Finaghy
Irish namean Fionnachadh
Static imageFinaghy railway station in 2008.jpg
Coordinates54.5638°N 5.9866°W
Irish grid referenceO003360
Unitary northern irelandBelfast City Council
Lieutenancy northern irelandCounty Antrim
Constituency ni assemblySouth Belfast
CountryNorthern Ireland
Post townBELFAST
Postcode areaBT
Postcode districtBT10
Dial code028
Hide servicesyes

Finaghy (/finəxi/ [1] or /fɪnəki/; )[2] is an electoral ward in the Balmoral district of Belfast City Council, Northern Ireland. It is based on the townland of Ballyfinaghy ().[3] There has been a small community living in the area since the 17th century, and it has been involved in the production of linen, which was key to the Lagan Valley area at the time.

History

In the 1930s, the community gradually started to grow; the local Presbyterian church was founded in 1930. In the 1950s, the city of Belfast grew outwards. Housing estates were built in Finaghy, including Benmore, Locksley and Erinvale, which caused the population to at least double. Finaghy now refers to the area along the Lisburn Road from the King's Hall to the start of Black's Road and between the Malone Road and the M1 Motorway bridge at Finaghy Road North. The heart of the area is Finaghy crossroads, where the Lisburn Road intersects with Finaghy Road North and Finaghy Road South. [citation needed]

Demographics

Source:[4]

Religion
Catholic43%
Presbyterian12%
Church of Ireland8%
Methodist3%
Other Christian religions6%
Other religions3%
No religion/Not stated24%

Census 2021 - Belfast - Highest level of qualifications, Economic activity, Hours worked per week, Industry of employment, Occupation Highest level of qualification

Highest level of qualification
No qualifications24%
Level 16%
Level 212%
Apprenticeship5%
Level 317%
Level 4 and above34%
Other
Industry of employment
Agriculture, energy and water1%
Manufacturing5%
Construction5%
Distribution, hotels and restaurants21%
Transport and communication10%
Financial, real estate, professional and administration18%
Public administration, education and health36%
Other5%
Occupation
Managers, directors and senior officials8%
Professional occupations24%
Associate professional and technical occupations11%
Administrative and secretarial occupations12%
Skilled trades occupations7%
Caring, leisure and other service occupations11%
Sales and customer service occupations11%
Process, plant and machine operatives5%
Elementary occupations
Economic activity
In employment53%
Unemployed4%
Economically inactive

Architectures

Finaghy is home to the first purpose-built National Health Service clinic in the United Kingdom.[citation needed] Unusually, Finaghy has no pubs or betting shops: it was stipulated in land deeds that there were to be no public houses on the land belonging to Ballyfinaghy House, the past residence of Ralph Charley, a wealthy Belfast merchant who made a fortune from the linen industry. Behind the crossroads is the new Finaghy Campus, which houses a freshly built public library, the non-denominational Finaghy Primary School and community playing fields.

Finaghy is home to various Protestant congregations – Presbyterian, Methodist, Church of Ireland, Plymouth Brethren and Baptist and a large Roman Catholic congregation in nearby Dunmurry. Aside from the older Presbyterian Church, which now has a new community centre, there is a relatively modern Methodist Church which has a representation of Jacob's Ladder in its skyline. The Church of Ireland church is dedicated to St. Polycarp. St. Anne's Roman Catholic Parish Church and centre is nestled opposite the top of the Black's Road. St Anne's Roman Catholic Primary School is situated next to it. Behind St. Anne's lies Rathmore Grammar School, a Catholic grammar school.

Sport

Finaghy Football Club play in the Northern Amateur Football League, and were originally known as Lowe Memorial YM when they were founded in 1962 [5]

See also

References

  1. ^ Pointon, Graham E. (1990). BBC Pronouncing Dictionary of British Names. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 92. ISBN 0-19-282745-6. 'finəxi
  2. ^ Placenames Database of Ireland
  3. ^ Placenames NI Archived 2012-03-31 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ "Belfast Census Data". explore.nisra.gov.uk. Archived 2022-12-06 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-09-10.
  5. ^ Fullerton, Gareth (2022-05-05). "Football club trying to track down past players ahead of anniversary dinner". Belfast Live. Retrieved 2025-02-10.