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A plea has been made to the council to commemorate a hidden burial ground containing over 10,000 bodies dating back to the Irish famine. Situated close to the City Hospital on Belfast’s Donegall Road, the three-acre site has now become part of a housing development. Lamentably, there is no plaque or sign recognizing its past as a burial ground, earning it the title of Belfast’s “forgotten cemetery”. Back in the late 1840s, the area in south Belfast served as the final resting place for impoverished individuals from a nearby workhouse.
Leading the charge for a proper commemoration is historian Dr. Robyn Atcheson, as he urges the council to take decisive action. Expressing her sentiments to BBC News NI, Dr. Atcheson emphasized the importance of honoring the countless individuals buried on the site. She stressed, “So many people lived in awful conditions. They were born in Belfast, lived in Belfast, died in Belfast, and there’s nothing to remember them by.” Former lord mayor Tom Hartley and current councillor Tracy Kelly echo these sentiments and advocate for a fitting tribute to the deceased.
The only vestige hinting at the site’s history is a fragment of the wall from the original graveyard entrance. Dr. Atcheson, based at Queen’s University nearby, has been conducting extensive research on the burial ground which dates back to 1848, when Belfast was still considered a town. She revealed that the surge in mortality during the famine years led to a shortage of cemetery space. As a result, the decision was made to utilize the three-acre site close to the Union Workhouse for burials, a practice that extended into the early 1900s. Official records from 1901 indicate the interment of at least 10,000 individuals at the location.
Dr. Atcheson, recognizing the historical significance of the site, asserted that approximately 60,000 individuals may have been buried there over a span of 70 years. The stained-glass window at Belfast City Hall pays tribute to those who succumbed during the famine of the 1840s, referencing the Donegall Road graveyard. However, there remains a distinct absence of any memorial or acknowledgement at the actual site. The reluctance to confront Belfast’s impoverished past and the mass burials of its residents has contributed to the shadow cast over this forgotten cemetery
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