Date established: c.1836
Area: Peter’s Hill / Lower Shankill
Overview:
Gardiner Street dates from the mid-1830s and first appeared by name in an 1836 newspaper reference (Belfast Newsletter, 29 April 1836), listed as off Peter’s Hill. In early directories it was sometimes called Gardiner’s Place, suggesting it began as a short cul-de-sac before being extended into a fuller street by the 1840s. Early records describe a small row of around 27 houses, typical of the modest workers’ housing built during Belfast’s period of rapid industrial expansion.
Origin of the Name:
Like many 19th-century Belfast streets, Gardiner Street was almost certainly named after a local landowner or developer. No prominent Belfast family named Gardiner appears in surviving records, implying the name came from a lesser-known builder or merchant involved in laying out the street.
The name Gardiner was also famous in Ireland due to the Dublin Gardiners—Luke Gardiner and his son Charles John Gardiner, 1st Earl of Blessington—who developed Dublin’s Gardiner Street and Mountjoy Square. It is possible, though unproven, that Belfast’s Gardiner Street borrowed the name in imitation of this distinguished family, reflecting the 19th-century habit of giving new streets respectable or fashionable associations.
Historical Context:
Gardiner Street formed part of Belfast’s 19th-century westward expansion beyond the old town core. The area around Peter’s Hill, once partly rural and even used as a burial ground, became densely packed with two-storey brick houses for labouring families as the city’s population grew from about 30,000 in 1831 to more than double that by mid-century.
A 1912 Belfast Corporation survey photograph shows Gardiner Street as a narrow, cobbled lane lined with small workers’ cottages. Much of this housing was later cleared during 1970s urban redevelopment, though the street’s name survives on today’s map.
Legacy:
While the precise “Gardiner” behind the name has been lost to history, the street remains a reminder of Belfast’s early-Victorian building boom and of the local craftsmen and speculators who shaped its working-class districts. Its origins reflect both the entrepreneurial spirit and social realities of Belfast’s industrial age.
Sources:
Irish Historic Towns Atlas, No. 12: Belfast, Part I (to 1840) — entry for Gardiner Street 1836 (BNL 29 Apr 1836)
Belfast Street Directories (1843, 1852)
Belfast Corporation photographic survey (1912)
Belfast Entries local history archives
Unmarked Graves on Peter’s Hill – Treason Felony Blog