Waterworks


View larger map Address: Antrim Road, Belfast, BT14 6NG

Entrance to the park is via Antrim Road or Cavehill Road. If you are travelling by bus, take Metro no.1A-H from Belfast city centre.

The Waterworks, as the name suggests, was the source of Belfast's water supply in the mid 19th century. It became a public park in the 1950s.

Today, the park is an oasis for wildfowl in north Belfast. You can find many greylag geese and mute swans, as well as other birds such as mallards, tufted ducks, coots, pochards, goldeneyes, cormorants and great-crested grebes. You can also see redwings and fieldfares feeding on the grass.

The park is also home to the Waterworks multi-sports facility. Other features include a community garden where local volunteers grow their own fruit and vegetables, two children's playgrounds, ponds, scenic views and walking routes.

You can find out more about the park by viewing the video clip and picture gallery on this page. You need to have Adobe Flash Player 10 installed on your computer to use these features. Press the 'play' button to begin watching.

Opening hours

All our parks open at 7.30am daily. Closing times vary according to the time of year - check full opening hours for parks

Events

Waterworks is home to Parkrun, a free 5K (three miles) timed walk or jog around the park, every Saturday at 9.30am, in association with North Belfast Harriers. It regularly attracts more than 180 runners each week. The park also hosts regular events, including band performances and family fun days. Details of these are available in our park events section.

Contact details

For more information about the park, call 07887 743923 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 4.30pm only) or email mckinleyl@belfastcity.gov.uk

Sports facilities

A multi-sports facility within Waterworks contains soccer pitches, Gaelic football, camogie and hurling pitches and tennis courts.

Coaching is available upon request. The site is looked after under a facilities management agreement with the North Belfast Play Forum, in association with the council. Call Diarmuid McAuley on 028 9075 4200 or 07961 980494 for booking information. 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.

Walking routes

The Waterworks is a popular spot for walkers and offers several varied routes.

History

The Belfast Waterworks were established in the early 1840s by the Water Commissioner. The site supplied water to the city's factories and residents for 20 years before demand began to outstrip supply.

In 1897, a public meeting was held to decide the future of the Waterworks and a suggestion was made that the site should be used for water-based activities.

The site's owners, the Water Board, were initially hesitant as their operation licence only extended to providing the city with water and they did not want to sell their land to the Belfast Corporation (now the council). However, following an Act of Parliament in 1889, the Water Board were allowed to use the Waterworks for leisure purposes, provided they spent no more than £500 per year on the site.

Tom Boyce, a boating contractor who operated the Ormeau ferry across the River Lagan, was commissioned by the Water Board to provide 12 rowing boats for the site. Public bathing soon followed, as did diving and swimming galas, speedboat racing in 1929 and model yacht sailing in 1933.

The Waterworks were bought by the Belfast Corporation in 1956. They decided to partially fill in both of the site's reservoirs for safety reasons. The work took ten years to complete.

Since then, the upper pond has been stocked with trout for the local angling club and two manmade islands have been added to encourage waterfowl to breed.