It was the Marquess' son in law, Lord Ashley 8th Earl of Shaftsbury, who paid for the castle to be completed and inherited it in The castle and it's estate was presented as a gift to the City in and was used as a venue for wedding receptions and grand events until when the council started a major restoration programme.
The project cost over two million pounds and took over ten years to complete. Belfast Castle Photograph by Ross. He was later made bankrupt and his land was absorbed into the castle estate. Martlet Tower became a tenement for estate workers but was eventually demolished in the s. Park Lodge The site now occupied by a primary school was originally a substantial house built in by Captain William McAteer. Named St Helena after the island where Napoleon died, there was once a wooden statue of Napoleon on the top of the central tower of the house.
The house was used to demonstrate the use of gas masks during the second world war and became a primary school in It was demolished in the s to make way for the present school building. In the s, this house was owned by the Whitla family. Open in Google Maps. You might also like. Titanic Belfast. Linen Quarter. The White House. Bright Lights Botanic. Jordanstown Loughshore Park.
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The 2nd Marquess of Donegall decided to settle in Belfast around ——and he and his family would need a place to live. They settled in what would become Donegall House which, at the time, was only a few hundred yards from the original medieval Belfast Castle site. The Marquess also owned Ormeau Cottage current Ormeau Park——the oldest municipal park in Belfast located in South Belfast, which he would eventually expand into Ormeau House and retain as his primary residence, selling off Donegall House in the s.
This new build, situated in north Belfast, on the slopes of Cave Hill, would be called Belfast Castle. This castle, erected anew in , was constructed using local pink sandstone and sat atop an inclined tract of land which offered unparalleled views of the town.
In possession of Belfast Castle for only a few years upon the death of the 3rd Marquess in , the 8th Earl of Shaftesbury himself would die in , leaving the site to his then-teenaged son, Anthony-Ashley Cooper, the 9th Earl of Shaftesbury. A dutiful and proud resident of the area, the young Earl would serve as Lord Mayor of Belfast in , eventually becoming simply Lord Shaftesbury.
A philanthropic at heart, Lord Shaftesbury would go on to sell the various estates of the Donegall family, while residing in Belfast Castle. Following the terms of the British Land Acts, and due to the overwhelming financial burden of maintaining such a grand house——especially post World War I——Belfast Castle, and its surrounding area, was gifted to the City of Belfast by Lord Shaftesbury in , setting off a debate as to what to do with the offerings.
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