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East Belfast is packed with fascinating buildings and historic sites. You can trace local history back 5,000 years to the Neolithic period at the amazing Kempe Stones, a Neolithic portal dolmen. Some of the city’s most important buildings can be found in East Belfast too, like the magnificent Parliament Buildings, home to the Northern Ireland Assembly, at the Stormont Estate, and atmospheric buildings beloved of the local community, such as Templemore Baths, the Strand Cinema and the wonderful Belmont Tower with its delightful café.
 Queen’s Island
Created by the material excavated from the deepening of Belfast Harbour in the 1840s, Queen’s Island was named in honour of Queen Victoria’s visit to Belfast in 1849. Temporarily hosting an amusement park, it was soon taken over by the new shipbuilding firm of Harland & Wolff, formed in 1852 by Edward Harland and his German partner Gustav Wolff.
The firm expanded rapidly and eventually Queen’s Island became physically linked to East Belfast, where most of their workers (30,000 at the firm’s peak) lived. By 1909, when they began to build what would become the most famous ship in the world, RMS Titanic, it was like a city within a city and Harland & Wolff were the world’s greatest shipbuilders.
Now part of the £5 billion Titanic Quarter development, there are various sites here linked to Titanic. The Harland & Wolff headquarters building, dating from 1900, contains the two beautiful drawing rooms where Titanic and her sister ships were designed. The Thompson Pump House and Thompson Dry Dock, the largest in the world at the time and extended especially for Titanic and her sister ships, also survive, while the slipways that launched Titanic can also still be seen. SS Nomadic, the White Star Line tender ship which ferried passengers from Cherbourg to Titanic, has been renovated and is moored at the Victorian Hamilton Graving Dock. Rising high above Queen’s Island are the two great gantry cranes, Samson and Goliath, both of which can lift loads of up to 840 tons. Bus, walking and boat tours of the Titanic sites are available.
Stormont Castle and Parliament Buildings
Originally a modest family home, redesigned in the 1850s in the baronial style, Stormont Castle was owned by the Cleland family. In 1921, the estate was bought by the new Northern Ireland government in order to build a new parliament building there, while the Castle became the official residence of the Northern Ireland Prime Minister. The Parliament Buildings were opened in 1932 by the Prince of Wales. The Castle later became the office of the British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Though not open to the public, its exterior can be seen from various parts of the estate.
The classical Parliament Buildings are 365 feet long and made from Portland stone and granite from the Mourne Mountains. It is the home of the Northern Ireland Assembly and contains the Northern Ireland assembly chamber. Before the front of the building stands a statue of the famous Unionist leader Sir Edward Carson, which he unveiled in 1933, shortly before his death. Parliament Buildings are not usually open to the public but guided tours are available by prior arrangement. Call (028) 9052 1172 for information.
Holywood Arches Library 
‘The Searcher’, a statue sculpted by local artist Ross Wilson, was commissioned to mark the centenary of the birth of CS Lewis, author of ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’, and stands outside Holywood Arches library, near to where Lewis grew up. It shows Professor Digory Kirke, hero of ‘The Magician’s Nephew’, entering the magical wardrobe into Narnia.
Little Lea
CS (‘Jack’) Lewis spent most of his childhood at the family house off the Circular Road. Here in the attic, he and his elder brother ‘Warnie’ created stories of other worlds, including his first work of fiction, ‘Boxen’, about an animal kingdom. The house is now a private residence.
St Mark’s Church
It was in the red sandstone St Mark’s Church of Ireland, Dundela that Lewis was baptised in 1899 by
his grandfather, the Rev Thomas Hamilton, and later confirmed. He and his brother came here each
Sunday to worship and, in 1935, donated the stained glass Lewis Window to the Church. It is believed the ‘lion’ doorknob of the Old Rectory, still in the church grounds, may have inspired the character of Aslan in the Narnian books.
Dundela Flats
It was on this site that the Lewis family house stood in 1898, when Lewis was born. He was the second child of Albert Lewis, a solicitor, and Florence Lewis, who died in 1908.
McMaster Street
This street of small terraced houses, just off Newtownards Road, offers a unique insight into East Belfast history. Most of the houses were built in the late 19th century and would have been home to workers on the Titanic. It was declared a conservation area in 1994 and has often been used in films and television drama.
Templemore Baths
Opened in the late 19th century, when public baths were an important means of hygiene, this building is a valuable part of East Belfast’s social history. It is now a public swimming baths.
Belmont Tower
Once housing Belmont Primary School, Belmont Tower was re-opened by HRH Prince of Wales in 2005 after an extensive renovation. Visitors are welcome at their delightful café in this vibrant community centre in the heart of the area where CS Lewis grew up.
Aunt Sandra’s Candy Factory
At this wonderful old-fashioned shop at 60 Castlereagh Road, you can see sweets being made in the traditional way in a small factory at the back of the shop by Aunt Sandra herself.
The Oval
Home to one of Belfast’s oldest and most successful football clubs, Glentoran FC.
The Strand Cinema 
A lovely Art Deco building on the Hollywood Road, it re-opened as a cinema in 1998.
The Police Museum
Hosting an exhibition of the history of policing in Ireland since 1800, it is located at Police Headquarters, Brooklyn. This is the only museum in existence in East Belfast today. It may not be every family’s first choice for a day out, but the small museum, packed with police memorabilia, is still nevertheless extremely interesting.
The Kempe Stones
This Neolithic portal dolmen from around 3000 BC stands near the Dundonald boundary.
Dundonald Cemetery
Opened in 1905, on the Newtownards Road, it holds the graves of many soldiers from both world wars.
Lord Craigavon’s Tomb
Northern Ireland Prime Minister Lord Craigavon’s Portland stone tomb is at the east entrance to the
Stormont estate. It was completed in 1942.
Craigavon House
The former home of Lord Craigavon, which was used as a hospital for the Ulster Volunteer Force after the First World War, is being restored.
St Patrick’s Parish Church
The second oldest church in Ballymacarrett, it dates from 1833.
Schomberg House
The headquarters of the Orange Institution, Schomberg House includes a cultural heritage centre which tells the history of the Orange Order. There is also an Orange memorabilia shop, library and research facilities. It is located at 368 Cregagh Road.
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