Glossary entry for
Hyndford Street
Van
and his family lived on Hyndford Street in East Belfast from
1945 until 1961. The Morrison house (shown at right) was at number 125,
described in Steve Turner's biography Too Late to Stop Now as "a 'two
up, two down' terraced house with no bathroom." Van's mother Violet had lived
at 125 Hyndford Street since she was nine. 
At the other end of the street was an electricity pylon where the neighborhood
boys used to meet in the evenings. The pylon appears in more than one Van song,
including "On Hyndford Street" and in that wonderful three-song sequence which
ends the Into the Music album. 
Although the Bloomfield area of East Belfast seems an unlikely location for a
mystical experience, in Hymns To the Silence Van portrays his days on
Hyndford Street as an idyllic period free from fear, confusion and sorrow. A
short distance away from Hyndford Street was the wealthier, tree-lined Cyprus Avenue, where Van also wandered as a boy.
In October 2014 Simon Spooner send me a note, that "the picture above shows Hyndford Street, but I believe does not show the pylons that Van refers to. In the middle of the picture is a typical street lighting pole, and in the distance on the left hand side of the street is a wooden telephone pole. No one in the UK (Britain or Northern Ireland) would refer to those structures as pylons. Pylons, or electricity pylons, are the tall aluminium trellis frame structures that carry high voltage cables for long distance electricity transmission."
"While the pylons I've located are not literally on, or at the end of Hyndford street, they are a short walking distance from it. What is more, the pylons I've located are both next to the small river or stream called Conn's Water., which explains the lines:
Meet me down, meet me down
Meet me down by the river
Meet me down by the water
Meet me down by the water
Meet me down by the pylons
Meet me down by the pylons
Meet me down by the pylons
Meet me down by the pylons
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| Pylon near Hyndford Street, Belfast, viewed from Linen Gardens | Pylon near Hyndford Street, Belfast, viewed from Beersbridge Road | Pylon near Hyndford Street, Belfast, viewed from Grand Parade |
Van references in:
- "You Know What They're Writing About" (on Into the Music)
- "See Me Through Part II (Just A Closer Walk With Thee)" (on Hymns To the Silence)
- "On Hyndford Street" (on Hymns To the Silence)