In 1680 this was part of High Street. By 1791 it was as known as the "Parade" or "Grand Parade" owing to its suitability for military displays. (Marcus Patton, Central Belfast: A HIstorical Gazetteer, p.53). It is included in the list of streets in the Belfast Directory 1835-1836 with reference to High Street as an adjoining street.
"Castle Place is a modern title. It seems to have been at one time included in, and formed part of, Castle Street, and was, at the end of last century, generally called the Parade, as from its width it afforded space for military displays" (George Benn, A History of the Town of Belfast, vol. i, 1877, p. 529).
The name of Castle Place is a reminder that the stronghold built by Sir Arthur Chichester in 1611, and which was destroyed by fire in 1708, stood nearby. Its exact position is unknown and remains to be discovered. The Norman era "castle of the ford" and the structures that succeeded it were probably also sited there or thereabouts.