C.S.Lewis. C.S.Lewis father was born in a house that was in Parkgate Avenue,it was called Ty-Isa, his grandfather had moved to Northern Ireland from Wales and worked as an engineer, C.S. Lewis father was a solicitor by the name of Albert his office was in Royal Avenue Belfast. This plaque marks the site of Dundella Villas C.S.Lewis himself was born in number 47 Dundella Avenue which was Dundela Villas in the year 1889 and died in 1963. These houses have since been demolished but the site that they stood on is close to the Mc Mordie scout hall this land was owned by a Mrs Mc Mordie. Early in his childhood Lewis moved with his family to Circular Road this house is called Little Lea and it is believed his lonely childhood was part of the basis for some of his books, he became a christian later in his life and wrote Surprised by joy in 1955, in this book he described his christian belief's. Lewis' mother died of cancer in 1908 and from then on Lewis spent most of his time in England,either as a teacher or as a student. In 1956 he married an American lady by the name of Joy Davidman, this was to allow her to stay in Britain, but they later re-married in 1957 and had their honeymoon in The Old Inn at Crawfordsburn, Joy later died also from cancer in 1960. He wrote the series of books that he is probably best known for in 1950, The first book in this series was The Magicians Nephew, this was the start of the Chronicles of Narnia the second book in the series was The Lion the Witch and the wardrobe, this book was also based on his belief's about christianity. This statue stand's outside the Holywood Road library the design on the reverse is of a lions head, underneath the lions head is a copy of a letter sent to Lewis from a small girl asking the meaning of his book The Lion the Witch and the wardrobe and why the lion had to die, Lewis explained this as representing Jesus Christ, his crucifixion and resurrection from the dead. |
