Rydalmere Street
“That on the application of the owners a new street off Donegall Road be named Rydalmere Street.” (29th October 1901)
Location: Off Donegall Road, South Belfast (BT12)
Background
Rydalmere Street was formally named by Belfast Corporation on 29th October 1901, following an application concerning a new street off the Donegall Road. It formed part of the wider residential grid developing along the Donegall Road during the early 20th century — a period of rapid urban expansion as Belfast’s population and industry grew.
Name Origin
The Corporation minute of 29th October 1901 confirms the official naming of Rydalmere Street but, as usual for such records, gives no explanation for the choice. However, several contextual clues suggest possible sources of inspiration.
A house named Rydalmere stood on Ravenhill Road, listed in directories from 1899–1901, including J.C. O’Callaghan, Rydalmere, Ravenhill Road (Ulster Journal of Archaeology, 1899) and Wm. Emerson, 1 Rydalmere, Belfast Street Directory (1901). Naming new streets after existing houses or small estates was a well-established Belfast practice. The Ravenhill property therefore offers a plausible local connection, consistent with contemporary naming habits. It is possible that one of the developers or applicants connected with the Donegall Road scheme had a personal or business association with the Ravenhill district, or simply admired the name’s genteel tone and sought to lend similar prestige to a new working-class street.
In a broader sense, the choice may also have been influenced by the sound and style of the name itself. Rydalmere combined English rural and suburban associations, a fashionable quality in late Victorian and Edwardian Belfast, where developers often drew on such names to suggest aspiration, respectability, and permanence.
Another possible, if less direct, influence is maritime: a British barque named Rydalmere was wrecked in 1895, and its crew rescued by the Lord Charlemont, a Belfast-owned steamship. Though no evidence connects the event to the naming, the coincidence may have reinforced the name’s familiarity within the city.
Conclusion
The Corporation record of 29th October 1901 confirms the official approval of Rydalmere Street as part of Belfast’s early 20th-century suburban development. While the precise reason for the name remains undocumented, the Ravenhill Road residence “Rydalmere” offers a plausible local link. The name’s refined and picturesque associations — possibly reinforced by maritime or stylistic influences — suited the city’s aspirations at the time, lending a note of dignity and imagination to a growing working-class district of South Belfast.