HomeOrangefield Park
Address: Orangefield Lane, Belfast, BT5 6AHEntrance to the park is via Houston Park and Orangefield Lane.If you are travelling by bus from Belfast city centre, take Metro no.5B.
Orangefield Park in east Belfast provides a wide range of facilities for local residents. It is also home to Orangefield Park Playing Fields which contain a bowling green, tennis courts, soccer pitches and a cycling track.
Building work is currently being carried out in the park as part of the Connswater Community Greenway initiative, a £32 million project to reconnect open spaces in east Belfast.
The cycling track at Orangefield Playing Fields is a 396-metre outdoor banked oval tarmac track, the only one of its kind in Northern Ireland. It enjoyed huge success in the 1950s and 1960s and it now hosts a popular track cycling league on Tuesday evenings, organised by Belfast Track Cycling.
The club also provides a fleet of purpose-built track bikes (with one gear and no brakes), which are available for hire for a fee. They also supply tandems for disabled riders.
Belfast Track Cycling can also arrange individual training sessions for clubs or community groups of up to 15 people, led by a qualified coach. For more information, visit www.cyclingulster.com
You can also call them directly on 07843 561084 or 07718 894570 or email Sportsprint.Mitch@btinternet.com
The park also contains horticultural displays and a children’s playground.
Opening hours
All our parks open at 7.30am daily. Closing times vary according to the time of year - check full opening hours for parksContact details
For more information about the park, call 028 9049 1813 or 07820 187203 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 4.30pm only) or email quinngordon@belfastcity.gov.ukSports facilities
Orangefield Park Playing Fields, located within the park, contain a bowling green, soccer pitches, tennis courts and a cycling track.The bowling green is open from 11am to 4pm, Monday to Friday (winter) and 11am to 9pm, Monday to Saturday (summer). The pitches are open from dusk to dawn.
Orangefield Playing Fields are looked after under a facilities management agreement by Bloomfield Football Club in association with the council. To book an activity or facility, call club president Robert McCoy on 07525 771500. You can also call the bowling pavilion directly on 028 9070 9072. You can also email outdoorleisure@belfastcity.gov.uk
If you have booked a pitch and want to check whether it is still playable, call us on 028 9027 0611 (Monday to Thursday, 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 4pm and Friday, 9am to 12pm) or on 028 9027 0677 outside these hours.
History
Orangefield Park was the family home of the Houston family in the 18th century.The head of the family, John Holmes Houston, was a partner in the Belfast Banking Company and lived on the Orangefield estate with his wife, Eliza, and his cousin. The family home was situated at the end of what is now Houston Park and the estate itself extended to almost 300 acres.
John and Eliza's daughter, Mary Isabella, was born in 1793 and later married Richard Bayly Blakiston. The two families joined names, leaving J Blakiston-Houston in charge of the Orangefield estate from 1857.
In 1934, the Blakiston-Houston family offered Belfast Corporation (now the council) part of the Orangefield estate to develop as a public park. The corporation, although keen to buy the land, felt that the price was too high. After lengthy negotiations, they bought part of the site in 1938 for £20,000.
Development work was put on hold due to World War II and plans for the park were only drawn up in 1947. Original ideas included football, hockey and cricket pitches, a polo pitch, a bowling green, a quoits and marbles pitch, a cycle track and pitch and putt course, tennis courts, pavilions and store buildings.
