Ballymoney

Free State Post

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Letter boxes in the UK (including Ireland) were green until 1874, when they were changed to red. After independence, the Irish (Free State) boxes were painted green and new boxes were cast without mention of the British monarch (Roaring Water). Royal Mail letter boxes in CNR areas of Northern Ireland have occasionally been painted in green-white-and-orange (Republican Mail | Tricoloured Post Box) as a political statement. The letter box shown above stands on the Ballymoney Road in Armoy.

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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Ballymoney UDA

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UDA 3rd battalion [North Antrim & Londonderry brigade] in Carnany estate, Ballymoney.

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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The Terror, Threats, And Dread

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Kipling’s 1912 poem Ulster is not often quoted in loyalist muraling, despite it being an angry denunciation of Home Rule and the sacrifice of loyalists, as in the lines quote here: “The blood our fathers spilt/Our love, our toils, our pains/Are counted us for guilt/And only bind our chains./Before an Empire’s eyes/The traitor claims his price./What need of further lies?/We are the sacrifice. … The terror, threats, and dread/In market, hearth, and field/We know, when all is said./We perish if we yield.” Specifically, the sacrifice is six North Antrim/Londonderry UDA volunteers: Lindsay Mooney, Cecil McKnight, Ray Smallwoods, Benny Redfern, Gary Lynch, William Campbell. (See also: a RHC mural in the Shankill with a few lines from the poem.)

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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X06660 X06659 Carnany estate, Ballymoney

Past, Present, For All Time

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The North Antrim/Londonderry UDA has existed in the “Past, present, for all time”, or at least from 1972 to 2016 (and into 2019). “The blood our comrades shed shall not have been in vain. We honour Ulster’s dead and staunch we will remain.” The same quotation was used in Cloughfern.

Carnany estate, Ballymoney

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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Orange Fest

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There is a now-annual campaign to discourage excessive drinking and focus on “heritage, tradition, respect, remembrance, culture” during 12th celebrations, rebranded as the more family-friendly “Orange Fest’. Sponsored by the Policing And Community Safety Partnership (web | tw | Fb) Here is 2016’s campaign: Battle Of The Bottle.

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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Ulster’s Present Defenders

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This is the matching pair to Ulster’s Past Defenders from last week, which featured the B Specials and UDR. Ulster’s Present Defenders are the “undefeated” (“invicta”) UFF, who are shown here taking a sledgehammer to someone’s front door. The quotation on the rights is a modified version of the Declaration of Arbroath: “For as long as one hundred of us remain alive we shall never in anyway consent to submit to the Irish. For it’s not for glory, honour or riches we fight but for freedom alone which no man loses but with his life.” The gunman in the lower right is famous from a mural (M02474) – now gone – in the lower Shankill. Carnany estate, Ballymoney.

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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Ulster’s Past Defenders

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“Better to die on your feet, than to live on your knees in an Irish Republic.” The Ulster Special Constabulary was originally divided into three categories A, B, and C but after the 1922 only the B Specials remained as a reserve force for the RUC. The USC was disbanded in 1970 after its controversial behaviour in the riots of 1969, on some occasions failing to protect Catholics and in a few cases joining in with loyalists. It was replaced by the UDR (as a reserve military force), which lasted until 1992 – it was amalgamated with the Royal Irish Rangers to become the Royal Irish Regiment.

In Carnany estate, Ballymoney.

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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Carnany Bonfire

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“Carnany Bonfire Site. Respect your community and follow the site guidelines: no hazardous waste, no electronics, no tyres, no aerosols. Any person found fly tipping will be prosecuted.”

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