Castle is one of the ten district electoral areas in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Located in the north of the city, the district elects six members to Belfast City Council and contains the wards of Bellevue, Cavehill, Chichester Park, Duncairn, Fortwilliam and Innisfayle. Castle, along with Oldpark district and parts of the Court district and Newtownabbey Borough Council, forms the Belfast North constituency for the Northern Ireland Assembly and UK Parliament. The district is bounded to the east by the Victoria Channel, to the north by Newtownabbey Borough Council and Belfast Lough, to the south by North Street and to the west by the Cavehill Road.
The district takes its name from the current Belfast Castle, which is located on Cave Hill in the north of the district, while the southern section of the district is part of the city centre and forms one of Belfast's main cultural areas, known as the Cathedral Quarter. The east of the area also contains the Port of Belfast. Castle is served by the M2 and M5 motorways and the Yorkgate railway station.
Castle is one of the most mixed areas in the city, with just over half of the district's population being Protestant at the 2001 Census, a figure which had dropped to 35% by the 2021 Census. There are a number of peace lines in the district, for example along the Whitewell Road.
Castle was created for the 1985 local elections. All six wards came from the former Area H, with only the Cliftonville ward and northern section of the Waterworks ward omitted from the new district. One of the district's six wards, Castleview, was renamed Innisfayle in 2014.
Sport
Education
2019: 2 x DUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x Alliance, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Green
2023: 2 x Sinn Féin, 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x SDLP
2019âÂÂ2023 Change: Sinn Féin gain from Green
2014: 2 x DUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x Alliance, 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUP
2019: 2 x DUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x Alliance, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Green
2014-2019 Change: Green gain from UUP
2011: 2 x DUP, 2 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUP
2014: 2 x DUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance
2014-2019 Change: Alliance gain from Sinn Féin
2005: 2 x DUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP
2011: 2 x DUP, 2 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUP
2005-2011 Change: Sinn Féin gain from SDLP
2001: 2 x DUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP
2005: 2 x DUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP
2001-2005 Change: No change
1997: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Sinn Féin,
2001: 2 x DUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP
1997-2001 Change: DUP and SDLP gain from UUP and Alliance
1993: 2 x UUP, 2 SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Independent Unionist
1997: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Sinn Féin
1993-1997 Change: Alliance and Sinn Féin gain from UUP and SDLP, Independent Unionist joins UUP
1989: 2 x Independent Unionist, 1 x UUP, 1 SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance
1993: 2 x UUP, 2 SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Independent Unionist
1989-1993 Change: UUP and SDLP gain from Independent Unionist and Alliance
1985: 2 x UUP, 1 SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Unionist
1989: 2 x Independent Unionist, 1 x UUP, 1 SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance
1985-1989 Change: Independent Unionist gain from UUP
1985: 2 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Unionist