The existence of the street can be inferred from Lord Chichester's grant (written in Latin) to John Vesey in 1615, which refers to Platea vil' de Belfast ("the town square of Belfast"), but it is first named as High Street in 1656: Lease of half tenement and 2 acres and 5 acres for 99 years from 1 May 1656 or two lives - Rent: £1. 12s. p.a. plus dues and services of Arthur, Earl of Donegall to Thomas Carron, Belfast relating to High Street, Belfast, Shankill Dutchland, Co. Antrim (PRONI, D509/13).
"In a charter granted by Lord Chichester to John Vesey, first Sovereign of Belfast, of a tenement, it is named the High Street or Great Street of the town." (John J Marshall, Belfast Telegraph, Friday 24 January 1941).
"The town's first street, High Street, followed the Farset from the Castle down to a dock where the stream joined the Lagan at the tide. The Farset ran down the centre of High Street, not to be covered in until the early nineteenth century; by Charles II's reign some of the wealthiest citizens had built several bridges across the stream with the permission of the Corporation. Upstream of the Castle the town's cornmill was powered by the Farset; the later Mill Street (now Divis Street) marked its site and Millfield was clearly the location of an adjacent field outside the rampart. By the Restoration there appear to have been five streets: High Street, Bridge Street, Waring Street, North Street, and Skipper Street" (Jonathan Bardon, Belfast: An Illustrated History, 1982, p. 19).
It is worth quoting Benn's piece from his 'Description of the Old Streets of Belfast' in full: "High Street was the early site of the town, consisting of a few mean houses collected on each side of the river. The evidence of the early existence of the street is presumed from the expressions in John Vesey's grant of 1615. Apart from this, it is mentioned by John Bigger in 1668, who sells, as stated in the Corporate Records, his half Burgage share on the south side of High Street in that year; and also by George Martin in 1678, who leaves by will small properties in "High Street." Containing the Market House, the original Markets, the Castle, and the Church, it was early deemed, and must still in a sense be considered in its unbroken continuation, the principal street in the town. A view of the High Street as it was in the year 1786 has been recently photographed from a drawing made at that time, and is very generally known. It shows apparently one or two thatched houses, people in the costumes of the time moving about, the swinging signboards, the irregular buildings, and all the distinctive features of the period. This great street, from the information of an old inhabitant, was commonly called Front Street, as Ann Street was called Back Street, at the end of the last [18th] century, and perhaps later. It was also named Fore Street at the end of the seventeenth century" (George Benn, A History of the Town of Belfast, vol. i, 1877, p. 527). See below under "Further Information" for a link to the drawing referred to by Benn.
View of High Street from Chichester Quay, 1831. Artist: T M Baynes, engraved by J Davies.
For information on the Restoration: https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/restoration