Finaghy Baptist Church

About Finaghy :

Finaghy
Derivation: Fionnachadh: ’the bright field’ or Fair field
Finaghy is a suburban area of South Belfast, grouped around a crossroads on the Lisburn Road which runs west out of Belfast city. In the early 1900s, it was a quiet area of countryside but population movement led to housing development from the 1920s.

Finaghy is a residential area in south Belfast situated between Balmoral and Dunmurry. The suburb is fairly affluent and has a small shopping area at its heart.

Famous Folk:

1976 Nobel prize-winners Betty Williams & Máiread Corrigan Maguire, founders of the Peace People.

Alfie Martin – author of ‘Bale Out: Escaping Occupied France with the Resistance’. This WW2 veteran’s book outlines his remarkable escape, after his Halifax Bomber aircraft was shot down over the French-Belgian border.

Rebel the Alsatian dog, who saved his owner’s father from a bullet in 1979. The attack was a case of mistaken identity,- they had targeted the wrong man. The dog was shot in the stomach and lost an eye, having pounced on the gunmen. Rebel was considered for a posthumous PDSA bravery award in 2004.

Past Times:

Finaghy House in Ballyfinaghy was purchased in 1727 by Ralph Charley, a successful merchant of Belfast.

In 1727 it is recorded that Finaghy House was an imposing mansion in a large park with extensive outhouses and stables. The family were pioneers in the linen industry and it is said that looms were set up in this house in the 18th century and the new process of bleaching linen cloth with chlorine was perhaps discovered and first used here.

Every 12th July for about 150 years until 1972, the Belfast Orangemen used to walk to the field at Finaghy. This field was owned by the Charleys of Finaghy House who granted it in perpetuity for this day to the Orange Order, the "rent" being that the lesson should always be read from the "Charley Bible" during the religious part of the ceremony.

Finaghy House is now known as Faith House, a comfortable home for senior citizens in the middle of a large housing estate.

The Parish of Upper Falls was constituted in 1859 and the Church of St John the Baptist was built on land belonging to and adjacent to Woodbourne house. The new Church was consecrated in 1861. After World War 2 Woodbourne became a popular hotel. There was a local story that the ghost of John Stouppe s used to walk down the staircase a midnight on Saturdays. In the mid 1970s, after suffering bomb damage, it was converted into a fortified RUC station.

Within the grounds of Seymour Hill was a lake and a waterfall leading into a fish pond. The Derriaghy River flowed under the main Belfast - Lisburn road into the lake and then was divided into two mill races to work the factory water wheels. The top stream was known locally as "Little Harry" because baby Harold Charley's pram once ran away down the drive and ended up upside down in the river. He was none the worst for the experience.

During World War 2 the laundry premises in the upper yard were occupied by up to 100 women and children evacuated from the centre of Belfast during the air mid blitzes of 1941 and 1942.

Just after World War 2 the the Northern Ireland Housing Trust was formed and, by the first vesting order issued in Northern Ireland, Seymour Hill House was sold and all the grounds on the county Antrim side of the river Lagan. This was the first enterprise undertaken by the Trust, now the NI Housing Executive. In no time the house was surrounded by a well laid out but vast housing estate. The upper and lower yards were made into comfortable well designed mews flats which won a Civic Trust Award in 1960.

In 1837 the Ulster Railway Company opened its first line from Belfast to Lisburn. To encourage use of the railway, free passes were offered to people if they built new homes near the stations and halts and phoenix house was one of those built in the area as a result.

Warren House looked across the Derriaghy River to an ancient mound and rabbit warren. The rabbits were of all possible colours - black, white, piebald, orange - the results of tame rabbits escaping and joining their wild relatives, hence the name warren.

In 1970, when the DeLorean factory was built in the nearby fields, Warren House was fitted out for John Delorean to live in. A special roadway was made direct from the factory to the house and it was rumoured, untrue, that gold taps were put in the bathrooms. There were several break-ins because of this. It is now occupied by new owners.