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Fernhill House

Buildings and structures completed in 1864Buildings and structures in BelfastGrade B2 listed buildingsUlster unionism
Entrance to Glencairn Park from Glencairn Road (geograph 3210062)
Entrance to Glencairn Park from Glencairn Road (geograph 3210062)

Fernhill House is a grade B2 listed building in Glencairn Road, Belfast. It was built in 1864 for the local butter merchant John Smith, with outbuildings added to the north in 1880. It was sold by Smith's family to businessman Samuel Cunningham in 1898. He was a staunch unionist who used the grounds to train members of the Ulster Volunteer Force and to store weapons during the 1912 Home Rule Crisis. Cunningham also kept racing horses in the house's stables, including Tipperary Tim, which won the 1928 Grand National. The estate was purchased by the Belfast Corporation in 1962 and opened to the public as Glencairn Park. The house housed the municipal parks department between 1975 and 1990. Fernhill House was selected by the Combined Loyalist Military Command as the site for their 1994 ceasefire declaration, which presaged the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. From 1996 to 2008 the building housed a museum exhibiting items of local history, Ulster's military history and relating to the Orange Order. The building has since stood vacant and is listed as being at risk. The building and outbuildings were separately granted listed building protection in 2016.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Fernhill House (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Fernhill House
Glencairn Road, Belfast Glencairn

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 54.613138888889 ° E -5.9816111111111 °
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Glencairn Road

Glencairn Road
BT13 3SY Belfast, Glencairn
Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
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Entrance to Glencairn Park from Glencairn Road (geograph 3210062)
Entrance to Glencairn Park from Glencairn Road (geograph 3210062)
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Holy Cross dispute
Holy Cross dispute

The Holy Cross dispute occurred in 2001 and 2002 in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast, Northern Ireland. During the 30-year conflict known as the Troubles, Ardoyne had become segregated – Ulster Protestants and Irish Catholics lived in separate areas. This left Holy Cross, a Catholic primary school for girls, in the middle of a Protestant area. In June 2001—during the last week of school before the summer break—Protestant loyalists began picketing the school, claiming that Catholics were regularly attacking their homes and denying them access to facilities. The picket resumed on 3 September, when the new school term began. For weeks, hundreds of loyalist protesters tried to stop the schoolchildren and their parents from walking to school through their area. Hundreds of riot police, backed up by British soldiers, escorted the children and parents through the protest each day. Some protesters shouted sectarian abuse and threw stones, bricks, fireworks, blast bombs and urine-filled balloons at the schoolchildren, their parents and the RUC. The "scenes of frightened Catholic schoolgirls running a gauntlet of abuse from loyalist protesters as they walked to school captured world headlines". Death threats were made against the parents and school staff by the Red Hand Defenders, a loyalist paramilitary group. The protest was condemned by both Catholics and Protestants, including politicians. Some likened the protest to child abuse and compared the protesters to North American white supremacists in the 1950s. During this time, the protest sparked bouts of fierce rioting between Catholics and Protestants in Ardoyne, and loyalist attacks on police. On 23 November, the loyalists ended the protest after being promised tighter security for their area and a redevelopment scheme. The security forces remained outside the school for several months after. In January 2002, a scuffle between a Protestant and a Catholic outside the school sparked a large-scale riot in the area and attacks on other schools in north Belfast. The picket was not resumed and the situation has been mostly quiet since then. The following year, the BBC aired a documentary-drama about the protests.