How It All Began

How It All began
By Martin Magill

I became interested in finding out about the origins of Belfast street names when I was driving along Tate’s Avenue which connects the Lisburn and Boucher-Roads and began to wonder how it came to be called Tate’s Avenue. I started doing some research and this led me on a fascinating journey of discovery not only about the history of Belfast but much beyond.

I have come to realise that street names of any city often tell a story which can easily be forgotten; this is certainly the case with Belfast. Some of the origins of street names are easy to work out, others less so. One of the hopes of this project is to bring together as many as possible of the origins of the names which could so easily be lost, though sadly it has to be said some of the street names are very possibly lost. A key part of the website is the search facility site.