Avoca Street

Avoca Street
BT14
Town Parks

AVOCA STREET (Oldpark / Cliftonville, North Belfast)

First recorded:

  • 3 June 1878 – Northern Whig planning notices mention “14 houses in Avoca Street” (Rev. J. Meenely as applicant).
  • 1880 – Listed in the Belfast Street Directory as “Avoca Street – off Cliftonpark Avenue.”

Origin of name:
It is likely this comes from the Vale/River Avoca, Co. Wicklow, celebrated at the “Meeting of the Waters” (Thomas Moore). Victorian antiquarians also linked the Wicklow river to Ptolemy’s 2nd‑century “Oboka,” giving the name a light classical polish (cf. Eblana Street (south Belfast), from Ptolemy’s “Eblana” for Dublin).

Context / naming pattern:
Laid out during Belfast’s late‑Victorian northward expansion, Avoca Street sits in a grid where developers chose Irish river/place names: Annalee, Avonbeg, Dargle, Roe, Bann, Bandon (Court), Shannon, Liffey, Nore, Derg, etc. The scheme supplied a coherent, geographic theme rather than commemorating individuals.

Summary:
Named c.1877–78, Avoca Street reflects a romantic, geographically themed approach to street naming in the Oldpark/Cliftonville district—Irish waterways with the occasional classical nod.

Also: Annalee St; Avonbeg St; Dargle St; Roe St; Bann St; Bandon Court; Shannon St; Liffey St; Nore St; Derg St; Eblana St.

 

Sources

  1. Northern Whig, 3 June 1878, p.6 (planning applications).
  2. Belfast Street Directory, 1880 (Lennon Wylie transcription).
  3. PRONI / OSNI Historical Maps (2nd & 3rd Edition sheets) – street shown by the 1880s–90s.
  4. Classical Association in NI blog, “Ptolemy’s Map of Ireland and Street Names in Belfast” (2020).
  5. GPO Belfast List of Streets (1959) and other directories for neighbouring river-named streets.
  6. Belfast City Council minutes/street-naming papers (20th–21st c.) for thematic confirmation.