Penrose Street

Penrose Street

Penrose Street (BT7) is a short residential road off Agincourt Avenue in the Botanic/Cromac district of south Belfast. It first appears in council records in May 1885 when the Works Committee authorised water supplies for five new houses there, and by 1890 it was listed as an intersecting side‑street beside the Belfast Bowling Green.

Place‑name researchers suggest two possible origins for the name. One theory is that it honours George and William Penrose of Waterford, founders of the Penrose Glass House (later Waterford Crystal) in 1783. Another is that it belongs to a cluster of nearby streets named after Royal Navy officers—Cadogan Street, Collingwood Avenue/Road and Curzon Street—implying a tribute to Rear‑Admiral Sir Charles Penrose (1759‑1830). The surname Penrose comes from a Brittonic place‑name meaning “head of the heath,” found in Cornwall and Wales.

Penrose Street lies adjacent to the “Holy Land” of biblical‑themed streets (Cairo, Damascus, Jerusalem, etc.) that were laid out in the 1890s after builder James Rea and estate agent Sir Robert J. McConnell returned from a trip to Palestine, yet it predates that development and was not part of their naming scheme. The building firm H. & J. Martin erected some of the earliest houses on the street and had a yard nearby; while they also repaired Cork’s Penrose Quay in the early 1880s, there is no evidence this influenced the naming of the Belfast street.

Sources
[1] Belfast corporation Works Committee minutes, 29 May 1885, showing approval for water connections to five houses on Penrose Street built by H. & J. Martin, and the 1890 Belfast Street Directory listing Penrose Street intersecting Agincourt Avenuecraigantlet486.orglennonwylie.co.uk.
[2] Northern Ireland Place‑Name Project, North & South Belfast (2007), entry for Penrose Street explaining the possible origins (Penrose brothers or Rear‑Admiral Sir Charles Penrose) and the Brittonic place‑name derivationstatic1.squarespace.com.
[3] Northern Ireland Place‑Name Project, description of the Holy Land streets and the role of James Rea and Sir Robert J. McConnell in naming themstatic1.squarespace.com.
[4] 1901 Belfast Street Directory, listing H. & J. Martin Ltd.'s yard near Cadogan Streetlennonwylie.co.uk.
[5] Craigantlet Masonic Lodge (Galwally House) history, outlining H. & J. Martin's role in major building projects and general company historycraigantlet486.org.