Sculpture made from parts of Boyne Bridge 'celebrates' city's history

A new sculpture outside Belfast's Grand Central Station made from parts of the dismantled Boyne Bridge will "celebrate" the city's industrial past.

The now dismantled bridge near Sandy Row was reconstructed in 1936, but its origins dated back nearly 400 years.

It was removed to facilitate work on the new Grand Central Station in 2024.

Peter Richards said being one of the artists involved in designing the sculpture was "an opportunity to celebrate the work that's already gone on in this city and how it's changing".

Some protests were held in the Sandy Row area after news of the decision to dismantle the bridge was announced.

William III, or King Billy, is believed to have crossed the site on his way to the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.

Elements from the bridge were repurposed for the sculpture which is in Saltwater Square, the new civic space next to the station.

Richards, from the Golden Thread Gallery, said collaboration went into the design.

"I do a lot of my talking with a pencil, so as we're talking, I'm sketching, and I think we came to this idea relatively quickly," he said.

"I would have done the initial sketch, but I'd have done it as we were all talking, so I'm not sure whose idea it was."

He said the team thought of other ideas but "came back to the one that stood out as actually being most appropriate in terms of celebrating and commemorating".

The sculpture is called Reflections and it "faces back to where it came from", Richards explained, as it faces the direction of Sandy Row.

The front steel side reflects "passing through the station and the passing of time".

"I think in itself it's a little journey. You can traverse it and have a little history moment," he added.

Kevin Killen is the sculptor who was involved in bringing the nine-metres high design to life.

"We had to get engineers involved from the get-go," he said.

"So Peter kind of had the concept and design of it, and I kind of took it and then I rectified it a wee bit and brought it back to the engineer."

Killen explained that the engineer then made the sculptor "structurally sound".

He said it was "lovely" to work with the material from the Boyne Bridge.

Murals designed by local schoolchildren around Grand Central Station were also officially launched on Thursday.

Belfast Lord Mayor Tracy Kelly said it's "wonderful" to see the two pieces unveiled.

"The bridge coming down in Sandy Row was quite a sensitive issue for this community, but I hope with the art piece and the two sides of the future and the past will be represented as we move forward," she said.

Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins said the murals give "young people a genuine voice in shaping how Belfast welcomes the world".

Translink's Chief Executive Chris Conway said the space is "about regenerating the area as well as bringing the transport station into it".

"This was also in the past an interface area, so it was an opportunity to bring communities together into a shared space," said Conway.

He said it was important to incorporate the Boyne Bridge into the sculpture because they wanted to "represent the heritage of the area as well as reflect on the future".