"That on the application of Mr William Davison a new street on his property, situate off Newtownards Road, be named Gawn Street." (Improvement Committee, 2nd June 1903).
Gawn Street, Ballymacarrett
The origins of Gawn Street can be traced through a series of council minutes, newspaper notices, and property records at the turn of the 20th century.
There is a report in the Northern Whig of 27 May 1903 that William Davison, a landowner in Ballymacarrett, applied to Belfast Corporation to name a new street on his property off the Newtownards Road. His proposed name, Charles Street, was declined — most likely because Belfast already had a Charles Street South, and duplicated names were discouraged.
Only a few weeks later, on 2 June 1903, the Corporation’s Improvement Committee approved his revised application, and the street was officially named Gawn Street.
The choice of “Gawn” was almost certainly not accidental. For much of the 19th century, deeds and notices referred to the Davison family’s land in Ballymacarrett. The Belfast News-Letter of 13 November 1890, for example, described land boundaries:
“… on the east by Charles Lenon’s land, and on the west by John Hall and Gawn Davison’s holdings, situate in the Townland of Ballymacarrett, Barony of Castlereagh, and County of Down …”
A “Gawn Davison, gentleman,” also appears in directories at Strawberry Hill, Ballymacarrett. This suggests that William Davison turned to a family-associated name, distinctive enough to avoid duplication, and deeply rooted in the property history of the area.
By May 1905, houses on Gawn Street were already being advertised to let in the Belfast Telegraph. The 1907 Henderson’s Directory listed it as a new development “with houses in course of erection.”
Summary
27 May 1903 – William Davison’s application to call the new street “Charles Street” is refused.
2 June 1903 – Corporation approves the name “Gawn Street.”
13 November 1890 – legal notice in the Belfast News-Letter refers to “Gawn Davison’s holdings” in Ballymacarrett.
1905–1907 – the street is developed and occupied.
Gawn Street therefore commemorates the Davison family’s Gawn connection, a name tied to their land for generations, and became part of the expanding network of terraces off the Newtownards Road in the early 20th century.