Clandeboye Corner

Where?

54.592835, -5.899918
BT5 4NL – Clandeboye Street

Description of chosen place

Derelict and overgrown waste land, signs of previous community engagement via a mural (now grubby and peeling). Strewn with rubbish, weeds and a general air of neglect and abandon. Positioned at a busy intersection near to the Castlereagh Road, Castlereagh Street and Bloomfield Avenue as well as being a green space easily accessible by many living in nearby housing.

What do you imagine the space could be?

A 10 minute walk down the road takes you past the old Owen O’Cork mill (Bloomfield Mill), the GP practice that stands nearby is known by the name Linen Court. East Belfast once housed some of the linen production that gave the city its nickname, ‘Linenopolis’. This industry is now extinct, evident only in derelict remains and place names. Bringing linen back into the community could draw on a positive heritage and inspire community engagement. The waste land at Clandeboye Street could be used for growing flax and plants used in natural dying. Local communities can learn about this process and become involved and learn how to process the flax to create a linen fibre and even engage in weaving. Linenopolis may once again emerge…

Submitted by

Maya Todd

Date

February 19, 2023

About the ‘Forgotten Spaces’ project

We added a competition element and public voting mechanism to the exhibition to encourage engagement over passive viewing. From this process, two submissions – Short Strand Green Wall and Donegall Street Car Park – were allocated the ‘top prize’ of £100, racking up well over 300 stars between them. A discussion event and prize giving was held on Wednesday March 22nd at the Europa Hotel. We were joined by Sean Dolan, Senior Development Manager, Belfast City Council and Seamus Connolly, Group Manager, Neighbourhoods, Regeneration and Sustainability, Glasgow City Council for discussion on methodologies and policies in place for ‘How to Regenerate Forgotten Spaces?’. In the continuing spirit of democracy the event audience got to vote to give special commendations for ‘inspiring our collective imagination’ to a further three entries from a shortlist – those selected were Clandeboyne Corner, Inner City Forest (east) and The Church at Fountainville Ave.

With Forgotten Spaces we were interested in derelict buildings, waste-grounds, and development sites in that limbo-state, not because we were trying to address the myriad of complexities about land ownership, access or regeneration but rather because we were trying to draw attention to the vast number of neglected, unloved and underused spaces of the city which seem to get forgotten or ignored in top-level conversations. Imagination is a muscle – you need to feed it, feed it with ideas from other places, people, positive news - hopefully this project is feeding your imagination.

We’re not sure what the next stage will be (or if there will be one) but are always open to discussion ideas. Get in touch if you think we can help you or you can help us.

Meadhbh McIlgorm, Project Curator

Clandeboye Corner

Where?

Description of chosen place

What do you imagine the space could be?

Submitted by

Date

Social

Contact

About the ‘Forgotten Spaces’ project