Homes boarded up ahead of bonfires being lit

Windows are boarded up for safety reasons close to the bonfires. Credit: Pacemaker

Homes in the vicinity of a number of huge bonfires in Belfast have been boarded up amid concerns about safety.

Contractors have been busy covering up windows at Ravenscroft Avenue and Cregagh in the east of the city and Lanark Way in the north.

The bonfires will be lit in loyalist areas as part of Eleventh Night celebrations on Tuesday.

However one of the biggest ones was ignited prematurely in Carrickfergus, with firefighters working overnight to extinguish it.

The towering bonfires, most built with stacks of wooden pallets, will draw thousands of onlookers - but they are often the source of controversy.

This year has been no different, with Belfast City Council securing a court order to prevent further construction on four bonfires in the east of the city amid safety concerns.

Masked loyalists appeared to defy that order at one of the sites on Monday.

The fires mark the start of commemorations of Protestant King William of Orange's victory over Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland in 1690.