Resolved - that the name ‘Abetta Parade’ be approved for a new street situated off Beersbridge Road on the property of Mr Alexander Black. (IC, 11th August 1936).
Location: East Belfast, off Beersbridge Road
Date of Naming: Approved 11 August 1936
Abetta Parade was named in 1936 following approval by Belfast City Council’s Improvements Committee. The name was proposed by Alexander Black the landowner and likely developer. Council minutes record: “Resolved – that the name ‘Abetta Parade’ be approved for a new street situated off Beersbridge Road on the property of Mr Alexander Black.” The origin of the name “Abetta” is unclear; it does not appear in earlier records and may have been an invented name—possibly incorporating Black’s initials (A.B.) with a stylised suffix.
Little is recorded about Black himself in Belfast’s civic or business histories, suggesting he was a private developer or investor rather than a public figure. Street directories of the period list multiple individuals named Alexander Black, making it difficult to trace his biography with certainty. However, later recollections suggest that the land used for Abetta Parade may have included No. 313 Beersbridge Road, formerly the manager’s residence for the nearby Owen O’Cork Mill. If so, Black may have acquired this property for redevelopment and laid out the street on part of its grounds.
The location was at the eastern fringe of the city in the 1930s, bordered by the Connswater River, Orangefield estate, and remnants of industrial infrastructure. Though modest, the street was later referenced by Van Morrison in recollections of his East Belfast childhood.
Sources:
– Belfast City Council minutes, Improvements Committee, 11 August 1936
– Lord Belmont in Northern Ireland, Beersbridge Road and Beer’s Bridge (blog)
– Stuart Bailie, “Cyprus Avenue, Van Morrison and a Meaning of Trees,” Dig With It (2015)
– East Belfast street directories and oral histories