Castle is one of the ten district electoral areas in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Located in the north of the city, the district elects six members to Belfast City Council and contains the wards of Bellevue, Cavehill, Chichester Park, Duncairn, Fortwilliam and Innisfayle. Castle, along with Oldpark district and parts of the Court district and Newtownabbey Borough Council, forms the Belfast North constituency for the Northern Ireland Assembly and UK Parliament. The district is bounded to the east by the Victoria Channel, to the north by Newtownabbey Borough Council and Belfast Lough, to the south by North Street and to the west by the Cavehill Road.

The district takes its name from the current Belfast Castle, which is located on Cave Hill in the north of the district, while the southern section of the district is part of the city centre and forms one of Belfast's main cultural areas, known as the Cathedral Quarter. The east of the area also contains the Port of Belfast. Castle is served by the M2 and M5 motorways and the Yorkgate railway station.

Castle is one of the most mixed areas in the city, with just over half of the district's population being Protestant at the 2001 Census, a figure which had dropped to 35% by the 2021 Census. There are a number of peace lines in the district, for example along the Whitewell Road.

History Castle was created for the 1985 local elections. All six wards came from the former Area H, with only the Cliftonville ward and northern section of the Waterworks ward omitted from the new district. One of the district's six wards, Castleview, was renamed Innisfayle in 2014.

Amenities

Albert Memorial Clock Belfast Castle Belfast Exposed photographic gallery Belfast Harbour Belfast Hebrew Congregation Belfast Zoo Cavehill Dividers Sculpture Giant's Park McHugh's Bar Merchant Hotel The Northern Whig Bar NvTv (Northern Visions Television) Obel Tower St Anne’s Cathedral (Church of Ireland) The Big Fish, sculpture

Sport Seaview, Crusaders F.C. home ground Skegoneill Avenue, Brantwood F.C. home ground

Education Castle High School Dominican College Hazelwood College Seaview Primary School St Patrick's College University of Ulster, Belfast Campus

Wards

Map Ward Population (2011 Census) Catholic Protestant Other No Religion Area Density NI Assembly UK Parliament Ref 1 Bellevue 4,910 63.7% 29.3% 1.1% 6% 2.96 km2 1,659/km2 Belfast North Belfast North 2 Castleview 4,722 38.1% 54.2% 1.2% 6.5% 1.41 km2 3,349/km2 Belfast North Belfast North 3 Cavehill 4,820 57.1% 37.7% 0.9% 4.3% 3.41 km2 1,413/km2 Belfast North Belfast North 4 Chichester Park 5,452 74.3% 17.2% 1.6% 6.9% 0.95 km2 5,739/km2 Belfast North Belfast North 5 Duncairn 4,901 23.6% 63.9% 2.2% 10.3 9.24 km2 530/km2 Belfast North Belfast North 6 Fortwilliam 4,561 41.3% 50.3% 1.2% 7.2% 1.03 km2 4,428/km2 Belfast North Belfast North Castle 29,366 50.3% 41.5% 1.4% 6.9% 19 km2 1,546/km2

Councillors

Election Councillor (Party) Councillor (Party) Councillor (Party) Councillor (Party) Councillor (Party) Councillor (Party) September 2025 Co-Option Fred Cobain (DUP) Dean McCullough (DUP) Brónach Anglin (Sinn Féin) Sam Nelson (Alliance) Carl Whyte (SDLP) Luke Meenehan (Sinn Féin)2023 Conor Maskey (Sinn Féin)May 2022 Co-Option Mal O'Hara (Green Party)April 2020 Co-Option Nuala McAllister (Alliance)January 2020 Co-Option Guy Spence (DUP)2019 John Finucane (Sinn Féin)July 2017 Defection Lydia Patterson (DUP) David Browne (UUP) Pat Convery (SDLP)/ (Independent) Mary Ellen Campbell (Sinn Féin)20142011 Tierna Cunningham (Sinn Féin)2005 Nigel Dodds (DUP) Ian Crozier (DUP) Cathal Mallaghan (SDLP)2001 Danny Lavery (Sinn Féin) Alban Maginness (SDLP)1997 Nelson McCausland (UUP)/ (Independent Unionist) Tom Campbell (Alliance)1993 Jonathan Stevenson (SDLP) John Carson (UUP)1989 Frank Millar (Independent Unionist) Tom Campbell (Alliance)1985 Alfred Redpath (UUP)

2023 Election

2019: 2 x DUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x Alliance, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Green

2023: 2 x Sinn Féin, 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x SDLP

2019–2023 Change: Sinn Féin gain from Green

2019 Election

2014: 2 x DUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x Alliance, 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUP

2019: 2 x DUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x Alliance, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Green

2014-2019 Change: Green gain from UUP

2014 Election

2011: 2 x DUP, 2 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUP

2014: 2 x DUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance

2014-2019 Change: Alliance gain from Sinn Féin

2011 Election

2005: 2 x DUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP

2011: 2 x DUP, 2 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUP

2005-2011 Change: Sinn Féin gain from SDLP

2005 Election

2001: 2 x DUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP

2005: 2 x DUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP

2001-2005 Change: No change

2001 Election

1997: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Sinn Féin,

2001: 2 x DUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP

1997-2001 Change: DUP and SDLP gain from UUP and Alliance

1997 Election

1993: 2 x UUP, 2 SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Independent Unionist

1997: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Sinn Féin

1993-1997 Change: Alliance and Sinn Féin gain from UUP and SDLP, Independent Unionist joins UUP

1993 Election

1989: 2 x Independent Unionist, 1 x UUP, 1 SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance

1993: 2 x UUP, 2 SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Independent Unionist

1989-1993 Change: UUP and SDLP gain from Independent Unionist and Alliance

1989 Election

1985: 2 x UUP, 1 SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Unionist

1989: 2 x Independent Unionist, 1 x UUP, 1 SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance

1985-1989 Change: Independent Unionist gain from UUP

1985 Election

1985: 2 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Unionist

See also Belfast City Council Electoral wards of Belfast Local government in Northern Ireland Members of Belfast City Council

References