BEL 



175 



BEL 



under 120; but thero had already been built more than 40 

 vessels, the greater number above 200 tons. The largesl 

 vessel built in the port registers about 500 tons. Iron anc 

 brass founding have long been carried on with considerable 

 ac-tivity; iron founding was actively prosecuted prior tc 

 16-11. Castings on the largest scale are now executed 

 in the best manner ; and much of the cotton and liner 

 spinning machinery is driven by steam-engines constructed 

 in the Lagan foundries. Belfast presents more of a manu- 

 facturing aspect than any other town in Ireland : there is, 

 however, a lightness and elegance about the place that 

 takes away much of the dark effect of its numerous chim- 

 neys and their black volumes of smoke ; so that no town, 

 perhaps, in the British islands more agreeably unites the 

 appearances of industry and cheerfulness. 



The private buildings are (with one or two exceptions) in 

 variably of brick, and extremely regular; the general aspect 

 of the chief streets is pleasing, and the neighbourhood of 

 Donegal-square exhibits as good houses and as handsome 

 street-views as almost any provincial town can boast of. 

 The public buildings are more numerous than striking, and 

 the want of steeples cannot fail to strike the traveller who is 

 accustomed to the view of more antient towns. The parish 

 !i of St. Anne's, built in 1778, has a tower and coppered 

 i 1 of good proportions, although the upper part of the 

 towenis framed of painted wood : it is capable of accommo- 

 dating 1 1 00 persons, and was erected at the expense of the 

 -ia*? Marquis of Donegal. The chapel of ease, built in 

 1811 12, on the site of the old parish church in High- 

 street, is a plain building with a beautiful portico. The por- 

 tico was presented by the bishop of Down and Connor, who 

 procured it at the taking down of Ballyscullen-house, the 

 Irish Funthill, built by Lord Bristol, the celebrated bishop of 

 Darry in the last century ; the building will contain 1200 

 ns. Another church, which has lately been erected 

 in the south-western suburbs of the town, is a substantial 

 edifice. The pfesbyteriati places of worship are eleven in 

 number, three of which, lately erected, possess architectural 

 pretensions ; but wanting spires, and being rather clumsily 

 furnished with porticos, they contribute much less than 

 be di'sired to the ornament of the town. Of the eleven, 

 including the three alluded to, are attended by the con- 

 lions professing the faith of the synod of Ulster. The 

 number of persons who can be accommodated in them is 

 en 51)00 and COOO. Two others, which are attended by 

 congregations professing Unitarian doctrines, are capable 

 of containing from20UO to 2500 persons. The orthodox Se- 

 ccders have also two small chapels. The Covenanters, or 

 reformed Presbyterians, have a good though not large meet- 

 ing-house in the suburbs ; the remainder are in the hands 

 of independent congregations. The Roman Catholic places 

 of worship within the town are two, but in the neighbour- 

 there are several others. Previous to the year 1763, 

 the Roman Catholics of Belfast, although upwards of 550 

 in number, performed their worship in the open air. In that 

 year their first chapel was erected, but soon becoming in- 

 adequate to their increasing numbers, another \vas required, 

 and a large and handsome edifice has been erected in Do- 

 ' street, with spacious schools and handsome residences 

 for the clergy attached to it. These buildings are still insuffi- 

 cient to accommodate the rapidly-growing Roman Catholic 

 population, which it now more than one-third of that of the 

 whole town. The Methodists have four chapels, and the 

 Society of Friends a meeting-house. The chief public edi- 

 fi'-c is the Commercial Buildings, an extensive pile, termi- 

 nating one end of Donegal-street, to which it presents a 

 handsome architectural front of stone. It was erected at a 

 'if about 20,000?., and is the property of a company in- 

 corporated by act of parliament. Here is a remarkably good 

 and well-regulated news-room, frequented by all the mer- 

 cantile body of Belfast. Partially fronting this stands the 

 old Exchange at the divergence of Donegal-street and 

 North-street a heavy and neglected but respectable square 

 building of brick on a cut-stone basement. The exchange 

 ii'.i-d to bo held in the lower story, and the upper contains a 

 very excellent assembly-room, much superior both in size 

 and proportion to that in the building opposite : the house 

 is the property of the Marquis of Donegal. The theatre, a 

 shabby brick structure externally, but of very elegant 

 though small proportions within, is much neglected. In its 

 charitable institutions Belfast stands pre-eminent : the poor- 

 house at the north end of Donegal-street fronting the Com- 

 mercial buildings is a fine structure, with extensive wings 



and a handsome spire, built at an original cost of from 

