Why it's called the Waterworks
The park takes its name from what it once was. The two ponds are said to have been reservoirs that held part of Belfast's drinking-water supply as the city grew in the nineteenth century, before larger schemes further out took over the job. When the ponds were no longer needed for water, the land became a public park.
Today the reservoirs read as two big ornamental ponds, with a couple of small islands out in the water where the birds nest. Belfast City Council says the upper pond is stocked with trout, and the ponds draw a long list of wildfowl through the year — swans and geese all year, with winter visitors like redwings and fieldfares turning up in the cold months.
Set against the green ridge of Cavehill rising to the north, the Waterworks has become one of north Belfast's best-loved green spaces — a free, easy place to walk, watch the birds and let the kids run. Some details, like the exact reservoir dates, are best treated as the local story rather than settled fact; the park in front of you, though, is very real.