The River Farset is a river

River

A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

 in Belfast

Belfast

Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

, Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

, a tributary

Tributary

A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...

 of the River Lagan

River Lagan

The River Lagan is a major river in Northern Ireland which runs 40 miles from the Slieve Croob mountain in County Down to Belfast where it enters Belfast Lough, an inlet of the Irish Sea. The River Lagan forms much of the border between County Antrim and County Down. It rises as a tiny fast...

. It is on the County Antrim

County Antrim

County Antrim is one of six counties that form Northern Ireland, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 2,844 km², with a population of approximately 616,000...

 side of the Lagan and joins the Lagan close to its outflow into Belfast Lough

Belfast Lough

Belfast Lough is a large, natural intertidal sea lough at the mouth of the River Lagan on the east coast of Northern Ireland. The inner part of the lough comprises a series of mudflats and lagoons. The outer lough is restricted to mainly rocky shores with some small sandy bays...

. The River Farset is now contained within a tunnel under Belfast's High Street; a tunnel supposedly big enough to take a bus. The Farset rises above Legoniel, flowed past the medieval parish church at Shankill, through Millfield and under High Street, giving that street a curving appearance, entering the Lagan to the east of the Albert Clock

Albert Memorial Clock, Belfast

The Albert Memorial Clock is a tall clock tower situated at Queen's Square in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It was completed in 1869 and is one of the best known landmarks of Belfast.-History:...

 and High Street.

History

Belfast was founded at a sandy ford across the Farset, and this is the origin of the city's name - Béal Feirste, the Mouth of the Farset. Farset itself comes from an Irish word meaning sandbar. Among the early references to the ford is of a battle between Ulidians

Ulaid

The Ulaid or Ulaidh were a people of early Ireland who gave their name to the modern province of Ulster...

 and Picts

Picts

The Picts were a group of Late Iron Age and Early Mediaeval people living in what is now eastern and northern Scotland. There is an association with the distribution of brochs, place names beginning 'Pit-', for instance Pitlochry, and Pictish stones. They are recorded from before the Roman conquest...

in 667 and a Papal Taxation Roll of 1306 refers to 'the chapel of the Ford'. The banks of the Farset became the first quaysides of the developing merchant city and the river flowed beside docks on High Street in the 19th century. In the late 18th century it was one of many Belfast rivers which provided the power for early industrialisation by powering factories and supplying water for bleach greens.

In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries the river was sometimes known as Belfast River, the River of Belfast, the Town River, or the High Street River. Over the course of the 18th century it was gradually covered over; the final section, close to Princes Street, was covered over in 1804.