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Merville Garden Village

An interesting example of post-war housing owned by Ulster Garden Villages Ltd.

Now a conservation area, it was built around the mansion of Sir Edward Coey, the only Liberal Lord Mayor of Belfast (1862).

It was the idea of Thomas McGrath who formed Ulster Garden Villages in 1946, and it was the forerunner of other such villages in Antrim at Abbots Cross, Fernagh, Muckamore and Whitehead.

Merville Garden Village, consisting of 450 houses, flats and shops, was completed in 1950.

Take the M2 motorway leaving at Junction 2 (A2 Greencastle). Turn right onto the A2 (Greencastle/Rathcoole) and continue along the Shore Road. Merville Garden Village is on the left, just after the Abbey Centre turning.