Donegall Road

The road is named after the Marquess of Donegall, from a prominent family in the Peerage of Ireland which have given their name to a number of locations in Belfast. It was originally known as Blackstaff Lane and subsequently Blackstaff Road before being given its current name. The Blackstaff name refers to the Blackstaff River, a waterway that flows in the area and forms one of a number of minor river networks around Belfast.

sculpture on Broadway roundabout]] The eastern side the road and the streets leading from it, are predominantly Protestant and include the well-known Sandy Row and The Village areas. The Village, an area centred on the loyalist section of Broadway and vaguely conforming to the upper half of the Protestant section of the road, was said to have been given the name by African-American G.I.s stationed at a base on Maldon Street during the Second World War, who described their occasional trips to the shops in the area as "going to the village". The Greater Village Regeneration Trust extends the definition further to cover the entire Protestant part of the road as well as Sandy Row. Most of the…