The year 1864 was a trumatic time in the history of Belfast. Sectarian riots which began on 8 August continued unabated and with ever increasing violence until the 23rd. Never before had there been rioting on such a scale with widespread shooting,intimidation and looting of gunsmiths,resulting in death,injury and destruction. The protagonists in these disturbstances were the Protestants of Sandy Row and the Catholics of the nearby Pound area [now the Divis Flats area].

It all began when large crowds of Catholics went to Dublin to celebrate the laying of the foundation stone for a statue in honour of Daniel O'Connell. That evening in Belfast,the effigy of Daniel O'Connell was burned on the Boyne Bridge - the name given to the new railway bridge by the Sandy Row men. The burning mass was elevated on the bridge while the train conveying the excursionists from Dublin passed under it. This incident was followed by the burning of a coffin which was supposed to contain the ashes of the effigy.....a full mounted coffin was procured and after parading about with it for some time,they set fire to it and threw it into the Blackstaff.

Emotions were already highly charged and this incident signalled the start of the vicious faction fighting. Monday 15 August was a holy day and therefore a holiday for Catholics. At about 11.30 in the morning large crowds of persons principally navvies engaged in the excavations of the New Docks made St Malachy's Chapel their rendevous......armed with tremendous bludgeons,pistols,guns and formidable knives. There were upward of four hundred in the crowd which headed for the centre of the town and onwards to North Street,not stopping until they had reached Brown Square School,which was full of children. At a given signal they rushed towards the Brown Square School....the dastardly mob hurled stones and brick bats through every window.....two or three shots were fired into the school.

Word quickly spread to the local men working in the nearby foundries. They rushed out to give chase,springing upon the navvies like tigers,striking terror into their souls.....in Brown Street,Brown Square and Melbourne Street hardly a pane of glass was left. The Protestant mob headed for St Malachy's to seek revenge: a desperate fight ensued with fists and stones. Bullets were fired. The two factions were eventually separated by a troop of cavalry.

By 16 August ''the disturbances waxed worse and worse'' and by midday on the 17th all shops in the town were shut,mills were partially or completly stopped and the streets were empty. Intimidition of Catholics in Protestant areas and vice versa occurred on an enormous scale. It was reported that ''people have given up the idea of sleeping at night''.

On Thursday 18 August the navvies returned to work at the docks but tensions were still running high. They finished work at two o'clock in the afternoon and armed themselves with spades,shovels,pickaxes and firearms. They were confronted by Protestants from the local foundries. These men were soon joined by ironworkers,shipwrights and carpenters from the shipyard. The navvies,started to retreat,but once again found themselves hemmed in by the docks. Many tried to cross the River Lagan up to their waists in water,others took to the surrounding sloblands though mud and water. They were hotly pursued,some as far as Whitehouse. Again the cavalry intervened to seperate the factions. The ship carpenters were jubilant at thrashing the enemy and the battle of the navvies was the turning point in the fortnight of riots.

By 19 August the News Letter commented. At last there is some hope that the people of Belfast are to have peace''. Rioting eased, tension disminished and normality crept stealthily back. However, cooperation was required between the fighting factions and on 23 August ''a deputation waited upon the ship carpenters and navvies. By both sides promises were given that they would remain in peace.'' It was this pact that ended one of the most turbulent and traumatic eras in the history of nineteenth-century Belfast.

THE BATTLE OF THE NAVVIES
We burnt the Bully Beggarman - for him our scorn expressed And at the gate of Friars'Bush we laid him down to rest;
And from ten thousand people an indignant cry arose,
That we were crushed by Goverment,while petted were our foes!

And when we burnt the Beggarman,we thought it well to join
To raise a noble monument to William of the Boyne:
But angry grew Mick Kenna and he wrote his anger down,
That he might raise the Navvies for to desolate the town.

And soon the Navvies left their work; and then the raging crew
Went marching up and down the streets with pike and pistol too;
There was danger in their faces,by sectarian hatred nursed,
And horror went before them like a cloud about to burst.

The shops were closed for safety in the middle of the day;
The streets were near deserted - people dreaded an affray
But onward went the Navvies like demons of misrule,
And they paused to show their valour beside an Infant School!

And there they fired their pistols,and heaps of stones they flung
Right through the shivering windows,to massacre the young;
And they only paused from ruin when they saw the gallant foe
Rush like a mountain torrent from the Foundry of Soho!

They fled like demons to their dens - in running they excel,
But forth again they issued when the evening shadows fell;
And many an honest citizen was left of all he had,
By the brutal,plundering Navvies,by Mick Kenna driven mad!

Oh shame upon Mick Kenna! he's a stranger to our town;
He's disloyal to his Clergy,and disloyal to the Crown;
His tongue,like a malaria,sends poison with his breath;
It was he who fired the Navvies to ruin and to death!

But woe to you ye Navvies for before another sun,
You will sup a heap of sorrow for the ruin ye have done;
We'll come upon you like a storm,or like a sudden flood,
And send you helter -skelter,writhing,wriggling though the mud.

They sent unto the Island,and they challenged us that day;
For they had guns and pistols to begin a bloody fray;
Our arms we had to find them,but we didn't dally long,
And we marched upon the Navvies in three columns stout and strong.

Brave Charley led us onward,bold Dick,and gallant Roe,
And like a bounding avalanche,we swept upon the foe;
The Navvies fought like bull-dogs,but we swore to put them down,
The assassins of the children,the despoilers of the town!

Some struggle in a deadly grip,some load away and fire;
Ho! ho! the Navvies show their backs,and down the bank retire;
Some leap into the river,some are scrambling through the mud,
And our noble fellows follow to the margin of the flood!

They scatter o'er the slob-land - too warm behind to stay -
They struggle onward o'er the slime,and fling their guns away;
They call unto the holy saints to help them in their flight,
And all along the bank our boys were bursting at the sight!

'Tis not for us to claim the praise - we'll leave it to the town,
To tell,by true acknowledgment,who put the Navvies down;
But many good folk do confess our work was done in time,
To stay the murderous Navvies in their course of blood and crime!

And now that they have fled away,to keep our fair renown
We'll help the loyal people and gentlemen of town,
To crush those fearful riots,which we are bound to say
Were called up by Mick Kenna and the Navvies in his pay!