 7000?. to 10,000?., and supported at an expense of upwards 

 of 2000?. per annum by the voluntary yearly subscriptions 

 of the inhabitants and the produce of their former invested 

 donations. In 1830 it contained 432 inmates, all of whom 

 were fed, clothed, and the children educated, by the institu- 

 tion : it was incorporated under the title of the Belfast Incor- 

 porated Charitable Society, in anno 1774. The fever hospital 

 opened in 1817 is capable of accommodating upwards of 200 

 patients: its expenditure in 1828 amounted to 1239?. 6s. lOrf., 

 of which about one-half was granted at the county assizes, and 

 the remainder was the produce of voluntary subscriptions and 

 donations. A lying-in hospital, a female penitentiary, and a 

 house of industry for the prevention of mendicity, are en- 

 tirely supported by voluntary subscriptions. Carrickfergus 

 being the assize town for the county, there is no jail at Bel- 

 fast, but a large house of correction and a handsome police- 

 office have been lately built. The barracks on the high 

 ground in the north-western part of the town have been 

 lately enlarged ; they are capable of accommodating one 

 regiment of foot, and a troop of horse or company of artillery. 

 Belfast is well lighted : the gas-worto which supply the 

 town are the property of a company; they have been erected 

 upwards often years. The supply of water, which is neither 

 very copious nor good, is brought by open drains from the 

 country a mile to the south, and is conducted by pipes from 

 an open reservoir to the cisterns of the houses. As 

 coal is the fuel of Belfast, a great amount of shipping is 

 constantly employed between this port and Newcastle, 

 Whitehaven, and other ports of England. The coal quay 

 is highest up the river, then come those where the 

 general merchantmen are moored, and beyond these, to- 

 wards the bay, lie the ship-yards and ballast corporation 

 raving-docks ; lower down a new floating-dock is nearly 

 completed, the property of an enterprizing individual, and 

 still further improvements are contemplated between this 

 and the pool of Garmoyle, a deep and secure station about 

 :hree miles down the bay. A plan of these works, oy 

 Messrs. Walker and Bourges of London, has been adopted 

 >y the town authorities, and sanctioned by act of parlia- 

 ment, but as yet no step has been taken to carry it into 

 execution. By the improvements however effected by the 

 jallast corporation, ships drawing thirteen and fourteen 

 feet of water can already lie at the quays, and the dry 

 docks are sufficiently capacious to hold vessels of equal size 

 during their repairs ; a patent slip is also completed in one of 

 he private dock- yards. The manufactures and commerce of 

 Belfast have been so intimately connected with its rise as a 

 :own, that in its civil history we have already spoken of their 

 ntroduction and progress. The export trade, which must in 

 ill Irish ports be commensurate in great measure with the 

 >rosperity of their several districts, has long been very con- 

 ;iderable here. It consists chiefly of bacon, butter, pork, 

 >eef, corn, and raw hides; and, in manufactured articles, 

 of linens, calicoes, muslins, cotton-yarn, linen-yarn, soap, 

 anned leather, candles, and starch. The chief imports are 

 he raw material of the staple manufactures, and foreign 

 uxuries; cotton, wool, flax-seed, flax, barilla, potash, gro- 

 ceries, wine, &c. The gross amount of customs including ex- 

 cise amounted in 1783 to 32.900?. ; the customs exclusive of 

 excise, for the year ending 5th January, 1834, were 228,945/. 

 6*. lod. In 1682 the shipping of the port was 3307 tons ; in 

 1827 the registered tonnage of the port was 21,557 tons. The 

 value of the exports in 1810 was 2,904,520?. 19*., being up- 

 wards of half a million more than in the year previous : the 

 incus alone making more than two millions of this amount ; 

 the cotton-yarn exported in that year valued but 4942?. 6s., 

 ind the cotton fabrics of all kinds did not exceed 35,000?. 

 The items on a similar return for the last few years would 

 >e materially different, but the increase of the export trade 

 r e pn only exhibit by a comparison of the tonnage as 

 cleared outward. In 1831 there cleared outwards, coast- 

 wise, 155,416 tons, and for foreign ports 35,335. In 1834 

 the export tonnage was coastwise 1 74,894 tons, and for fo- 

 reign ports 31,665. Inwards, there entered in 1831, of Bri- 

 tish tonnage 27,970, and of foreign 4276 tons ; in the year 

 1833, of British tonnage 26,947, and of foreign 2537 tons ; 

 and in 1834, of British tonnage 30,733 tons, and of foreign 

 2395 tons. From a comparison of these items with similar 

 returns for the port of Cork, it appears that Belfast, with fewer 

 vessels, has in the foreign trade a greater amount of tonnage ; 

 jut that, taking the amount of British and foreign shipping, 

 their tonnage inwards for the last three years is very nearly 



