Legoniel

Ligoniel ( _ga. Lag an Aoil) is an electoral ward of North Belfast based on the area of the same name although also extending into the fringes of Ballysillan. The ward was created in 1973, taking in areas previously in the former Shankill and Clifton wards as well as areas added to Belfast for the first time. Although the area of the same name is predominantly nationalist, the ward itself has a unionist majority, mainly in the centre, just off the Ballysillan Road.

The ward was substantially reduced in size in 1985 when the more outlying sparsely populated rural areas were again removed from Belfast and transferred to Antrim district council. There were no boundary changes in 1993 and the current review of local government in Northern Ireland has recommended only minor changes to the ward.

Ligoniel derives from the Gaelic "Lag an Aoil" which means 'hollow of the limestone' and this can be clearly seen in the remains of the quarry on the outskirts of the area.

William and Letitia Younger, an elderly Protestant and his daughter, were beaten and stabbed before being shot in their home in Ligoniel in 1980.