Throughout history the people of the area have endured great suffering in different conflicts over the centuries. There is a special connection to the Battle of the Somme in which the 36th Ulster Division, containing many men from the Shankill, suffered over 5,000 casualties, including over 2,000 deaths, in just the first the two days.
Virtually every street in the Shankill lost men during the First World War. One of the worst cases was the McDowell family of Malvern Place in the Shankill, whose seven sons all failed to return from war.
In a corner of the Memorial Park a street lamp has been erected, dedicated to the memory of the innocent victims of the 1993 Shankill Bomb, when nine local people and an IRA bomber died in Frizzell's Fish Shop.
Information on the memorials in the park can be found on the CAIN website.
The street lamp stands sentinel beside a marble tablet, which records the words of St Luke:
“To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
It commemorates all the innocent victims of terrorism from the Shankill.
