placenamesFiniston
Fineastún
Finiston’s former school provides a documented view of education in north Belfast during the Troubles.
The name
A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.
Recorded forms
- Fineastún · Irish · main form · validated name
- Finiston · English · main form
Place & story
A school later lost
Architectural historian Paul Larmour included Finiston among R.S. Wilshere’s interwar Belfast schools. His 2014 account noted that it had been demolished, making it one of the lost examples in a wider programme of school design. [2]
Teaching through the Troubles
Anthony Bailey visited Finiston Primary School for a 1973 report. Soldiers occupied its older front building while teaching continued in the 1930s block behind. Principal David Russell pressed for buses because children faced danger on their journeys; Bailey recorded pupils being brought to school and taken home on special double-deckers. [3]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Finiston. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Modern schools in Belfast: The Work of R.S. Wilshere, in Absorbing Modernity1914–2014 · Dr Paul Larmour; British Council
- On the Oldpark Road, Belfast (1973) · Anthony Bailey
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2021-05-26. How this page was prepared.