Belfast - Antrim or Down?

The Guvnor

Now I know a letter or package will get to Belfast irrespective of whether we put Co. Antrim or Co. Down but which is it?

I know by and large Belfast is Co. Antrim but parts of south/east Belfast are Co. Down.

It's just that we have a business in Belfast and the mail is 50/50 roughly addressed to either down or antrim.

Initially this confused me! I was saying it is Antrim but then the small voice in my head was going are you sure...

LordSutch

Maybe you could just leave out the County and add the Postcode?

charlemont

The Guvnor wrote: »

Now I know a letter or package will get to Belfast irrespective of whether we put Co. Antrim or Co. Down but which is it?

I know by and large Belfast is Co. Antrim but parts of south/east Belfast are Co. Down.

It's just that we have a business in Belfast and the mail is 50/50 roughly addressed to either down or antrim.

Initially this confused me! I was saying it is Antrim but then the small voice in my head was going are you sure...

Belfast City will do.

POCKET.ROCKET.

Not 100% sure of this, but this is what I was told. As a guide, any area south to East of the river lagan in belfast is Co Down, and north to West is Co. Antrim. So the city centre, Waterfront Hall, Lisburn Road etc are Co. Antrim, and the like of the Ravenhill Rd, Odyssey, City Airport are Co. Down.

pow wow

POCKET.ROCKET. wrote: »

Not 100% sure of this, but this is what I was told. As a guide, any area south to East of the river lagan in belfast is Co Down, and north to West is Co. Antrim. So the city centre, Waterfront Hall, Lisburn Road etc are Co. Antrim, and the like of the Ravenhill Rd, Odyssey, City Airport are Co. Down.

Not strictly true but as most people never use the county in their address you'd never know.

The Guvnor

Not me sending the letters.

Just the ones that come in have both.

Just a curiousity more than anything!:)

pow wow

There must be a formal answer for it but from googling it's a Q that comes up a lot. I rented in East Belfast and always thought it was Antrim and nothing official we ever received in the mail confirmed/denied it We never had anything from the rates agency though and that's the only people I can think of that might have specified. You've got me thinking about it now!

Berns

When was working up there we never used the county in the address as BELFAST (should be in capitals) is the postal town and it should suffice with the postcode. Prity sure they have a postcode finder or address finder if know the postcode anyhow if your wanting to check for a specific address if it's required or what it is etc.

http://www.royalmail.com/postcode-finder

Also wikipedia has both Antrim and Down in it so depends where are if including it I guess.

The Guvnor

Thanks Berns.

Pow wow - I guess the county depends on which part.

I'm fairly certain the Uni is antrim...fairly certain!:)

Soil Mechanic

Put it this way...most Belfast GAA clubs are administered by Antrim.

Apart from that, the old County divisions are as functionally irrelevant as Townlands (sadly...)

As Berns points out, the Postcode system is a better more comprehensive mapping system (If you had just a building number & the Postcode, your item will get there...it's that localized. )

Think the confusions may be a result of the urban sprawl of Belfast over the years....

aquascrotum

AFAIK the old County line runs down the Lagan, so everything south and east of the river is Down. The city centre is in Antrim so the city is generally referred to as being within Co. Antrim.

As others have said, the County system is largely irrelevant in NI outside of the GAA - replaced by district / borough councils administratively many moons ago and will not make a jot of difference to the postman...!

Berns

aquascrotum wrote: »

AFAIK the old County line runs down the Lagan, so everything south and east of the river is Down. The city centre is in Antrim so the city is generally referred to as being within Co. Antrim.

As others have said, the County system is largely irrelevant in NI outside of the GAA - replaced by district / borough councils administratively many moons ago and will not make a jot of difference to the postman...!

Knew this was case in Lisburn, dunno bout Belfast?

DannyMM

This has confused me for sometime too. I was trying to work out which county Mount Merrion was in, and I'd been told that the area south/east of the Lagan was in Down, which would place it there, but I've google it and properties listed for sale in Mount Merrion are listed as being in Antrim. Now I would have thought a real estate agent would have the correct information.

Anyone able to confirm this for me?

Cheers

Danny

muffler

After a wee bit of searching I found that Mount Merrion is within the BT6 postcode area which is shown enclosed by the broken white line on this map. I haven't a clue though where the boundary dividing Antrim and Down is.

awec

Parts of Sydenham are in Co Down, as is Castlereagh and Dundonald AFAIK. Castelreagh is BT6 I'm pretty sure.

The reason estate agents etc may list it wrong is that it's a bit of a grey-area (it's the only real county boundary in an urban area). Belfast is Belfast, the county is redundant. Same goes for most of NI.

Eg Lisburn Borough Council, Craigavon Borough council etc instead of county councils.

Thomas828

The most recent maps of Ireland I have show that nearly all of Greater Belfast is in County Antrim. County Down begins at Knocknagoney and Belfast City airport, Belmont, Braniel, Castlereagh, Cregagh and Newtownbreda. Then the boundary meets the River Lagan.

funkey_monkey

All areas administered by Belfast City Council have been relocated into County Antrim. I think that means everything north of the Lagan and everyone bounded on the south side between the Lagan and the Outer Ring.

The GAA still work off the old boundary which would be splite along the Lagan.

Or so I've been told...

The Guvnor

Thanks funkey!

belfastbollix

The river lagan is the original boundary between down and Antrim