Streets of Belfast: Joy Street a mix of celebrity high and tragic lows

The glitz and the glamour provided by a Hollywood icon is in stark contrast to the tragic history which can also be found in Joy Street. By Jason Burke Corner of May Street and Joy Street after the murder of Special Constable Thomas Cunningham & William Chermsid, 1922 Despite its street signage claiming Joy Street to be part of Belfast’s ‘Linen Quarter’, not many people would disagree that it is very much part of what we understand to be the Market district. Like many streets in the Market area, Joy Street was constructed on reclaimed land from the former pond of Henry and Robert Joy’s pioneering paper mill at Cromac.

Henry and Robert Joy were the sons of Francis Joy, founder of Belfast’s oldest newspaper, the Belfast News Letter in 1737. When their father moved to Randalstown, Henry and Robert acquired elements of the family business and by 1767 they had opened a paper mill of their own at Cromac..