Parliamentary boundary post, Garage between 44 and 50 Gilnahirk Road, Belfast, Co. Antrim, BT5 7DG

A cast-iron administrative boundary marker post, dated 1918 and unaltered in its original setting, marking the outer extent of the jurisdiction of Belfast Corporation and Pottinger District Electoral Division and Ward.

The post stands embedded at the entrance to a petrol station on the east side of Gilnahirk Road, immediately south of a row of shops numbered 28–44. It is positioned with a wooden fence behind it, and in close proximity to a garage entrance sign, litter bin and pillar box. The post is slightly tapered and cylindrical in profile, measuring approximately 3 feet high by 1 foot diameter, painted black. It features a banded octagonal base and an oversailing flat octagonal cap with a slightly smaller fluted circular upstand. The front face bears the shield of Belfast Corporation's coat of arms, below which is an attached plaque reading "Parliamentary / and Municipal / Boundary of / Belfast / Pottinger Division / Pottinger Ward / 1918". The plaque is secured to the post with four countersunk screws. An identical shield appears near the top of the post on its rear face.

The County of the Borough of Belfast was established under the Local Government Act 1898 and came into effect in 1899. The borough was initially divided into four parliamentary constituencies – North, East, West and South – each represented by a separate Member of Parliament. Under the Redistribution of Seats (Ireland) Act 1918, these four constituencies were abolished and expanded to nine: Cromac, Duncairn, Falls, Ormeau, Pottinger, St Anne's, Shankill, Victoria and Woodvale. Each new parliamentary division had its own MP and encompassed one or more municipal wards used for elections to Belfast Corporation. Pottinger Division contained a single municipal ward of the same name.

This post marks the boundary of Pottinger parliamentary division and ward, commemorating the new constituencies first used in the 1918 General Election held on 14 December 1918, little more than a month after the First World War's end. This election was historic under the Representation of the People Act 1918 (the Fourth Reform Act): for the first time, all men over 21 and all women over 30 could vote, and the election was completed within a single day. Previously, only male property owners had the franchise, and elections spanned several weeks.

With the establishment of the devolved parliament for Northern Ireland in 1922, the number of Westminster MPs was substantially reduced. Pottinger constituency, created only four years earlier, was abolished and the former East Belfast constituency restored. However, municipal wards continued in use, though some including Pottinger were subsequently reconfigured and renamed. Belfast Corporation was replaced by Belfast City Council in 1973, and its jurisdiction expanded beyond the former borough boundary. Pottinger Electoral Division was created in 1985 encompassing six wards – Ballymacarrett, Bloomfield, Orangfield, Ravenhill, The Mount and Woodstock – though Pottinger Ward itself no longer existed. Pottinger Division was abolished in 2014; all its wards except Orangfield became part of the new Titanic Electoral Area, while Orangfield transferred to Lisnasharragh Electoral Area.

The boundary of the County Borough of Belfast is marked on the 1901–02 Ordnance Survey map but without a boundary post at this location. The post is first recorded (captioned 'B.P.') on the 1919 map and on subsequent editions of 1931, 1938 and 1959. A second post, now demolished, was also marked on the opposite side of the road on the 1919 map.

This post is of historical significance as a remnant of the first British and Irish election when nearly universal suffrage applied (excluding women under 30) and as a marker of a short-lived period in the province's political development between the creation of new constituencies in 1918 and the formation of Northern Ireland and Stormont administration in 1922. It is relatively rare, as many such boundary posts have been lost to road widening and removal. It has group value with two other nearby boundary posts along the line of the Knock River.