CS Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia, was just nine when he left Belfast, moving from his childhood home of Little Lea, in the east of the city, to boarding school in England after the death of his mother. Then he enrolled at Oxford and in the British army, never returning to Northern Ireland for more than holidays.
But Lewis’s homeland remained a powerful force in his emotional life and his imagination. When, decades after leaving, he began to write his first children’s book, it was to his own childhood that he returned for inspiration: Little Lea, a rambling lodge on Circular Road, had “long corridors, empty sunlit rooms, upstairs indoor silences, attics explored in solitude”; his father’s vast library was full of “endless books” about world mythology; and Cave Hill loomed beyond the gardens, part of a view that on fine days stretched as far as Belfast Lough and the Irish Sea beyond.
Belfast has changed dramatically from when Lewis knew it, but on a bright spring day you can climb the red road through the Stormont Estate parklands to the viewing point in front of Parliament Buildings and see the expanse of the same landscape that Lewis would have as a boy. The redbrick castle of Campbell College, where he studied briefly before he was sent across the sea to Malvern College, is home to the distinctive iron lamp-post that Lewis reimagined as marking the boundary between the worlds of reality and fantasy in The Chronicles of Narnia.
You can catch glimpses of some of his characters on the streets as well, if you follow Newtownards Road down to CS Lewis Square, an urban plaza in honour of the writer that was formally opened in 2016 by Douglas Gresham, his stepson.
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Lewis would not recognise the place, but the armies of children whizzing around statues of Mr Tumnus on their rollerblades are on first-name terms with his creations, especially Aslan, whose imposing bronze form, forged by Maurice Harron, watches over them.
Lewis himself appears just outside Holywood Arches Library, in the shape of Digory Kirke, the protagonist of The Magician’s Nephew, the writer’s Chronicles of Narnia prequel; the expressive sculpture is by Ross Wilson. At the EastSide Partnership centre, close by, you can pick up a beautifully rendered visual map of Lewis connections and commemorations across east Belfast.
Still, amid the modern trappings and traffic, it can hard to conjure the wild wonder of Narnia, with its “heathery mountains and thymy downs”, its “many rivers, plashing glens, mossy caverns and deep forest”. For that sense of magic you have to travel a little farther than Lewis’s childhood haunts.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which was published 75 years ago this year, remains a classic of children’s literature. The short, propulsive chapters and economical storytelling ensure it is still accessible to the contemporary young reader; its continuing popularity is clear from an ongoing series of adaptations into other forms.
A fine West End production created by Sally Cookson, for example, is about to visit Ireland for the second time, with tour dates in Belfast and Dublin; and a much-anticipated Netflix adaptation of The Magician’s Nephew, directed by Greta Gerwig, is in preproduction, with Meryl Streep controversially slated to star as Aslan, Daniel Craig mooted to take on the role of Uncle Andrew, and even Charli XCX mentioned as a potential fellow star of the film, which is due out in late 2026.
Filming locations for Gerwig’s production are being closely guarded, but if Lewis were around to be consulted he would surely point the film-maker towards the mountain ranges of Co Down, which he directly linked to the landscapes of Narnia.
Although his adult life was firmly rooted in Oxford – where he was a prominent member of the Inklings, alongside JRR Tolkien and other fantasy-fond scholars – Lewis spent his summers during the period he was writing the Narnia books travelling through the Mourne Mountains, from bases in the seaside town of Annagassan, in Co Louth, and Rostrevor, on the shores of Carlingford Lough.
In a late essay, On Stories, Lewis expressed the inspirational beauty of the area: “I have seen landscapes, notably in the Mourne Mountains and southwards, which under a particular light made me feel that at any moment a giant might raise his head over the next ridge ... One almost expects to see a march of dwarves dashing past.”
Irish legends attached to the landscape were surely just as inspiring. You can still climb the hills above Rostrevor Forest, as Lewis did, and visit the ancient granite boulder of Cloughmore, which Finn McCool is said to have thrown from the Cooley Mountains, on the far side of Carlingford Lough. It is easy to imagine the clearing as the site of Aslan’s sacrifice on the stone altar.
At the foot of Cloughmore, in Kilbroney Park, a family trail draws a direct line of connection, allowing you to step through an oversized wardrobe doorframe into a miniature Narnia, complete with the four thrones on which the children sit at the end of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
At the Rostrevor Inn, on the narrow main street of the picturesque village, its owner, Seth Linder, has made Lewis’s relationship with the town a personal passion, although his research has thrown up some interesting inaccuracies in the lore surrounding Lewis’s love for the area.
For example, he has been unable to find a direct source for the popular quote used to connect the writer to the town: “That part of Rostrevor which overlooks Carlingford Lough is my idea of Narnia.” Even so, Linder says, the sentiment was certainly true.
Linder explains that, from his summer base at the Golden Arrow guesthouse – in fact three railway carriages at the edge of Annagassan – Lewis would regularly drive across the Cooleys and the Mournes with his brother, Warnie, staying at the same hotels along the way: the Imperial Hotel in Dundalk and the Great Northern Hotel in Rostrevor (which closed in 1977 after being firebombed).
After the Rostrevor pitstop Lewis would continue farther north to Belfast. It was a journey he made again and again, even on his honeymoon in 1958. On these trips Lewis was seeking out “the lost simplicity of country pleasures, the empty sky, the unspoilt hills, the white silent roads on which you could hear the rattle of a farm cart half a mile away”.
It is the same pastoral peace that the Pevensie children in Narnia seek to re-establish as they return through the portal year after year, to assist Aslan in saving the world from ruin.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is at the Grand Opera House, Belfast, from Tuesday, April 29th, until Saturday, May 3rd; and at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin, from Tuesday, May 6th, until Saturday, May 10th. The CS Lewis Festival runs in east Belfast in November
Literature and landscapes: More Irish journeys
If you’re feeling inspired to take advantage of good spring weather with a literary pilgrimage of your own, there are trails to follow across the country, both formal and informal.
The legend of Finn McCool’s battles extends all the way from Rostrevor, in Co Down, to the north coast of Co Antrim and the Giant’s Causeway, where the mythological legacy of his war with the Scottish giant Bennadonner is given geological shape in the basalt columns. The coastal drive takes in castles in Carrickfergus and Dunluce, both thought to have informed Lewis’s vision of Cair Paravel, Narnia’s stronghold.
In Sligo, a visit to WB Yeats’s grave in Drumcliffe is perfectly complemented by a hike up Knocknarea, believed to be the burial place of Queen Maeve, and a key source of imagery in Yeats’s work. Alternatively, stroll along the shore of Lough Gill through Hazelwood Forest and try spot the Lake Isle of Innisfree.
In Gort, Co Galway, Lady Augusta Gregory’s homestead of Coole Park is now a public park. There are gorgeous marked walks through the forested demesne. Most take you past the “autograph tree” signed by Seán O’Casey, JM Synge and other literary figures.
If you are travelling around the Ring of Kerry, make time to stop in Listowel and visit John B Keane’s Bar. You won’t find Big Maggie behind the counter, but you will find the playwright’s gregarious son, Billy, who also hosts informal theatre events through the summer months.
There are also the Green Road through the Burren, in Co Clare, from which Anne Enright took the title and inspiration for her Booker Prize-winning novel; Avondale House, in Co Wicklow, where JM Synge used to holiday; and, of course – if it’s an urban jaunt you’re after – Dublin city and coastline, which offer a whole series of sites connected to James Joyce’s Ulysses.
