Lisburn Exiles Forum

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Lisburn going going gone

They are knocking down part of Lisburn!!! I drove round Lisburn this morning and discovered they are in the process of knocking down Market Place and round into Bow Street! Where will it all end? Is Lisburn turning into a huge Mall? Speaking of the Mall it is being extended and it is enormous right out into Antrim Street. I just loved Lisburn the way it was

Re: Lisburn going going gone

maggi
unfortunatly they,ve been knocking down lisburn for years. but it,s happening all over the world.
it,s all part of the population explosion and people need somewhere to live and shop and park cars. although i live in australia since 73 i,ve been back to lisburn about every five years and the changes are always evident. last year this time the whole topic was wallace park a lovely place to me and i got speaking to groups in the park opposed to the proposal to make a large part of it { at the old bike track} into a hockey pitch and the kid,s playground was to become a large car park so i don,t know the outcome of that. funny enough one of the things which saddened me about wallace park was the derelict house of the chief park ranger at north circular road end and what used to be lovely rose gardens at this house that was all just a derelict house and wasteland. so we,re left with our memories of that but there,s people living there permanently so at the end of the day i suppose it,s their call as they say in usa?
good luck tom

Re: Lisburn going going gone

Hello Tom
I agree with you but it is just so sad to see all the old buildings coming down its a pity they could'nt do what they are doing in Bridge Street. Lisnagarvey gave up on the Wallace Park, they are now building just outside Hillsborough. best wishes Maggi

Re: Re: Lisburn going going gone

Hello Maggi / Tom, I noticed big changes when I went back to Lisburn four years ago as I hadn’t been there for many years. The market had been downsized into a small spot over by Christ Church, I was talking to a vendor who felt that it might eventually close, as the council was reducing the number of permits issued every year.
While the town looked good with all the new developments, I felt there was a strong Belfast influence, which is ok, but I still prefer the old Lisburn as I knew it.
I enjoyed the Wallace Park, Castle gardens and so on, and it was nice to find places like upper Bridge St. with very little changes.
I had heard for years that the lagan was being cleaned up and restocked with fish, unfortunately it wasn’t the Union bridge area. I can remember as a kid going up to the locks at Moore’s bridge, and the river being alive with moor hens and water rats, the fishing was good too, pike, perch and trout, (Donald wouldn’t have needed a license)it was even ok to swim in. It’s a pity the river was neglected for all those years, as people could now be enjoying what is only a memory.
Terry

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TERRY , IWAS IN LISBURN A FEW WEEKS AGO ,YOU WERE SPEAKING ABOUT THE LAGAN ,WELL THERE IS NOW A COVERED SIGHT SEEING BOAT WHICH RUNS EVERY COUPLE OF HOURS .IT LEAVES THE NEW CITY HALL GOES AS FAR AS BLAIRS THEN AS FAR AS LAMBEG IT REALLY WAS VERY PLEASANT THE COST WAS 6POUNDS YOU CAN ALSO GETA GLASS OF WINE OR A CUP OF TEA ON THE TRIP HARNEE

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Hello Harnee, thanks for your update. That’s great news about the boat rides; I can imagine the scenery out by Blaris must be nice. That will be at the top of my list if I get a chance to go back. thanks again, Terry

Re: Re: Lisburn going going gone

maggi
i agree with you it would be nice to have the old buildings and things still preserved. however i also got the same impression that terry mentioned that lisburn now seeme to have a large Belfast influence. thanks for your update on wallace park..
so the hockey club lisnagarvey decided to build at hillsborough?? the groups i was speaking to on my trip were quite determined and willing to go to court on this issue apparantly wallace park was bequeathed to the people of lisburn in perpetuity to provide peace and recreation to the people. it was bequeathed by mr wallace the town land owner and benefactor. the council was going to sell a large part of the park to the hockey team as councils do?? and the people opposing it were saying it,s not yours to sell it belongs to the people. we,ll go to court..
mind you the place has been neglected over the years
according to the opposing groups a deliberate ploy by the council to help the sale of the place. even the bandstand was neglected and a depository for empty beer cans bottles etc.. was sad because beside the bandstand was two large chestnut trees and many years ago me and my little mates threw many a stick and won quite a few chestnuts from these trees
but the council may spend money now to bring wallace park back to it,s rightful beauty
so thanks again for the update
good luck tom

Re: Re: Re: Lisburn going going gone

terry
you mentioned in your email about swimming?
we used to swim at the maze ride the bikes out
also when i was very young in stewarts mill dam in buggy row also a swimming hole at low road at the steps just below spruce street where i lived.
there was also a great swimming hole at i think ravarnette i cant remember the name we used to walk along dublin road to moores bridge??? and over the fields to another smaller bridge and many a days swimming

ring a bell with anybody??

Re: Re: Re: Re: Lisburn going going gone

Tom, the swimming hole off Moores Bridge was called the “mount” a smaller bridge on the Hillsborough road. It was the Ravarnette River just before it reached the lagan, a very popular spot, even Geordie Mc Comisky used to swim there. Another great spot for smaller kids was in the wee race, just down from the grove. It was only about three feet deep and pretty safe, except it always was in shade and had more than its share of clegs.

