Castle Street is so called after the castle built by Sir Arthur Chichester in 1611. It was destroyed by fire on 25 April 1708 and never rebuilt. The 1819 Belfast Street Directory adds this detail: “The Castle of Belfast burnt down, by the carelessness of servants, and never afterwards rebuilt” whereas this additional horrific piece of information is from a later directory. “the celebrated castle of Belfast – was destroyed by fire in 1708, the three daughters of the then Earl of Donegall having perished in the conflagration.” 1852 Belfast / Ulster Street Directory.
According to the website “Lord Belmont in Northern Ireland”: “The 3rd Earl’s second wife was the Lady Catherine Forbes; and by this lady he had two sons and six daughters; three of the latter, Jane, Frances and Henrietta, were unfortunately burnt to death”. Further details of the tragedy come from R M Young: The Town Book of Belfast 1892. “Joy’s MS notes: 25th April 1708, the Castle of Belfast burned down, and the ladies Jane, Frances and Henrietta lost their lives. This accident was occasioned by a servant, who left a fire of wood burning in a room which she was airing. A servant woman called Catherine Douglas and a daughter of Parson Berkley perished: Mary Taggart, a servant, made her escape thro’ the flames”.
“Castle Street (upper part) was once called Mill Street. Castle Street also had two theatres in Georgian Belfast and by the end of the 1820s was a blend of private houses and milliners and dressmakers shops. By 1900 there were pubs, fish and fruit merchants and cabinetmakers.” (https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/history/new-booklet-bring-history-belfast-14468106, accessed 4 January 2022).
“The first meeting place for Catholics in Belfast was at the back of the house in Castle Street belonging to a cutler called John Kennedy who lived opposite Fountain Street, until in 1768 a lease was negotiated for an old building down a narrow entry opposite Marquis Street” (Marcus Patton, Central Belfast: A HIstorical Gazetteer, p. 57).