The story
Welcome to a place where the industrial pulse of East Belfast meets the quiet magic of a distant world. Stand here at the intersection of the Connswater and Comber Greenways, and you are standing in the very neighborhood where a young boy named Clive Staples Lewis—known to everyone as Jack—first let his imagination wander. Long before he was a celebrated Oxford don, he was a child of these streets, born just a short walk away in Dundela Villas.
He grew up looking out toward the rolling Mourne Mountains and seeing not just hills, but a landscape where giants might roam. As you look around this open, vibrant square, which opened in 2016 to mark the 53rd anniversary of his death, you will notice seven bronze figures brought to life by the Irish sculptor Maurice Harron. Let your eyes rest first on the Wardrobe.
It stands slightly ajar, just as it did in the spare room of Professor Kirke’s house. If you look closely at the bronze, you can see the textures of the heavy fur coats hanging inside, a permanent invitation to step through the back and into the snow. Follow the path and you will encounter Mr.
Tumnus, the faun, carrying his packages and an umbrella beneath his iconic lamppost. There is a gentleness to him that captures the moment he first met Lucy Pevensie. Not far away, the White Witch stands frozen in her chariot, her expression as cold as the eternal winter she cast over Narnia.
Contrast her icy gaze with the sturdy, homely warmth of Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, or the noble, terrifying presence of Maugrim, the wolf who served as the Witch’s secret police captain.
You might even spot Father Christmas, signifying the moment the Witch’s power finally began to thaw. But the heart of the square is undoubtedly Aslan. This Great Lion is cast in a magnificent, powerful pose, his mane flowing as if caught in a divine breeze.
He isn’t just a statue; he is the guardian of this space, a symbol of hope and authority that looks out over a community that has transitioned from its heavy industrial past into a new era of green spaces and storytelling. This area, known as the Holywood Arches, was once the engine of the city, dominated by the rhythmic clatter of the nearby ropeworks and the towering cranes of the shipyards. By placing Narnia here, Belfast honors the idea that creativity can bloom anywhere.
Just a few steps away, you will find the EastSide Visitor Centre and Jack’s Cafe, where the smell of fresh coffee mixes with local history. Take a moment to walk among these figures. Touch the bronze, feel the detail of the carvings, and remember that for Lewis, the journey to Narnia didn’t start in a faraway land, but right here, amid the red brick and the grey skies of East Belfast.
He proved that even in the most ordinary places, there is always a hidden door waiting to be opened.