Antrim Road, Belfast

The Antrim Road is a major arterial route and area of housing and commerce that runs from inner city north Belfast to Dunadry, passing through Newtownabbey and Templepatrick. It forms part of the A6 road, a traffic route which links Belfast to Derry. It passes through the New Lodge, Newington and Glengormley areas of Northern Ireland amongst others.

The Antrim Road was initially a much shorter road than it is now and this smaller exit from the city centre was originally known as Duncairn Street. It took its present name from the fact that it links to Antrim town, a role that was previously filled by what is now the Shankill Road, which lies west of the Antrim Road.

The road was one of the areas of the city to suffer sustained bombardment by the Luftwaffe as part of the Belfast Blitz of April and May 1941 and was amongst those hit the hardest resulting in a high number of casualties. The Waterworks on Antrim Road, Belfast's principal source of water, was one of the Luftwaffe's targets. On the night of 15/16 April 1941 German bombers launched their deadliest attack on Belfast. Shortly after the air raid sirens sounded at 10.40 pm, the Luftwaffe bombers began dropping incendiaries, powerful explosive bombs and parachute mines. North Belfast was first to be attacked and bore the brunt of the bombardment with entire swaths of terraced houses levelled. The Antrim Road in particular took the full force of the air raid which resulted in an inferno that engulfed the street. The Auxiliary Fire Brigade was unable to put out the conflagration as the water mains had been broken in 20 places. Victoria Barracks, in the New Lodge area, had been destroyed by a number of direct hits. Burke Street, which ran between Annadale and Dawson streets, was totally obliterated by bombs, its 20 dwellings flattened and all of the occupants killed. The Ministry of Public Security ordered the killing of 23 animals from the nearby Belfast Zoo as it was feared the air raids would lead to the animals escaping thus posing a risk to the populace. The animals which were shot included a tiger, a lynx, a hyena, a black bear, two polar bears, and six wolves.

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