Finaghy

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Finaghy is an area of south Belfast in Northern Ireland. It had a small community since the 1600s, being mentioned in articles regarding linen production which was key to the Lagan valley area at the time.

Around the 1930s, the community started to grow; the local Presbyterian church was founded in 1936. In the 1950s, the city of Belfast grew outwards, and housing estates were built in Finaghy, making it a much larger community. Today the area is generally agreed to run from the Kings Hall at Balmoral Avenue to Blacks Road and between the Malone Road and the Belfast to Dublin railway line.

The heart of the area is Finaghy crossroads, the name for a group of small shops which sprung up around the intersection of the Upper Lisburn Road and the Finaghy Roads (North and South). The area is home to Presbyterian, Methodist, Anglican, Baptist, Free Presbyterian, Evangelical Presbyterian, and Evangelical Christian congregations. There is also a Roman Catholic chapel in nearby Dunmurry. The area is also home to banks, playing fields, a public library and a railway halt, and a girls' grammar school. It also includes Finaghy Primary School, a non-denominational school for students aged 5–11, established in 1934.

The name Finaghy is translated from Gaelic into English as Whitefield. It is uncertain how the area came by this name. Some people believe it comes from the practice of bleaching the linen white in the sun. However traditional Irish myth places the White Castle of King Lir, the father of the Swan children, at the site of modern day Finaghy, and so believe Whitefield comes from the White Castle.

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