The Wide Blue Yonder

Blue is the colour of the “#Remember My Noah” campaign to get answers in the disappearance of teen Noah Donohoe ten weeks ago. Gael Force Art (Fb) took to Sliabh Dubh and put a message on the mountain, with help from some of the Donohoe relatives from Strabane (video).

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The Leper Window

St Nicholas’s (Anglican) church in Carrickfergus dates back to the 1100s, prior to the castle. The low window shown above is known as the “leper window”. Patients from the leper hospital near the (northern) Spittal Gate to the city would come and listen in (Library Ireland). During the coronavirus pandemic of 2020, services are not even being held.

A virtual tour of the church is available in the church’s web site.

Recently in Carrickfergus: The Plague Grave. Covid-19 church-related posts from Belfast: Rediscovr The Powr Of Th Rosary | Prayer In The Time Of Coronavirus

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Welcome To Carrick Hill

“Fáılte go Cnoc Na Carraıge” in the arch over the entrance to Carrick Hill, with a simplified United Irishmen symbol at the centre.

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A Great Feeling Of Love

“The true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality” – Che Guevara Lynch. The INLA’s Kevin Lynch died in the second hunger strike after 71 days. He is buried in Dungiven, where this memorial sits on the main road between Derry and Maghera.

“I ndíl [ndıl] chuımhne ar Óglach Kevin Lynch a fuaır bás ar staılc ocraıs ar son saoırse, 1ú Lúnasa 1981 [who died on a hunger strike for freedom, 1st August 1981]. Erected by the Irish Republican Socialist Ex-Prisoners Memorial Committee.”

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Lagan Village

In the 1860s, Ballymacarrett, Mount Pottinger, and Lagan Village, all on the east side of the Lagan, were not a part of Belfast (Lennon-Wylie). Lagan Village stretched from where Hutchinsons car dealership now is down to the modern Park Parade, just above Ormeau Park. In the 1880s Belfast expanded and Lagan Village Road became Ravenhill Road (NVTv). Ormeau Park opened in 1871 (WartimeNI). It did not then include the BMX track celebrated in this mural.

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The Workers United Will Never Be Defeated

Workers’ Party (web | Fb) posters along the Falls, drawing inspiration from Black Lives Matter and James Connolly: “Governments in capitalist society are but committees of the rich to manage the affairs of the capitalist class” (from ‘The War Upon The German Nation’ 1914) and “The cause of labour is the cause of Ireland. The cause of Ireland is the cause of labour.” (‘The Irish Flag’ 1916)

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Black Wives Matter

Probably a joke, but perhaps indicative of the competition between race and gender to be the dominant category of social analysis in the last few years. Class comes a distant third at the moment (but we’ll have a gallery of Workers’ Party posters tomorrow).

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#RememberMyNoah

14 year-old Noah Donohoe went missing on June 21st while cycling in the York Road area en route from his south Belfast home to the Cave Hill. His body was found in a north Belfast storm drain six days later and the postmortem showed death by drowning (Irish News). Many details of his last hours remain unknown, however, including how he came to drown in the drain. His mother, Fiona, started a campaign on August 11th on Facebook and Twitter to press for answers and signatures are being collected for a petition into the PSNI handling of the case. CCTV images of Noah were released on Friday by the BBC. An inquest will be held in January, 2021 (BelTel) with a preliminary hearing on September 30th.

Previously: Gloria Ab Intus

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The Plague Grave

Care homes accounted for about 50% of the early coronavirus deaths in both Northern Ireland (WP) and the Republic (Irish Times). This Carrickfergus facility is named “Tamlaght” which comes from the Irish támh = plague and leacht = grave. Ireland suffered various plagues throughout history, including the Yellow Plague Of 644 and the Black Death in 1348 with “unheard of mortality” from recurring waves lasting until 1370. PlaceNamesNI states there 25 townlands bearing the name (and many other places too).

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A Pension For All Victims

The pension plan for the injured of the Troubles was scheduled to open at the end of August, rather than the end of June, because of a dispute over the eligibility of those who suffered at their own hand. The Tar Anall boards shown here (in N Queen St and the Antrim Rd) recommend “a pension for all victims” but in the end, they were considered not to be eligible. Another source of the delay was the dispute over how the scheme would be funded (Irish Times | BelTel).

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