placenamesRavenhill
Cnoc an Fhéich
Ravenhill’s recorded history includes a nineteenth-century road name, a celebrated rugby venue and award-winning domestic architecture.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Cnoc an Fhéich · Irish · main form · validated name
- Ravenhill · English · main form
Place & story
Naming Ravenhill Road
Belfast Street Names records a council resolution of 29 December 1886 recommending that Lagan Village Road be renamed Ravenhill Road. The project also traces the earlier name Old Ballynafeigh Road and the nineteenth-century house called Ravenhill. It treats the often-repeated story that the house was built for the Marquess of Donegall’s horse trainer as unconfirmed. The records establish the road name more securely than that proposed account of its origins. [2]
A new rugby ground
Ulster’s search for a new ground led to the purchase of nine acres at Ravenhill in 1923 for £2,380. Henry Hobart and Samuel Heron designed the stadium, with a grandstand and facilities for players, officials and spectators. Its first competitive Ulster match took place on 12 January 1924, when the home side defeated Leinster 14–6. Ireland played England there the following month, establishing the ground’s international role almost immediately. [3]
Remembrance and a Grand Slam
A memorial arch erected at the stadium in 1926 commemorated rugby players killed in the First World War. Ravenhill later became the setting for Ireland’s first Five Nations Grand Slam, secured by a 6–3 victory over Wales on 13 March 1948. Jack Kyle was among the players in that side. The ground’s history therefore includes both collective remembrance and one of Irish rugby’s defining sporting achievements. [3]
House Ravenhill
McGonigle McGrath’s House Ravenhill project of 2005–07 added a different kind of architectural landmark to the area. The architects arranged a narrow house along an east–west axis, using projecting walls to form sheltered courtyards around it. The project received a RIBA Regional Award and the Liam McCormick Prize in 2008, and was runner-up for that year’s RIBA Manser Medal. [4]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Down
- Barony
- Castlereagh Lower
- Civil parish
- Knockbreda
- Coordinates
- 54.56918, -5.91238 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 130148 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Ravenhill. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Ravenhill Road · Belfast Street Names
- 100 years of Ulster Rugby’s home,11 January 2024 · Ulster Rugby
- House Ravenhill, Belfast 2005–2007 · McGonigle McGrath
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2019-10-08. How this page was prepared.