Bandstand Woodvale Park

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Bandstand situated to the south of the main entrance to Woodvale Park and dating from 1925. Square in plan with painted brick base, ten square columns supporting hipped roof with central gablet to each side. Open on all sides with metal railings to north, south and east sides, railings and gates to west side.

Main elevation with access to bandstand faces west. Painted brick plinth with overhang, three steps to raised floor. Two square columns, one at each end, with chamfered corners, rendered finish, painted white concealing steel RSJs, exposed at soffit. Slim steel railings, approximately 1m in height fixed between columns. Matching double leafed gate to centre with steel box posts. Decorative timber fascia with upright and cross design, below painted downstand. Hipped roof with artificial slates, small gable with vertical boarding to apex, timber bargeboards and soffit, uPVC rainwater goods. Painted sheeted timber ceiling with central square design.

North, east and south elevations identical to west except with four columns to each face, railings between and without gates and steps.

Materials:

Roof : Artificial slate
RWG: uPVC

Setting:
The bandstand is located in a grassed area, to the south of the entrance gates to Woodvale Park, off the Woodvale Road. It is approached via a bit-mac path which circulates the bandstand.

Historical information

This bandstand, a square-shaped iron structure with timber roof structure located within Woodvale Park, was erected in 1925. In the early-19th century the Woodvale Road area was predominantly rural in character but the growth of the linen industry resulted in the urbanisation of the area. Clarke states that ‘there were bleachworks, beetling mills, bleach greens [and] at least ten bleaching complexes in the West Belfast area in the opening decades of the 19th century … the majority of these used the waters of the Farset and Forth’ (Clarke, p. viii-ix). This industrialisation resulted in the construction of rows of worker’s houses in the area by the 1850s. By the mid-Victorian period the Woodvale Road had become a thriving residential suburb.

Ormeau Park, Belfast’s first public park, had been established in 1871 under the Public Parks Act (1869) which required that towns of a certain size should establish public parks for the recreational use of its working classes. The laying out of Ormeau Park, as well as the smaller suburban Woodvale and Alexandra Parks, represented an important development in the social history of the city and demonstrates how the Corporation provided amenities for the health and benefit of Belfast’s working classes. Woodvale Park was Belfast’s fourth park and was laid out in 1887. The minutes of the Belfast Parks Committee records that Belfast Corporation acquired the grounds of Woodville Park after successfully advertising for land in the north-west of the town in 1886. The second edition of the Ordnance Survey map (1858) records that park occupies all of the land that made up the grounds of Woodville House. In 1887 twenty four acres of land were purchased in fee from the Rev. Octavius Glover (the last occupant of Woodville) at a yearly cost of £217 13s 2d (Scott, pp 23-24; Register of Parks).

Woodvale Park was designed by Belfast’s city surveyor Josiah Corbett Bretland (1846-1921), an English architect who moved to Belfast in the 1867 to become assistant to the previous city surveyor who he succeeded in 1884. The Dictionary of Irish Architects note that ‘as city surveyor he was involved in major improvements to the city at a time of rapid expansion.’ Immediately prior to designing Woodvale Park Bretland had designed the Albert Bridge following the collapse of the previous structure and was also responsible for the laying out of Alexandra Park in c. 1887. Bretland was responsible for the layout of the park and most likely designed the Gothic Revival sandstone gate piers and the railings which were erected at its main entrance in 1887 (Larmour, p. 52; DIA). Woodvale Park (which was originally going to be named Shankill Park) was scheduled to be opened on 18 August 1888 by the Mayor of Belfast and the Chairman of the Public Parks Committee. Scott states that a large crowd congregated outside the park’s gates for the opening ceremony but the Mayor and Chairman never turned up. The park was duly opened by a local councillor who cautioned the assembled crowd. In 1887 Alexandra Park had been closed soon after its opening due to excessive vandalism of the grounds.

The bandstand was not installed in the park until 1925. When it was originally opened, Woodvale Park was deemed too small and did not possess enough amenities for the number of locals who utilised it. In 1900 the public park was slightly enlarged by a quarter acre and subsequent additions were made to the initially featureless park including a pond (located at the east side of the park but now filled in and replaced with a children’s playground), a greenhouse (1899) and the bandstand (Dean, p. 31; Scott). Scott states that the Public Parks Committee permitted the organising of musical performances in Belfast’s public parks from the 1870s. By the 1880s local and military bands played regularly in Ormeau Park and Botanic Gardens and, following the Belfast Corporation Act of 1899, annual funds not exceeding £250 were allocated towards the maintenance of a band for the parks. The first bandstands to be erected in the parks were temporary wooden structures but during the 1920s these were replaced with permanent stands. The bandstand at Woodvale Park was erected in 1925 to a standard design (there is an identical bandstand located in Botanic Gardens – also 1925). The bandstand in Woodvale Park would have originally been surrounded by seating arranged in a horseshoe shape around the band. By the 1960s the playing of music in Belfast’s public parks was organised by the Northern Ireland Bands Association. Scott states that all band performances in Falls Park were suspended in 1967 due to the hostility shown to bands that would play the national anthem. The general popularity of outdoor band performances has waned since the 1970s (Scott, pp 55-56, p. 139; Baker).

Woodvale Park was listed in 1987 and underwent a £2 million restoration and reorganisation of its grounds in 2013. The bandstand continued to be intermittently used for public performances. Field inspection of the structure carried out as part of the Second Survey has found the bandstand to be in good state of repair (Greater Shankill Partnership).

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/1/61/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1858
2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1901-02
3. PRONI OS/6/1/61/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1931
4. PRONI OS/6/1/61/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1938
5. PRONI LA/7/11/AA/1 – Minute Book of the Parks Committee (1872-1893)
6. Belfast Street Directories (1880-1943)
7. First Survey Record – HB26/38/002 (No Date)
8. NIEA HB Records – HB26/38/002

Secondary Sources
1. ‘Register of parks, gardens and demesnes of special historic interest’ Belfast: Northern Ireland Environment Agency.
2. Baker, J., ‘Snapshot Belfast: 1925-1929’ Belfast: Glenravel Local History Project, 2008.
3. Clarke, R. S. J., ‘Gravestone Inscriptions: Belfast Vol. 1’ Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 1982.
4. Larmour, P., ‘Belfast: An illustrated architectural guide’ Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press, 1987.
5. Scott, R., ‘A breath of fresh air: The story of Belfast’s parks’ Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 2000.

Online Resources
1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie
2. Greater Shankill Partnership –
http://greatershankillpartnership.org/news-blogs/news-articles/255-woodvale-park-opening-2013.html
3. Belfast City Council: Woodvale Park –
http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/leisure/parks-openspaces/Park-6885.aspx

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

A good example of a square-shaped bandstand dating from 1925. An open structure constructed in iron and timber with brick base, square columns, a hipped and gabled roof and decorative timber frieze. Located within Woodvale Park, a typically Victorian park which dates from 1887 with gates, piers and railings to designs by the English architect J. C. Bretland (HB26.38.002A). Originally erected in Belfast's parks, as temporary wooden structures for local and military bands to play, bandstands were replaced with permanent structures in 1920s to a standard design (there was an identical bandstand erected in Botanic Gardens – also 1925). The bandstand in Woodvale Park would have originally been surrounded by seating arranged in a horseshoe shape around the band. Despite some alterations the bandstand has group value with the other listed structures in the park and is an increasingly rare feature and an important part of the area’s history.