A new gate has been installed in the Alexandra Park “peace” line, first erected in 1994, in order to separate the loyalist Mountcollyer and republican Newington neighbourhoods. It will be open during the day for a trial period of three months (BBC).
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Copyright © 2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Families Against Supergrass Trials was formed to protest the first supergrass trial in 26 years (after the system collapsed during the trial), to begin on September 8th, related to the killing of Tommy English (Belfast Telegraph | BBC | BBC). The banner above is in Donegall Pass, the one below is on the Mount Vernon flats. There was another in Newtownards Road (Irish News). (And in 2012, one in Spier’s Place/Shankill Rd.)
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Copyright © 2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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These four images are details of the scenic mural behind Finn House/Teach Fhınn in north Belfast’s New Lodge. (For another, see X04723.)
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Copyright © 2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Muraling gets meta, just off the Cliftonville Road. A mural is such a familiar mode of expression in Belfast that one is expected on every wall, and even more so in the post-Agreement years when the state enters as a third source of murals. The pixelated hourglass and font of the text hearken back to computers of the 1990s.
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Copyright © 2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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In 1992, the Forest Of Belfast project was started, a public-private to preserve old trees and encourage tree-planting. Above is one of the murals painted to publicise the effort, on Hillman Street at the Antrim Road. (Another was painted on the Falls Road.)
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Copyright © 2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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“Over us all is the self same sky”. “A hands across the divide production, 2011”. A heart filled with swallows and a ribbon with the names of the various participants.
Crumlin Road at the Ardoyne shops, north Belfast.
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Copyright © 2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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2011 image of the ITGWU/OBU mural previously seen in 2007. The medallions show portraits of Larkin, Connolly, and Carney.
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Copyright © 2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Here are three details from the metalworks in the Mount Vernon WWI memorial garden, showing scenes from the conflict and a map of the area around Messines (photoshopped in red). For more, including the panels to John Cordon and William McFadzean, see M07770.
Update: As the images below from 2017 and 2018 show, the metalworks themselves have also been repainted (and replaced in a slightly different configuration), a new gate has been installed and the boards on the surrounding wall have been restored, against a freshly-painted background of green. The boards have verses from Laurence Binyon’s For The Fallen. “They mingle not with their laughing comrades again/They sit no more at familiar tables of home/They have no lot in our labour of the day-time/They sleep beyond Ulster’s [originally, England’s] foam.”
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Copyright © 2011/2017/2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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T04420 T04419 courtesy of Paddy Duffy
In 1607 – “400 blıaın” after the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland – 50 years of newly-asserted English control, most recently at the hands of Charles Blount – who defeated the pair in the Nine Years’ War – and Arthur Chichester – who, as O’Donnell is shown reading, was “appointed Lord Deputy in Ireland” in 1605 – compelled Earls Hugh O’Neill of Tyrone and Rory O’Donnell of Tyrconnell to depart Ireland on a ship bound for Spain in order to petition for Spanish support in reclaiming the lands and status they were losing under English rule. They ended up in Rome instead and never returned, ending the period of Gaelic chiefs’ rule in Ireland and making way for the plantation of Ulster.
The pair of plaques on the left indicate that the mural was painted as part of the Re-Imaging Communities Programme’ (top) and launched by President Mary McAleese on June 19th (bottom). Even though the subject was historical, the state funding for the project required the removal of a sword from O’Neill’s right hand; he is shown instead clutching the collar of his cloak. For more on the re-imaging programme, see Visual History 10.
“Imeacht na nIarlaí. I ndıadh 400 blıaın … that the eternal values of liberty and democracy have prevailed and the sons and daughters of the planter and the Gael have found a way to share the land of their birth and live together in peace.”
Ardoyne Avenue, Belfast
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Copyright © 2010 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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“Tyndale” and “UFF” were originally above and below the fist (see M05695). All three boards have come off the wall.
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Copyright © 2010 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Extramural Activity 