placenamesOrangefield
Páirc Oráiste
Orangefield’s estate land became a public park, its velodrome commemorates Tommy Givan, and its former school hosted Van Morrison at the beginning and later in his career.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Páirc Oráiste · Irish · main form · validated name
- Orangefield · English · main form
Place & story
From estate to wartime training ground
Belfast Corporation bought part of the Orangefield estate from the Blakiston-Houston family in 1938 with the intention of creating a public park. The Second World War interrupted those plans. American troops were based and trained on the parkland between 1942 and 1944, and a German prisoner-of-war camp was established nearby. The later public park therefore occupies ground that passed from private estate use through wartime military occupation before becoming a place for recreation. [2]
Tommy Givan’s track
Orangefield’s outdoor velodrome opened for competition in 1957, when track cycling attracted strong interest in Belfast. The banked oval measures 396 metres. In 1981 it was renamed for Tommy Givan, a former national track champion whose contribution to the sport was closely associated with the city. The cycling track forms part of the park’s wider sporting landscape, alongside pitches, tennis courts and a bowling green, rather than standing as an isolated stadium. [2]
Van Morrison returns to school
Orangefield Boys’ School opened in 1957 and later merged with the neighbouring girls’ school. Van Morrison attended it and performed there with fellow pupils in the skiffle group Midnight Special at Christmas 1959. In August 2014 he returned for three concerts as the school prepared to close. Recordings from those performances became Live at Orangefield, released in 2024. The school buildings were demolished in 2017, leaving the concert recordings as one record of the place. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Down
- Barony
- Castlereagh Upper
- Civil parish
- Knockbreda
- Coordinates
- 54.57790, -5.89647 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 130142 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Orangefield. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- History and Heritage of Orangefield Park · EastSide Greenways
- Van Morrison: Live at Orangefield · Proper Music Group
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2019-10-08. How this page was prepared.