Rathcoole (Ráth Cúil in Irish Gaelic, meaning back of the tomb) is a housing estate north of Belfast, in Newtownabbey, built in the 1950s to house many of those displaced by the demolition of inner city housing in Belfast city.

Community History and Setting

In the 1940s and 1950s a number of new large scale housing schemes were planned for Northern Ireland including Craigavon and Rathcoole.cain project These plans were informed by attempts by successive UK governments and the local parliament at Stormont to use large scale social engineering to reduce underlying sectarian tensions in Northern Ireland. In common with other such areas, Rathcoole's design included self-contained facilities such as a cinema, youth centre, a shopping centre and schools. In spite of these planned facilities it has been acknowledged that they were insufficient for a population that grew rapidly to over 10000.

The estate grew during the 1960s to become the largest housing estate in Europe for some years. It is closely associated with a number of neighbouring housing estates such as Rushpark, King's Park, Fernagh, Rathfern, Monkstown and Mossley. Since 1958 it has formed part of the 'new town' and borough of Newtownabbey.

A prominent feature of the community is its Christian churches, including all main Protestant denominations but notably has never featured a Roman Catholic church within its boundary, (although three lie a short distance beyond in different directions). In the original design a local council bye-law prohibited premises selling alcohol within the bounds of the estate.

In the early decades most of the commerce in the area was dominated by nearby Belfast, easily accessible by bus and public taxi services. Since the late 1970s local shopping opportunities have been developed on what was a largely green field site centred around the Abbeycentre which has grown rapidly with the addition of many satellite trading centres including large DIY stores and most of the major UK high street retailers.

Communications are excellent, being beside the A2 Carrickfergus - Belfast road, a short drive from the ports of Belfast and Larne as well as both George Best Belfast City Airport and Belfast International Airport.

The surrounding scenery is spectacular, built in the shelter of the valley below the Cavehill, from whence on a clear summer night the lions, elephants and other animals of Bellevue Zoo can be heard clearly across the valley. It is also bordered on the north by Carnmoney Hill which features a small country park and on the south by a picturesque glen called Glas-na-braden (Irish Gaelic: stream of the silvery fish). Before the arrival of the M5 motorway the shores of Belfast Lough at Whitehouse and Hazelbank park were short walks away.