The lost 'Italy' of Belfast being uncovered by schoolchildren

Schoolchildren have been uncovering parts of Venice, Genoa, Turin and Pisa without having to leave Belfast.

That is because they have been excavating the remains of long-lost streets named after the Italian cities.

The archaeological dig has uncovered many clues about the lives of people in an area of west Belfast flattened to make way for the Westlink.

The dig is led by experts from Queen's University Belfast (QUB) but local children and residents are also taking part.

Nine-year-old Kayden has enjoyed learning about what life was like "back in the days".

"It's just good digging up stuff and finding it and putting it in bags for people to look at," he said.

"I didn't really know anything about here but since we've been learning about it I've learned more."

Dr Colm Donnelly from QUB said the dig was aimed at investigating "past life in the city and the origins of Belfast".

He said the site beside the Grosvenor Recreation Centre - only a stone's throw from the Westlink - was "at the very heart of industrial Belfast" in the 19th century.

"Belfast goes through a huge period of development from the period from about 1850 up through to 1900.

"Green fields are taken over and have housing estates built on them, back-to-back terraces."

The 19th century houses on what were once Venice Street, Genoa Street, Turin Street and Pisa Street were small and tightly packed.

"You're looking at families of maybe eight people, nine people, 10 people, living in these tiny wee compartments," Donnelly said.

"There's not much privacy. You get almost like a sense of claustrophobia.

"But conversely, it's a community and everybody's very close and everybody knows everybody else. Maybe in modern society that's not the case."

After standing for about a century, the Victorian houses were demolished in the late 1970s to pave the way for the building of the Westlink dual carriageway.

The dig is taking place as part of the Community Archaeology Programme, and children from the nearby St Peter's Primary School have been searching for signs of how people used to live.

Among the remains of the houses they have found items like tobacco pipes, Bovril bottles and tiles which depicted the dangers of drinking alcohol.

Nine-year-old Bonnie has been getting her hands - and trowel - dirty at the site.

"We've been digging up loads of stuff, mainly soil, but we've also been getting loads of glass and stuff," she said.

"You need to dig really hard to find stuff, and you need to use loads of tools."

For Donnelly, it is important to help children to learn about the heritage of their own area.

"This is a hidden aspect of their history and heritage," he said.

"It's literally under their feet but they don't know it's there.

"So what we're doing is highlighting to them what went before them."

And there are many more stories waiting to be discovered across Belfast.

"You could do this numerous places across Belfast, but you would have to get somewhere that was suitable and safe for the kids to be working," Donnelly said.