Ballyclare Street
Key points
- Location: Runs between Oldpark Road and Ballycarry Street in the Ardoyne/Oldpark district of north Belfast.
- Date approved: 1890.
- Origin of the name: Named after the market town of Ballyclare in County Antrim. Ballyclare derives from the Irish Bealach Cláir (“road or pass of the plain”), reflecting its position on a route through the Sixmilewater valley.
- Naming pattern: In September 1890 a developer applied to Belfast’s Town Improvement Committee for names for a group of new streets off Oldpark Road. The Belfast News‑Letter reported that the committee approved six names: Ballyclare Street, Ballynure Street, Ballycastle Street, Ballymena Street, Ballymoney Street and Ballycarry Streetbelfaststreetnames.com. These names were all taken from towns and villages in County Antrim, continuing a practice of using local place‑names for streets in the expanding northern suburbs. The shared prefix “Bally‑” (from the Irish baile, meaning “town” or “homestead”) links them linguistically and ties the neighbourhood to the county’s geography.
Background
During the late nineteenth century Belfast’s urban growth pushed along the Oldpark Road towards Ardoyne. Developers sought distinctive names for the streets in this new suburb. In the Town Improvement Committee minutes of 22 September 1890, the owners requested that six new streets off Oldpark Road be named after Antrim market towns and villages. The choice of Ballyclare is significant: at the time the town was a busy market centre on the coach road between Carrickfergus and Ballymena. Naming a Belfast street after it evoked a prosperous rural community and complemented neighbouring streets named for Ballymena, Ballycastle, Ballymoney, Ballynure and Ballycarry belfaststreetnames.com.
Sources
- Belfast News‑Letter, report of Town Improvement Committee meeting, 2 Oct 1890 – quoted on Belfast Street Names websitebelfaststreetnames.com.
- 1959 “List of All Belfast Streets” (Lennon Wylie transcription)lennonwylie.co.uk.
- 1967 List of Streets (Lennon Wylie transcription)lennonwylie.co.uk.