What are the Peace Walls?
Frankie Quinn writes, "The peace walls were born out of the vicious sectarian strife of the late sixties onwards. These began as haphazard barricades thrown up by Catholics and Protestants in defense against sectarian incursions into their areas; the British Army, subsequently, added their own. The barricades were formalized as a security measure which was, supposedly (and, again, ironically), temporary."
The peace walls or peace lines mirror the longstanding physical divisions of the city itself. The first modern day peaceline built between the Falls and Shankill areas in 1969 follows the course of the River Farset. This gave the city its original name in Irish, Béal Féirste, meaning “the sandy ford at the mouth of the Farset." During the time of early industrialization, this river provided power to the mills, factories, and distilleries that were integral to the city's early growth and prosperity.
In these factories and mills, religious and ethnic tensions were preyed upon, and sectarian fears were exploited by factory and mill owners to help them avoid addressing substandard work and housing conditions. This led to greater segregation and violence in communities on each side of the Farset. Also during the pogroms of the 1920s and sectarian violence of 1935, the city saw barriers and walls being erected between communities, many of which were rejected by residents who saw them as encouraging division instead of addressing it.
Fast forward to 1971, John Taylor, Northern Ireland’s then Minister for Home Affairs, submitted a report to the Prime Minister entitled ‘Future Policy on Areas of Confrontation’ which claimed the peacelines were successful in solving communal violence, opposed integration, and made security suggestions (including official barriers) for the re-development of Belfast then in progress.
A minority report was submitted by sole British government representative Anthony Hewin stating:
“When a city is re-developed a pattern of life is laid down for at least a century… I find myself in disagreement at the proposals that the divisions in the community should be accepted as a feature of life which must inevitably persist for a hundred years or more.”
The years that followed saw increased civil unrest and the forcing of people in mixed communities out of their homes and into homogenous areas. This marked the largest forced migration of citizens in Europe since World War 2.
The peace walls or peace lines mirror the longstanding physical divisions of the city itself. The first modern day peaceline built between the Falls and Shankill areas in 1969 follows the course of the River Farset. This gave the city its original name in Irish, Béal Féirste, meaning “the sandy ford at the mouth of the Farset." During the time of early industrialization, this river provided power to the mills, factories, and distilleries that were integral to the city's early growth and prosperity.
In these factories and mills, religious and ethnic tensions were preyed upon, and sectarian fears were exploited by factory and mill owners to help them avoid addressing substandard work and housing conditions. This led to greater segregation and violence in communities on each side of the Farset. Also during the pogroms of the 1920s and sectarian violence of 1935, the city saw barriers and walls being erected between communities, many of which were rejected by residents who saw them as encouraging division instead of addressing it.
Fast forward to 1971, John Taylor, Northern Ireland’s then Minister for Home Affairs, submitted a report to the Prime Minister entitled ‘Future Policy on Areas of Confrontation’ which claimed the peacelines were successful in solving communal violence, opposed integration, and made security suggestions (including official barriers) for the re-development of Belfast then in progress.
A minority report was submitted by sole British government representative Anthony Hewin stating:
“When a city is re-developed a pattern of life is laid down for at least a century… I find myself in disagreement at the proposals that the divisions in the community should be accepted as a feature of life which must inevitably persist for a hundred years or more.”
The years that followed saw increased civil unrest and the forcing of people in mixed communities out of their homes and into homogenous areas. This marked the largest forced migration of citizens in Europe since World War 2.
Information, maps, and photos from the Belfast Interface Project , the Peacewall Archive, The Treason Felony Blog, Hidden Hydrology, the Belfast Archive Project and Frankie Quinn
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A note from the Director, Tom Callahan
I have always enjoyed films and videos about people behind cameras. After meeting Frankie in Belfast in 2018, I became intruiged by his documentation of his city, and specifically the walls. The Peace Walls intrigued me because I have also been interested in the historical and contemporary realities of Ireland. Contrary to distorted and passifying textbook versions of history forced onto me growing up, my career as a filmmaker has been focused on the peoples' perspectives and creative community resistance, which photographers like Frankie and communities on both sides of the walls embody. |
