Northern Ireland’s streets, hills and coastline are closely linked to the world of Narnia in the life and writing of Belfast-born author CS Lewis. Ahead of Netflix’s new adaptation of The Magician’s Nephew, visitors can explore places associated with his childhood and the landscapes he remembered while creating the series.
In east Belfast, Lewis Square in the Holywood Arches neighbourhood has a short walking trail lined with metal sculptures of Narnia characters, including Mr and Mrs Beaver and Mr Tumnus. A large Aslan sculpture stands at its centre. The area also includes the site of Lewis’s birthplace in Dundela, though the terrace house where he was born in 1898 has since been replaced by flats.
Nearby St Mark’s Church has a replica of a brass lion’s-head doorknob once fitted to the rectory door. Lewis’s grandfather, the Rev Thomas Hamilton, lived there while serving as minister. The original doorknob has been removed for safekeeping, while the replica draws visitors interested in the possible connection to Aslan.
The Lewis family moved in 1905 to Little Lea, a red-brick house on Circular Road. It remains privately owned but can be viewed from the gates at the end of its drive. In his autobiography, Surprised by Joy, Lewis recalled the home’s corridors, quiet rooms and attic. The house also features in the opening two Narnia books, where children discover a route into another world.
Lewis and his brother, Warnie, had room to roam beyond the city, walking into the hills between Belfast and Strangford Lough. The high ground reached via Belmont Road offers wide views over Belfast, Bangor and Newtownards. Lewis did not identify the exact viewpoint behind one passage in his memoir, but the crags at Whitespots Country Park above Newtownards are suggested as a possible match. The landscape has also been compared with the setting of the stone table in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Lewis told Warnie that the view from the Mournes above Rostrevor, looking over Carlingford Lough, was his idea of Narnia. The words are now displayed on a bench at a viewpoint in Kilbroney Forest Park. Rostrevor is about an hour’s drive south of Belfast.
The north coast, where Lewis holidayed with his mother as a young child, is also associated with Narnia. Scholars and fans continue to debate whether Dunluce Castle or Downhill Demesne inspired Cair Paravel, the kingdom’s castle. Dunluce’s ruins stand on the coast east of Portrush, while Downhill Demesne includes the remains of Downhill House and Mussenden Temple, whose position above the sea has been likened to Lewis’s description of the castle.
Lewis wrote his autobiography while working on the seven Chronicles of Narnia, and the landscapes he recalled may have fed into the fictional world. Netflix’s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew is scheduled to open in cinemas on 12 February 2027 and arrive on Netflix on 2 April.
Sources: The Guardian Travel.