Image: Confluence of the Blackstaff and River Lagan - geograph.org.uk - 1337388

Description: Confluence of the Blackstaff and River Lagan. The Blackstaff River was once little more than a mountain burn that ran down through west Belfast and on through the town centre before entering the Lagan at this spot. The industrial revolution resulted in the river being used as a dumping ground for waste, leading it to become a polluted and stinking eyesore. Much of it was culverted underground in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The final section before it entered the Lagan was still above ground and ran through the former gasworks site. By the late 1980s it was, so I was told, the most polluted river in western Europe. The land here was so polluted as a result of the gasmaking process that, when redeveloped, housing was forbidden on the site and it now only contains offices and a hotel. The Blackstaff, thankfully now pollution free, was culverted through a huge underground concrete pipeline and into the Lagan as shown. See also 1806043 for a view of an unculverted section a few miles away.
Title: Confluence of the Blackstaff and River Lagan - geograph.org.uk - 1337388
Credit: From geograph.org.uk
Author: Ross
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