placenamesParkmount
Cnoc na Páirce
A lost Shore Road mansion, banking families and a charitable legacy recorded in company shares.
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
- Cnoc na Páirce · Irish · main form · validated name
- Parkmount · English · main form
Place & story
An estate above the Shore Road
Parkmount was a wooded estate north of Belfast, stretching from the lough towards the Antrim Road. In 1796 it passed to the Cairns family, who replaced an earlier house with a Georgian mansion distinguished by an Ionic entrance porch. John McNeile acquired the property in 1829. His banking career and his son Henry Hugh’s investment in northern railways connected this country residence with the commercial growth of Belfast. [2]
Robert Anderson’s bequests
Sir Robert Anderson of Parkmount died on 16 July 1921. A charitable-bequests notice published the following April records a will dated 5 June 1918, distributing preference shares in Anderson & McAuley Ltd among religious and charitable organisations. The beneficiaries included Presbyterian missions and pension funds, the Belfast YMCA and the Qua Iboe Mission. Rather than cash alone, these gifts assigned company shares to support the recipients’ work. [3]
From mansion to housing
Robert Anderson bought Parkmount in 1905, and his widow remained there after his death. The house briefly became a school in 1925 under Miss Wasson. Its survival was short-lived: demolition was underway in the summer of 1932, preparing the estate for residential development. Parkmount Road and the surrounding streets preserve a name once attached to a large private house and its grounds. [2]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Antrim
- Barony
- Belfast Upper
- Civil parish
- Shankill
- Coordinates
- 54.63230, -5.92464 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 135836 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Parkmount. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Parkmount, Belfast – Lost Mansions · P&P, Belfast Entries
- Notice of charitable bequests: Sir Robert Anderson, Belfast Gazette, 28 April 1922, p413 · Robert Wallace, solicitor; Belfast Gazette
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2021-05-26. How this page was prepared.