Locals all set to reclaim the mountain this weekend
Local people are gearing up for an abundance of fresh air and exercise this weekend as they take advantage of the newly-laid walkways and routes across the Black and Divis mountains.
Officially opened to the public on Monday, vast tracts of the mountain range, which were acquired by the National Trust last November, have been opened up for all to share and offer stunning views across Belfast – stretching out as far as the Mourne Mountains with Strangford and Belfast Loughs, the Castlereagh and Holywood hills and the Sperrins all visible on clear days.
The Trust secured the purchase of the land from the Ministry of Defence (MoD), which had been in control of the upland since 1953.
Used as a watch station and training area, the lease for the land ran out in 1986, and was then officially purchased by the MoD for use during the late ’80s and ’90s.
However, given up by the MoD in 1999, the land was sold to the National Trust for £3m, with financial assistance from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Environment and Heritage Service of the DoE. It has now been cleared of thousands of tonnes of debris to make way for a ‘floating path’ to the summit of Black Mountain.
Delighted by the opening of the 1,500 acres of moor and heathland he knows so well, community activist and Save the Black Mountain campaigner, Terry Enright says he’s hopeful that the Trust’s acquisition of the land will aid in the Belfast Hills Partnership’s efforts to have the site recognised as an important conservation area for the whole city.
“It’s great to see it all happening because it’s the culmination of 10 to 15 years work of raising all the issues,” said Terry. “Really this all came about from a campaign to save the Black Mountain from destruction and the quarrying that is taking place and from that we ended up with a situation where you had people like me taking thousands of people onto the mountain to see not only the destruction of the mountain, but also the beauty of it and the potential of it,” he added.
Identifying Peter McLoughlin from Bryson House as instrumental in driving the project, Terry said the dedicated campaigner opened many doors for the Save the Black Mountain campaign and was pivotal in identifying the area as a potential site for purchase by the National Trust.
“There are a lot of problems in identifying the ultimate aims we would have in terms of a regional park,” said Terry. “Farmers are very wary of it for obvious reasons; they have so many restrictions on them as it is, because they’re an industry under tremendous threat and tremendous pressure. But this is a way of helping them to become, if you like, the guardians of the environment, and by and large we have built up a good rapport with them and at the moment we are about building relationships and trust and there are a lot of positive things happening.”
Continuing to work closely with the Belfast Hills Partnership, which brings together many organisations to promote sustainable management and enjoyment of the wider Belfast Hills, the National Trust’s purchase of the land will help preserve it for generations to come and, says Terry, will help highlight the continuing issues surrounding the hills with regards to the continuing quarrying and the three proposed landfill sites on the mountain.
“What’s really required is a public enquiry into all of this,” said Terry, “it’s a total contradiction of things that have already been put down as written in the Belfast Metropolitan plan – that there be no dumps in the Belfast Hills area, where there is a high scenic value, that there is no more mineral extraction in areas of high scenic value, and yet it’s still going on.
“We are a step forward, but we’re not all the way there yet.”
To celebrate the opening, the Trust lit a lamp on Divis Mountain to mark the spot where the Drummond limelight shone in 1828 to start the Ordinance Survey mapping of Ireland. The MP for West Belfast, Gerry Adams, pulled on his wellies to join in the celebrations and for a kestrel’s eye view of his constituency – and many others.
“Along with local community organisations and environmental campaigners Sinn Féin has worked for many years for the conservation of the Belfast Hills, including Divis Mountain and Black Mountain,” he said.
“Because of the British army’s use of large parts of this land I raised this matter some years ago directly with the British prime minister Tony Blair and I supported the efforts by the National Trust to secure funding from the Lottery Fund to purchase the land.
“There is more work to be done to secure the conservation of the rest of Divis Mountain, Black Mountain and the Belfast Hills,” continued Mr Adams. “Sinn Féin has proposed that this area should be developed into a regional park.
“However, the quarry on Black Mountain and the retention of military surveillance camps on top of the mountains is an obstacle to the development and conservation of the area.
“The campaign to achieve this and to protect this valuable environmental asset for this and future generations will continue.”
Journalist:: Ciara McGuigan
