Location: A cul‑de‑sac off Ballyclare Street, near the Oldpark Road in north Belfast.
Background: During a late‑19th‑century building boom the Town Improvement Committee was asked to name a cluster of new streets off Oldpark Road. The Belfast News‑Letter reported on 2 October 1890 that, on the application of the owners, the committee named six new streets off Oldpark Road: Ballyclare Street, Ballynure Street, Ballycastle Street, Ballymena Street, Ballymoney Street and Ballycarry Streetbelfaststreetnames.com. These names—mostly drawn from towns in County Antrim—were part of a broader pattern of naming streets after local places. Importantly, the 1890 report only refers to Ballyclare Street and does not mention a court, indicating that the court did not exist when the street was laid out.
Absence of Ballyclare Court in mid‑20th‑century sources:
The 1951 Belfast Street Directory lists Ballyclare Street between Oldpark Road and Ballycarry Street but does not mention a Ballyclare Courtlennonwylie.co.uk.
The 1955 directory again records Ballyclare Street (“1‑39 vacant ground”) but no courtlennonwylie.co.uk.
The 1959 “List of All Belfast Streets” includes Ballyclare Street in the alphabetical list (between Ballycastle Street and Ballygomartin Park) without any courtlennonwylie.co.uk.
The 1960 directory still lists Ballyclare Street (houses being built) but makes no reference to a courtlennonwylie.co.uk.
The 1967 list of streets shows Ballycarry Street, Ballycastle Street, Ballyclare Street, Ballymena Street and Ballymoney Street, but again there is no Ballyclare Courtlennonwylie.co.uk. These omissions demonstrate that Ballyclare Court was absent from Belfast’s street network through at least the 1960s.
Evidence from later decades: By the late 1990s and early 2000s Ballyclare Court is present in local address databases, news reports and electoral lists (e.g., the Northern Ireland Electoral Office’s polling‑station register lists Ballyclare Court within the Oldpark electoral ward). These contemporary sources show that the court had been laid out and numbered by the end of the 20th century.
Interpretation and timeframe: The evidence points to Ballyclare Court being created after the 1960s but before the end of the 20th century. During the 1970s and 1980s the Northern Ireland Housing Executive redeveloped parts of north Belfast, replacing nineteenth‑century terraces with modern flats and short cul‑de‑sacs known locally as “courts.” Nearby Ballymena Court and Ballymoney Court were constructed during these schemes. It is likely that Ballyclare Court was laid out as part of the same redevelopment, adopting its name from the adjacent Ballyclare Street and continuing the Antrim‑town theme established in 1890.
Sources
Belfast News‑Letter, report of Town Improvement Committee meeting (2 October 1890) as quoted by the Belfast Street Names website: belfaststreetnames.com.
1951 Belfast Street Directory (Lennon Wylie transcription)lennonwylie.co.uk.
1955 Belfast Street Directory (Lennon Wylie transcription)lennonwylie.co.uk.
1959 List of All Belfast Streets (Lennon Wylie transcription)lennonwylie.co.uk.
1960 Belfast Street Directory (Lennon Wylie transcription)lennonwylie.co.uk.