May Street, Belfast, 2016

Ross's Auction House, Belfast.

Ross’s Auction House on at 22-26 May Street is the old assembly house of the Irish Presbyterian Church. Just across the road, the Georgian style Presbyterian Church, dating back to 1829 is still active, and from there it is a mere stroll down Alfred Street to St. Malachy Church, home to the Roman Catholic community. St. Malachy has a number of claims to fame, including the largest and loudest church bell of its time. This bell was eventually muffled with felt after complaints from the nearby Dunville distillery that the sound of the bell was disturbing the maturation of their whisky. 

In 1881, right next to Ross's at 28-29 May Street, would have been the Commercial Sales Room, which has presumably long since been demolished. It was here that our family lands in Ireland were finally sold off. The details of the auction have been kept by the family ever since, but by the time of own generation, nobody could explain where these lands came from, why we had them or why we sold them. We simply had no information, or even memory, of any family connection with Ireland whatsoever.