Re: Lisburn going going gone

It’s really good to know that there are still those around who enjoyed the simple pleasures of the old Lisburn. Wallace Park on a summer Sunday would have been packed with youngsters, eying each other up.
Terry and Tom invoke memories of various swimming places. I once was about to enter the Lagan to swim when I saw a very large pile, and it changed my mind. Have I written that already? I know I’ve told the true tale a few times.
And ‘clegs’! They took lumps out of you.
In the Castle Gardens, down the steps, a gang of us were once playing; I would have been, perhaps, nine; when one of our lot, Alan, a year younger than me, decided to disturb a wasps nest in the grass. One of the infuriated insects landed on my leg, and boy, did I scream when it stung me. An older lad rubbed the swelling with a dock leaf. I don’t know if it made my leg better, but it stopped me bawling. Alan was laughing his head off. By the way do any of you remember ‘suckysours? Some kind of sour tasting leaf that we used to pull from among the grass and chew.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Lisburn going going gone

Hi Harnee,

I like the idea of the boat ride, and as I will be over from July 1st. I would love to take my youngest grandson on it, can you pre-book?.
To all the rest of you contributors, I will pass on my observations for what they are worth re.the changes in the town now City, well now that is a big change for a start. It is quite obvious that changes had to be made, when I was a young boy in the 40s the population was less than 15,000, now it is probably 100,000, I am only guessing, but you take my meaning. Perhaps Harnee can make her comments known as she has just returned.
Changes or not I am really looking forward to my visit.

Beano

Re: Lisburn going going gone

Beano,
Go to the site home page and click on Lisburncityboats. There is an e-mail link for pre - ordering. I am going over home on 30 June and I thought of pre - booking. The only problem arises if it is raining. I have sent an e-mail asking about cancellation or re-booking on another date/time. No reply to date.
LR

Re: Re: Lisburn going going gone

Dabbler Do you know, I thought it was just my imagination that there were such a thing as suckysours. Mind you I did have a good imagination. Down the back fields of the Central School I use to eat these sour leaves but I have never come across them since. Thank you for confirming they actually did exist.

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YOU CAN PREBOOK ON THE RIVER BOAT AND IF IT HAPPENS TO RAIN IT IS COVERED OVER.THERE ARE A LOT OF CHANGES IN LISBURN THE MALL IS GOOD VERY BUSY EVERY DAYTHE MARKET IS STILL HELD ON A TUESDAY AND AS USUAL VERY BUSY THE COUNTY DOWN HASNT CHANGED MUCH WE WENT INTO THE COUNTRY COTTAGE FOR LUNCH IT WAS EXCELLENT AND VERY REASONABLE IT IS IN SLOAN STREET WHEN I LIVED ON THE OLD HILLSBORO ROAD IT ALWAYS LOOKED TO ME TO BE A BROAD STREET BUT NOW IT SEEMS SO NARROW MOST OF THE HOUSES ARE STILL INTACT WE REALLY HAD A GREAT TIME THE HUMOUR OF THE IRISH IS GREAT ,WE TOOK A TAXI ONE DAY I WANTED TO GO TO HILLSBOROUGH I GAVE THE DRIVER THE ROUTE HIS ANSWER WAS IF I GET LOST I WILL TELL YOU I AM TAKING THE SCENIC ROUTE UNTIL I FIND A LAND MARK THAT I KNOW HOPE YOU WILL HAVE AS GOOD TIME AT HOME AS WE DID HARNEE

Re: Lisburn going going gone

All this talk about going to Lisburn is making me homesick. Aer Lingus have an offer ,if you book by midnight tonight you can fly between 8 Nov and 16 Dec for €60 return Munich / Dublin, I still am undecided as Lisburn in Nov can be cold and wet.But home is home
Have a nice weekend everybody. My grandson Kilian is coming tonight to sleep here as his Mum and my other daughter Julie are off to Tollwood festival,( taking place on the Octoberfest site) to a concert.My wife goes to water therapy Friday evenings so I may sneak off with him to my local "Biergarten" for a charcoal grilled mackerel and a liter of beer with one of the four vouchers my daughters gave me for my 61 birthday. The giant Pretzel I have to buy myself.
Donald

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Lisburn going going gone

Harnee,

My spirits were up already about going home, now, with your remarks they are even higher. Many thanks.

Beano

Re: Lisburn going going gone

Dabbler
Talking about large " piles " I remember reading about a visitor to England in the late 1890s ,who when walking on the Thames saw a large number of pieces of paper swimming past. He asked the local person who was accompaning him what they were, he received the answer ." Sir , they are notices that swimming is not advised!"
But the Lagan was also not totally void from unsavoury deposits. Drowned dogs to mention but one. I recall after my mother died 1949 and us having to move from the Locks at Lisnatrunk to my Grandmother,s in Hilden, my dog Gyp ending up there.
Donald

Re: Re: Lisburn going going gone

Dabbler/Donald, That reminds me of the time when we moved from Young street. Our new next door neighbour (Mr.G) had racing pigeon’s. One day after a few drinks (his normal state) he brought a boxer pup home for his kids, who immediately let the dog loose in his back garden. The dog went crazy with excitement and the pigeon’s took off and wouldn’t come back while the dog was out.
All of a sudden Mr. G was shouting “Mr lagan is getting you tonight” my mother heard and tried to talk him out of it but he insisted, Mr lagan was getting the dog unless we would take it, so my mother took the dog. A few days later out cat, that had adapted his pigeon loft, disappeared.
Unfortunately there were also times when the lagan got polluted from industry or agricultural waste. Hugh pike that looked like sharks to little kids used to float by the sack mills in dozens, all belly up. Then there was the occasional local who either drowned accidentally or from being drunk.
It wasn’t all restricted to the lagan though, my daughter who is a Marine Biologist, was doing some tests with friends at a river here in Ontario, when they found a human hand.
Terry

Re: Lisburn going going gone

Many of the places mentioned in Fred Kee’s Lisburn Miscellany are very familiar to me.
Does Dummy’s Lane still exist? I distinctly remember discovering a wren’s nest with ‘scaldies’ in, halfway down the lane from the Antrim Road.