Premium
Stars of the east: Stories behind east Belfast's grandest homes
When Rev Richard Burgess Labarte, the rector of what is now St Mark's Church on the Holywood Road in Belfast, departed for a new incumbency in England in 1871, the entire contents of his residence, St Helier's on the Belmont Road, were advertised for auction, as was customary. Most of the sale items were unspectacular, but one would hope that a suitable new home was found for his "Thirty Singing Yellow and Splashed Canaries in fine health and plumage".