placenamesBelfast Upper
Béal Feirste Uachtarach
An 1837 account records a community using neighbouring meeting houses while retaining its old burial ground.
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
- Béal Feirste Uachtarach · Irish · main form
- Belfast Upper · English · main form
Place & story
A churchyard without an active church
In Ballymartin parish, which Samuel Lewis placed in Upper Belfast, he found no active place of worship in 1837. Most inhabitants were Presbyterians attending meeting houses nearby. The ruined old church remained, and its churchyard still served most local people for burial. A school taught twenty-five boys and fifteen girls. The account shows worship, burial and teaching organised through different sites within and beyond the parish. [2]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Belfast Upper. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Ballymartin, Upper Belfast, Antrim: A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837) · Samuel Lewis
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2021-05-26. How this page was prepared.