Boundary Post

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A cast iron administrative marker showing the outer extent of the jurisdiction of Belfast Corporation (as Belfast City Council was then known), and of Cromac District Electoral Division and Ward within it.
Embedded in the towpath’s verge close to the North bank of the River Lagan, c1.5km from Shaw’s bridge and close to a section known as Lagan meadows. Of slightly tapered cylindrical profile, the post measures 3 feet high by 1ft diameter. It has a banded octagonal base, oversailing octagonal collar, supported on a splayed dentil casting and a slightly smaller spoked cap. The front bears the shield of Belfast’ Corporation’s coat of arms and below is an attached plaque reading ‘PARLIAMENTARY AND MUNICIPAL BOUNDARY OF BELFAST CROMAC DIVISION CROMAC WARD 1918’
The plaque is secured to the post with four countersunk screws.

Historical information

This boundary post is dated 1918, and was presumably erected in that year. It is not marked for the first time on the 1920 six-inch OS map. The design of all of Belfast's existing posts is very similar to a post dated 1858 which survives on the west side of High Street, Holywood, Co. Down, suggesting - at very least - continuity in terms of local design, if not the reuse, (and at times, repositioning), of earlier posts.

The County of the Borough of Belfast was created under the Local Government Act 1898 and enacted the following year. The new borough was divided into four constituencies for the purposes of parliamentary elections to the Westminster House of Commons (this was pre-Partition and creation of Stormont) – North, East, West and South. Each division had its own Member of Parliament.
Under the Redistribution of Seats (Ireland) Act 1918, the existing four constituencies were abolished and their number increased to nine - Cromac, Duncairn, Falls, Ormeau, Pottinger, St Anne’s, Shankill, Victoria, and Woodvale.

Each new parliamentary division had its own MP and encompassed one or several municipal wards; the latter were used for elections to Belfast Corporation. As its legend states, this particular post marks the boundary of the parliamentary division of Cromac, and of Cromac ward within it.

These new constituencies were first used in the General Election of 14 December 1918, just over a month after the cessation of the First World War. This particular election took place under the Representation of the People Act 1918 (also known as the Fourth Reform Act). It is of special significance in that, for the first time, all men over 21 years of age and all women over 30 could vote; it was also the first election to be completed within the one day. Previously, only male property owners but no women could vote, and the election was spread out over several weeks.

With the inception of the devolved parliament for Northern Ireland in 1922, the number of Westminster MPs was greatly reduced. The Cromac parliamentary constituency, created only four years before, was abolished and the previous Belfast seats restored. The municipal wards, however, continued to be used for local elections for some time thereafter

Belfast Corporation was superseded by Belfast City Council in 1973 and its jurisdiction extended beyond its former borough boundary.

References – Primary Sources
1. Local Government Act 1898.
2 OS maps, 1920, 1931, 1955-56

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
Z. Rarity
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
U. Historic Associations
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A cast iron marker dated 1918, unaltered and in its original location, displaying an ornamental capping and an inscribed plaque. It marks the outer extent of the administrative jurisdiction of Belfast Corporation (as Belfast City Council was then known), and of Cromac District Electoral Division. It is of historic importance as a remnant of the first election in Britain and Ireland when nearly everyone (bar women under 30) had the right to vote. It also marks the short-lived period in the province’s political development up to the formation of Northern Ireland and the Stormont administration in 1922. It is relatively rare as many of these posts have succumbed to road widening and removal. It has group value with three other similar boundary posts on the banks of the River Lagan – HB26 17 127, 128 and 130.