trees, rolling grass, and a stream — the Milewater — running through the middle. Bird watchers come here for dippers on the stream, and for mallards and tufted ducks on the water.

Then there is the wall. On 1 September 1994 — the day after the IRA's ceasefire declaration — a three-metre barrier was put up straight through the park, to keep apart the communities on either side of it: the Shore Road to the east and the Antrim Road to the west. It is believed to be the only park in western Europe divided this way.

The practical effect was that the city ended up with two half-parks. Two playgrounds. Two sets of grassland. Even the stream got divided, one part on each side. For seventeen years, to get from one half to the other you had to leave the park, walk around the outside, and come back in through a different gate.

In September 2011 a gate was installed in the wall — open weekdays, 9am to 3pm, for a three-month trial. It held. The trial was extended, then extended again, and the gate now stands open full time. That is why this is worth walking rather than just reading about: you can put your hand on the wall, look at the murals painted along it, and then simply walk through to the other side, which for a long time you could not do.

Free, opens 7.30am Victorian tree-lined avenues The Milewater stream Dippers, mallards, tufted ducks Two playgrounds The gate in the wall, open since 2011

Practical notes:

Entrances are at Castleton Gardens, Mountcollyer Street and Deacon Street; Metro bus 1A–H runs from the city centre. The park opens daily at 7.30am with a seasonal closing time, from around 4.30pm in midwinter to about 8.30pm in high summer. Disposable barbecues are not permitted.

What to wear & bring

👟Comfy shoesRolling ground, surfaced avenues and stream-side paths.

🧥A coatNorth Belfast under Cave Hill. A shower under those big trees is one of the better ways to spend ten minutes.

🔭BinocularsDippers work the Milewater, and there are mallards and tufted ducks on the water.

🧺A flaskNo café in the park. There is plenty of grass and a bench with your name on it.

What's on at the park

Alexandra Park has no ticketed programme — it is a free council park, open daily. What it does have is a live story: the gate in the wall started as a three-month weekday trial in 2011 and is now open full time, and there have been ongoing proposals to reconnect the park more fully with the neighbouring Waterworks.

Belfast City Council programmes community events across its parks through the year; check their listings before you travel if you want to land on something.

Everything before you go

Cost

Free

Opening

Opens daily at 7.30am; closing time is seasonal, from around 4.30pm in midwinter to about 8.30pm in summer

Best for ages

All ages — playgrounds on both sides, and easy walking for everyone

What's there

Victorian tree-lined avenues and mature trees, the Milewater stream, two playgrounds, open grassland — and the dividing wall with its gate

Wildlife

Dippers on the stream, mallards and tufted ducks on the water

Entrances

Castleton Gardens, Mountcollyer Street and Deacon Street. The northern side is reached from the Antrim Road, the southern side from the Shore Road

The wall

Erected 1 September 1994. Three metres high. A gate was installed in September 2011, open weekdays 9am–3pm for a three-month trial; it now stands open full time

Parking

On-street around the entrances; there is no large dedicated car park

Dogs

Welcome on a lead — Belfast City Council requires dogs to be on a lead in its parks, and they are excluded from children's play areas

Accessibility

Surfaced paths through the park, though the ground rolls in places

How long to allow

45–90 minutes

Food

No café in the park; the Antrim Road and Shore Road have options a short walk away

Getting there

Metro bus 1A–H from Belfast city centre

Address

Alexandra Park, Antrim Road, Belfast BT15 3BY

Questions

Before you go

Is it free?

Yes — Alexandra Park is a free council park.

What are the opening hours?

It opens daily at 7.30am. Closing is seasonal, roughly 4.30pm in midwinter through to about 8.30pm at the height of summer.

Is there really a wall through the middle?

Yes. A three-metre wall was put up through the park on 1 September 1994, the day after the IRA ceasefire declaration. Alexandra Park is believed to be the only park in western Europe divided this way.

Can you walk from one side to the other?

Yes. A gate was installed in the wall in September 2011 — initially open weekdays from 9am to 3pm on a three-month trial — and it now stands open full time.

Where do we go in?

Entrances are at Castleton Gardens, Mountcollyer Street and Deacon Street. The northern part is reached from the Antrim Road side and the southern part from the Shore Road side.

Is there a playground?

There are two — one on each side of the wall, which is a consequence of the division rather than generosity.

What wildlife is there?

Dippers work the Milewater stream, and there are mallards and tufted ducks on the water. It is a well-used spot for local birdwatching.

Can we bring the dog?

Yes, on a lead. Belfast City Council requires dogs to be on a lead in its parks, and they are not allowed in the children's play areas.

Getting there

Alexandra Park is on the Antrim Road in north Belfast, BT15 3BY, with entrances at Castleton Gardens, Mountcollyer Street and Deacon Street. The northern half is reached from the Antrim Road and the southern half from the Shore Road, with the gate in the wall linking the two. Metro bus 1A–H runs from the city centre; parking is on-street around the entrances.

Official website Directions on Google Maps See it on our map

Nearby

Make more of the day

The WaterworksThe neighbouring north Belfast park and ponds Belfast ZooOn the side of Cave Hill, a short drive north Belfast CastleThe castle and estate paths on Cave Hill Ormeau ParkBelfast's oldest municipal park, across the city

The story

About the park

Belfast in the 1880s was building parks at speed. The town had grown enormously on linen and shipbuilding, the housing was dense, and public open space had become a civic argument as much as a civic ornament. Alexandra Park opened in 1888 — the same year as Woodvale on the other side of the city — and took its name from Princess Alexandra, then Princess of Wales.

It was laid out to the standard Victorian recipe: broad tree-lined avenues to walk along, specimen trees to admire, rolling grass, and the Milewater stream running through as a natural feature. For a century that is what it was.

Then came 1 September 1994. The IRA had declared a ceasefire the day before, and — in one of the more difficult ironies of that period — a three-metre wall went up straight through the park to keep the communities on the Shore Road and Antrim Road sides apart. Peace walls were nothing new in Belfast, but running one through a public park was, and Alexandra Park is believed to be the only park in western Europe divided this way.

What followed was quietly remarkable. In September 2011 a gate was cut into the wall and opened, weekdays only, 9am to 3pm, for a trial period of three months. Everyone involved knew it could go wrong. It did not. The hours were extended, and the gate now stands open full time.

Go and look at it. The wall is still there and there is no pretending otherwise. But the ordinary business of the park — dog walkers, prams, dippers on the stream, someone taking a shortcut through the gate without thinking about it — is the part that matters, and it is happening every day.