Ballymurphy Memorial

2013-05-06 BallymurphyMemorial+

This is a memorial stone on Springhill Avenue in Ballymurphy to deceased republican volunteers from the area. This stone can be seen in the middle distance in first image in the post White Line, Black Flag.

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
this monument was erected by the republican people of greater in proud and loving memory of all those volunteers from the area who gave their lives in the fight for irish freedom unveiled by gerry adams 12th may 1985 i ndíl [ndil] cuimhne [chuimhne] i gcónaí ag na poblachtánaigh ón cheantar barr clunai also of the civilians who died at the hands of the british army r.u.c. u.d.r. and loyalist extremists mcparland kane maguire meehan sloan mccormick campbell magee dougal mccrudden clarke parker quigley mulholland o’rawe mccartland mulvenna pettigrew bryson teer stone mcgrillen tolan mcwilliams delaney o’neill jordan doyle mccracken mcgeown plough sunburst

Tullycarnet Memorial

2013-05-22 TullMemLeft+

A three-stone memorial to army soldiers from both World Wards in Tullycarnet, featuring a line from the gospel of John (“Greater love has no-one than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” 15:13) and a song by Randall Wallace for the 2002 movie We Were Soldiers called ‘The Mansions of the Lord’: To fallen soldiers let us sing, where no rockets fly nor bullets wing, our broken brothers let us bring, to the mansions of the Lord. No more weeping, no more fight, no prayers pleading through the night, just divine embrace, eternal light, in the mansions of the Lord. Where no mothers cry and no children weep, we will stand and guard though the angels sleep, Oh through the ages safely keep, the mansions of the Lord.”

By Ross Wilson with support from the International Fund For Ireland (IFI)

For a wide shot, see War And Peace.

2013-05-22 TullMemMiddle+

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Bone Memorial 2

2013-04-23 ArdAnLao5+

Memorial garden and mural in Clós Ard An Lao, in Ardoyne, in remembrance of 38 local people (“from the greater Bone, Ballybone, Rosapenna area”) who died during the troubles. Previously seen in 2010.

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Belfast Banksy

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Banksy’s “Slave Labour” was sold on Sunday night for about three-quarter of a million pounds sterling, to an as-yet anonymous buyer. It was sold by the owners of the Poundland store on whose exterior wall it was originally stencilled. This BBC video shows the piece, both removed and in situ. In other Banksy news this weekend, his giant rat piece in Liverpool is to be removed and preserved.

The image above is a 2009 piece on Northumberland Street (Visual History page) imitating one of Banksy’s pieces in the West Bank. In the Bethlehem piece, the hole in the wall reveals a tropical paradise; here, it reveals the hills around Belfast. There is a shot of the artists painting the piece at the beginning of the documentary about them, “Paint For Peace“. This piece as later replaced by the Latuff “solidarity” mural.

See also: Bundoran BanksySweep It Under The Carpet

2008 Channel 4 video about Banksy in the West Bank.

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Copyright © 2009 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Béal Feırste Feabhsaıthe

2013-05-01 Feabhsaithe+

Irish-language signage from Belfast City Council at the corner of An Bealach Leathan/Broadway and Bóthar na bhFál/Falls Road. On the left you can see the English translation of the central board’s “Ag tógáıl Béal Feirste feabhsaıthe”: “Building a better Belfast”. The building shown to the right and left of the centre is proposed for the site.

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Many Did Not Return

2013-05-19 15thBatt+

This mural and memorial in Rathcoole commemorates soldiers from the north Belfast area who went to France in 1915 as part of the 15th (North Belfast) Royal Irish Rifles, and in particular the five whose faces appear in the apex of the mural: Magookin, La Harpur, Forrester, Baird and Templeton.

The information board is reproduced below.

2013-05-19 15thBattInfo+

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Hollow Promises

2013-05-03 LongWomansGrave+

The Long Woman was 7ft tall, a Spaniard of Ulster heritage who died of disappointment after eloping with Lorcan and returning with him (to the Omeath area of County Louth, just on the south side of Carlingford Lough and south of Newry) and having the same trick pulled on her that Lorcan’s brother had pulled on him when divvying up their inheritance — you can be owner of the land as far as you can see … while standing in a hollow.

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The Long Woman’s Grave or “The Cairn of Cauthleen” is the grave of a Spanish noble woman who married Lorcan O’Hanlon, the youngest son of the “Cean” or Chieftain of Omeath. On the death of the Cean he ordered that his lands be divided between his two sons, Conn óg and Lorcan. However Conn óg tricked his brother Lorcan by bringing him up to the Lug or hollow in the mountains at Aenagh, telling him that he would give him the land “as far as he could see”. The mist and the bleakness of the hollow was Lorcan’s only legacy. However Lorcan owned a ship and begun trading in the East, making his fortune and becoming prosperous. On one of his voyages to Cadiz, Spain he bravely saved the lives of a Spanish nobleman and his daughter. Lorcan was enchanted by Cauthleen, a descendent of the great O’Donnells of Ulster and fell in love with her. The pair made a handsome couple; she was 7ft tall, only three inches smaller than Lorcan. Cauthleen was already engaged to be married but was wooed by Lorcan’s professions of love and the promises of the good life that they would have back in Omeath. The pair eloped when the couple arrived in Carlingford Lough the locals were enchanted by this tall beauty adorned with jewels. The couple set along the mountain path until they came to the Lug or Hollow in the rocks. Lorcan bade his bride to stand in the centre and look around as far as she could see as he “Was Lord of all she could survey”. Cauthleen looked around, so great was her disappointment and the realisation of what she had left behind in Spain, she fell to the ground and died. Lorcan was horrified that his duplicity had caused his bride to die and flung himself into the murky waters of the marsh at the crossroads. His body was never recovered. The locals found the long womans’ body, and dug a grave for Cauthleen in the “Lug Bhan Fada” (Long woman’s hollow) where she lay. Each person laid a stone on the grave to raise her burial cairn and here she sleeps today in the hollow of her disappointment and unfilled promises.

Justice For Scumbags

The reference here is perhaps punishment beatings and shootings for anti-social behaviour.

William St, Derry

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Jon Clifford

Jon “Ugg” Clifford died in 2011, having founded Tristar Boys FC (web) in 1974. Bull Park in Creggan has been renamed in his honour and this new board mounted above the park.

(BelTel | Derry Journal)

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Stop Domestic, Sexual & State Violence

“1 in every 4 women will experience violence in their lifetime. Stop domestic, sexual & state violence.” On the rear of Free Derry Corner.

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Copyright © 2013 Extramural Activity
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