Shankhill Road
Shankill Road is a predominently Protestant working-class area of Belfast, Northern Ireland. It stretches for approximately 1.5 miles from downtown Belfast and is mainly a shopping area. The residents live in the many streets which branch off the "main" road.
At one time there were many cinemas on the Shankill Road but the event of television was the death nell of the cinemas. One of the last ones to be demolished was the Stadium which was opened in 1937 and was demolished in the mid-1990s.
There are also many churches of numerous religious denominations on the Shankill and situated on the northern boundary is St. Matthew's Church (Church of Ireland) which dates back to 1872. The architecture of this church is called "trefoil" which means it is built in the shape of a shamrock. The shamrock is the national emblem of Ireland and was supposedly used by St. Patrick, the Irish patron saint, to explain the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Ghost - Three in One and One in Three.
St. Matthews has a graveyard associated with it by the name of Shankill Graveyard and one of the tombstones is in memory of a 14 year-old Royal Air Force member who was killed in the First World War. Some years ago most of the gravestones were removed around the perimeters and the area was made into a Rest Haven.
The 36th Ulster Division was a British Army regiment which distinguished itself in the Battle of the Somme in 1916 with the famous war cry which originated in the Siege of Londonderry in 1689 of "No Surrender".
The Shankill Road was a focal point of the present "Troubles" and many lives have been lost in the secretarian violence.
