Belfast City Hall - Grounds

Grounds

The gardens surrounding the City Hall are a popular with office workers taking their lunch in the summer months, as well as tourists and teenagers gathering in their dozens to enjoy the green.

Various statues stand in the grounds, including one of Queen Victoria by Sir Thomas Brock. There is also a granite column dedicated to the American Expeditionary Force, many of whom were based in Belfast prior to D-Day.

Brock also designed the marble figure of Thane, the Titanic Memorial, in memorial to the victims of the sinking of the RMS Titanic. The ship was built in Harland and Wolff's shipyard located in the east of the city. The monument was originally located at the front gate of City Hall, at the junction of Donegall Square North and Donegall Place.

There is a memorial to Sir Edward Harland, the former head of the Harland and Wolff shipyard and Mayor of Belfast from 1885 to 1886. It too was sculpted by Thomas Brock.

The grounds also house Northern Ireland's main war memorial, The Garden of Remembrance and Cenotaph, at which wreaths are laid on Remembrance Day.

James Magennis VC, the only Northern Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross during World War II, is also commemorated in the grounds. The Leading Seaman won the medal while serving in the Far East in 1945. A 6-foot-high (1.8 m) memorial to Magennis, made from Portland stone and bronze, stands in front of the City Hall. It was erected in 1999.

On January 3, 2006 Belfast City Councillors ratified a plan to erect a statue to the late Belfast footballer George Best in the grounds of the City Hall. Following approval from the Best family, the George Best Memorial Trust was created in December 2006. The trust's patron David Healy contributed £1,000 to the estimated total cost of £200,000.

In October 2007 a 60 m Ferris wheel was constructed in the grounds, giving passengers panoramic views 200 ft (61 m) above the city. The wheel had 42 air-conditioned capsules, which could hold up to six adults and two children. The wheel finally closed at 6:00pm on 11 April 2010 and was removed during May 2010.

In 2008, the Imjin River Memorial was relocated here when the Royal Irish Rifles barracks in Ballymena closed. The memorial commemorates Irish troops lost in the Battle of Chaegunghyon, January 1951 during the Korean War. This is the only memorial in Ireland to the Korean War and is the focus for the Korean Veterans Association of Ireland.

• Under Construction

• Belfast's - Titanic Memorial

• Front of the building

• Monument to Queen Victoria

• Plaque to honour the bravery of Eliza Ward

• Statue of Edward James Harland, founder of Harland and Wolff in the grounds of Belfast City Hall

• A closer view of the front of the building, also showing the memorial to James Magennis VC (2004)

• View showing Belfast City Hall with the Belfast Wheel to the side, Late March 2010

• Statue of James Horner Haslett, Mayor of Belfast (1887-88) in the grounds of Belfast City Hall

• Statue of Sir Daniel Dixon, first Lord Mayor of Belfast (1892-93, 1901-04 & 1905-07) in the grounds of Belfast City Hall

• Statue of William James Pirrie, Lord Mayor of Belfast (1896-98) in the grounds of Belfast City Hall

• Statue of Robert James McMordie, Lord Mayor of Belfast (1910-14) in the grounds of Belfast City Hall