Along the River Lagan, a 75-hectare urban woodland provides a rare example of a working forest within a city. Managed by the Forest Service and listed as a nature reserve, the site lies close to Stranmillis in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Its status as a working forest makes it unique across the United Kingdom, and it is recognised for the presence of red squirrels among its resident wildlife. The area opened to the public in 1961 after being incorporated into the former estate of the Hills family, who enclosed the land in the 1740s. Remnants of that period survive as farm buildings and an ice house built into a 12th-century Norman motte. The original house has been removed, its footprint now occupied by a car park. Within the grounds the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds maintains its Northern Ireland headquarters, and an arboretum holds some of Belfast’s oldest and most unusual trees, including around one hundred veteran oaks that can be up to 350 years old. Wildlife surveys record a range of species such as large bracket fungi, toothwort, giant hog-weed, long-eared owls, kingfishers, long-tailed tits, badgers and red foxes. Cycling is prohibited within the forest, but the car park offers a point of access for visitors wishing to explore the trails on foot.

🗿 Monument

Cenotaph

Linen Quarter · 19 miles

A prominent feature of Donegall Square West, opposite Belfast City Hall, the cenotaph stands as a war memorial designed by Sir Alfred Brumwell Thomas. The central Portland-stone column reaches roughly 30 feet and is flanked by bronze brackets that support flagpoles; carved laurel wreaths top the monument, while inscriptions on the north and south faces commemorate the sacrifice of Ulster’s sons in the Great War and later conflicts. Three steps lead up to the structure, and to the south an arc of paired Corinthian columns forms a 25-foot-high colonnade. North of the monument a sunken garden of remembrance, replanted in 1993, provides a quiet space that has hosted an annual Field of Remembrance since 2011. Construction finished in 1927 and the memorial was formally unveiled by Viscount Allenby on 11 November 1929, an event attended by veterans of the 16th (Irish) Division. The site is listed at Grade A as of 1984 and continues to host Remembrance Sunday services, as well as ceremonies marking the first day of the Battle of the Somme each 1 July. Nearby memorials honour Irish regiments of the Boer and Korean Wars and United States forces who arrived in 1942. The monument is situated in a public area of the Linen Quarter, freely accessible without admission charge and surrounded by other historic commemorations.