One of the principal streets of the old town, its current narrowness belies its great historical importance. It was one of the four thoroughfares leading to the junction known as The Four Corners, regarded as the very centre of Belfast (where the Northern Whig is situated today).
"Waring Street derived its name from the Waring family, the great merchants and tanners of the seventeenth century, whose place of business it was. It was sometimes called Broad Street; on other occasions both names are used, as if each end had a separate title, but Waring Street was more general; the other has long been extinct" (George Benn, A History of the Town of Belfast, vol. i, 1877, p. 528).
Under the name Broad Street it is mentioned as early as 1619 ((PRONI, D271/1: Notes of an Agreement re plot of land, Broad Street, Belfast, between Arthur, Lord Chichester, Baron of Belfast and George Theaker, [Belfast] dated 1 Aug. 1619).
The surname Waring is of Norman origin, derived from a forename Warin. Variants of the name include Warren and FitzWarin. The celebrated outlaw marcher lord of Shropshire, Fulk Fitzwarin (c. 1160 - c. 1258), could trace his lineage back to his great-grandfather, Warin of Metz (in Lorraine). Fulk, who was later rehabilitated, accompanied King John to Ireland in 1210, when he visited Dublin, Carrickfergus and Holywood, but no member of that family settled in Ireland until the Plantation era. Benn quotes the following genealogical details on the Warings of Belfast, provided by the head of the Waringstown side of the family:
"The Waringstown branch, though descended from a common ancestor, separated before that family went to Belfast.... The common history of the family is as follows:- John Waring, son of a landed proprietor at a place called Cherry Tree House, near Chorley, in Lancashire, emigrated to Ireland early in 1600 (in company with a brother, who settled in Co. Kilkenny). He settled at Toome, Co. Antrim, where he got landed property and also established a tannery. He had by Miss Peers several sons - William, Thomas and Paul. The first succeeded to his property and a considerable sum of ready money, and an opportunity offering of purchasing land in Down from Cromwell's soldiers, he sold the Antrim property in 1656 and purchased the Waringstown and many other estates in Down. The second, Thomas, removed the tanneries to Belfast, and was Sovereign of that town, I believe, in 1660. From him the Belfast family descend. Paul was a Doctor of Divinity, and died unmarried" (quoted in George Benn, A History of the Town of Belfast, vol. i, 1877, p. 249).
Marshall provides further detail: "Thomas Waring, second son of John Waring, of Toome, County Antrim, settled in Belfast, where he carried on the tanning business, prior to 1643, as he was sworn in and admitted to the roll of Freemen on September 14 of that year. He must have been a man of good standing, as he was Sovereign, in the years 1652, 1655 and 1656. His son, William Waring, in 1670 acquired four half-burgage shares. The supposed family residence is shown, on Phillips's map of 1685 as the largest building, except the Castle, in the town, situate nearly opposite the site of the Ulster Bank.... William Waring died a wealthy man, having acquired a considerable amount of property in Broad Street and Skipper Lane. The most notable building in Waring Street is the Ulster Bank Head Office, built in 1859, their earlier office being a couple of doors from the Commercial Buildings" (John J. Marshall, Belfast Telegraph, 24/02/1941). The magnificent Italianate building to which Marshall refers still exists, but repurposed as the Merchant Hotel (opened 2006).