We were travelling on thee Blaris Road yesterday, somewhere we haven't been for a while. Dominic was born around Moore's Bridge and is very familiar with this area. He played here as a child. Anyhow, he was surprised yesterday to see how much Blaris is changing. Just past Blaris Bridge, and adjacent to where the old Lagan Canal was, there is now extensive building work going on. New housing on a vast scale has changed the whole landscape. Lisburn is growing; more and more housing development are being built on what were once green fields. It's a sign of the times. Young families are taking advantage of the location, with Lisburn being within easy reach of schools, hospitals, trains, airports, but still free from big city life. I hope this was of interest to those of you who know the area.

Hi all,



Schoolgirl haunts, the Dublin & Blaris Roads.



When we left school at 3.00p.m. some days we visited friends homes there for the afternoon. I remember happy days at Bradley's at Moore's Bridge & at Hanly's at Blaris Road.



That was real countryside then, with wild roses growing in the hedges & paths along the Lagan, wild ducks & nearly everyone kept hens, kittens were numerous & always dogs ran alongside us playing.



I remember Sean Bradley having a tightrope strung along their drive & him walking along it, we thought he would be in a circus, but he became a Doctor.



Children then ran free & spent idyllic afternoons playing with each other in different locations, we used to even visit at Damhead near Megahaberry Airport there & WALK the long mile from the friend's home about 6 00p.m. in the evenings to the Moira Rd., to catch a bus home to Lisburn.



The Cp. Down, Moira, Longstone, Lambeg, Colon Mountain, Hilden of course, the surrounding areas of Lisburn were our terrority then, the children of today are missing a lot of freedom & fresh air & companionship that last for a lifetimme.



Pat

My memories of the Blaris Road are mainly from the 2nd World war years. There was a large long open field half way up on the right hand side coming in from the Dublin Road which was taken over by the RAF and used as a landing strip for Westland Lysander aircraft a plane that was used mostly for landing and picking up secret service agents in Europe, this was until Long Kesh Airdrome was completed. I also saw my first Helicopter there though in those days it was called an Auto Gyro. Mauri

Hi Ann Pat and Mauri

I remember a Sean Bradley in fact the Bradleys lived in the same row of houses as my Grandfather's brother Bill Hanna. Bill was as round as a hula hoop, he was also President of the Irish Painter's Union for years. Another brother of my Grandfather lived in the old Warren and owned a lot of property in that whole area, including the airfield that is mentioned.
There was money in the Hanna family at one time I wonder what happened to my share, also, they had a sister Lizzie who owned Mulligans pub on the Dublin road which at one time was called the Royal Hotel!!!!

Beanmo

Hi Beano, If I remember correctly Lizzie was the wife of Tommy Mulligan who owned the pub, Tommy was a friend of one of my uncles and he drove a big black Humber car. When I was kid we used to play soccer in a field owned by him off Warren Gardens. He would sometimes arrive in the Humber and we would take off across the fields scared out of our wits.

His first wife died and he married a woman called Tilley, then retired to a house in Bangor,eventually he died and my uncle who had just returned from working and living in Australia about just over a year later met up and married Tilley and moved to a house in Lambeg and lived there happly for a good number of years though both are now long gone. Mauri

Hi Mauri,



" Mulligans" was owned as the Royal Hotel by my grandfather's brother John, he in turn left it to his daughter Lizzie. When Lizzie married Tommy Mulligan, they changed the pub part to her married name, the rest was used as their home.

I understand both Lizzie and Tommy liked to live the high life.. I do know that Tommy remarried, he was a good bit younger than Lizzie.



Beano