Glossary entry for
Hyndford Street
Van
and his family lived on Hyndford Street in East Belfast from
1945 until 1961. The Morrison house (shown at right) was at number 125,
described in Steve Turner's biography Too Late to Stop Now as "a 'two
up, two down' terraced house with no bathroom." Van's mother Violet had lived
at 125 Hyndford Street since she was nine. 
At the other end of the street was an electricity pylon where the neighborhood
boys used to meet in the evenings. The pylon appears in more than one Van song,
including "On Hyndford Street" and in that wonderful three-song sequence which
ends the Into the Music album. 
Although the Bloomfield area of East Belfast seems an unlikely location for a
mystical experience, in Hymns To the Silence Van portrays his days on
Hyndford Street as an idyllic period free from fear, confusion and sorrow. A
short distance away from Hyndford Street was the wealthier, tree-lined Cyprus Avenue, where Van also wandered as a boy.
Van references in:
- "You Know What They're Writing About" (on Into the Music)
- "See Me Through Part II (Just A Closer Walk With Thee)" (on Hymns To the Silence)
- "On Hyndford Street" (on Hymns To the Silence)
Part of the van-the-man.info unofficial website