Belfast west

We Will Remember Them

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The UVF (A company, 1st battalion, platoon 4) mural in Glenwood Street was in the news last week after Jude Whyte of the Victims And Survivors Forum (web) drew attention to it because of its inclusion of some members of the Shankill Butchers (Irish News). The gang-members included in the plaque are given in a previous post – Platoon IV.

Some outlets (e.g. Sunday World) are reporting that the plaque is new but, while a few names of platoon have volunteers been recently added – Nesbitt, Orr, and Black – the plaque, including the names of various members of the gang, has been on the wall since 2017.

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Orkan Gairdens

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The application form for a dual-language street sign is completely agnostic as to which language (in addition to English) should go on the street sign. Based on news reports (including, recently, one home-owners complaint that such a sign would lower property values – BelTel) and our impression from tramping the streets, Irish (Gaeilge) is by far the most commonly requested language, but there are a few that include Ulster Scots; previously we featured Heichbrea Airt in Castlereagh, and to that can now be added the sign shown above in the Woodvale: “Oregon Gardens” / “Orkan Gairdens”. (Please get in touch if you know of others.)

Ards & North Down council has just approved its own dual-language policy; like the old Belfast policy, one third of householders must sign the initial petition and two-thirds must respond positively to the subsequent survey of the street (News Letter).

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Tríocha Blıaın Ag Fás

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What is now Coláıste Feırste began life as Meánscoıl Feırste in 1991, teaching a group of nine students a curriculum inspired by Patrick Pearse (discussed previously in An Tusa An Chéad Laoch Eıle?) and based in Cultúrlann MacAdam-Ó Fıaıch (Cultúrlann). It moved to Beechmount in 1998 and in 2018 expanded into new buildings that were meant to accommodate 600 pupils (Doherty Architects), which it has now exceeded (BBC) as it enters its thirty-third year in existence.

The theme of preserving and promoting the Irish language occurs in several places in the mural: next to Pearse we see his saying, “Máırtín Ó Chadháın ” [a land without a language [is] a land without a soul], in the classroom scene we have “Labhaır í agus maırfıdh sí” [speak it and it will endure], and finally we see the Dream Dearg protesting for an Irish-Language Act (see previously #AchtAnoıs).

The in-progress images included below among completed detailed shots date from May 6th and 20th.

Giant’s Foot/Beechview Park. Replaces the short-lived mural of Olympians, seen in Sporting Giants.

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And The Cry Of The City Went Up To Heaven

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London social-worker Paddy McCarthy took a job at the Ballymurphy Tenants’ Association in west Belfast in 1970. On August 11th, 1971, he tried to broker a ceasefire and evacuation of children from Ballymurphy, where a curfew had been imposed after the introduction of internment. He carried a Red Cross flag but was shot in the hand. He regrouped and then tried to distribute milk to families, but was stopped by two soldiers who either fired over his head or put an unloaded gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. He died of a heart attack. (Belfast Media | WP | Ballymurphy Massacre | Ballymurphy And The Irish War, written by one of McCarthy’s successors, Ciarán De Baróid, who came to work for the BTA in 1972 – Belfast Media)

The memorial plaque is in Ballymurphy Road, as is the graffiti below: “OIRA [-] Beware hoods.”

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This Country Is Worth Fighting For

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“In commemoration of King William III and his victory at the Battle Of The Boyne, 1st July 1690.” King William and images of Carrickfergus and the Boyne are included on the left of the board: in Ireland, William in person travelled from Carrickfergus to Drogheda and – after the victory at the Boyne – to Dublin, from which he left to pursue the war in Europe; his troops, on the other hand, after landing in Groomsport (1689) and Carrickfergus (1690) and fighting at the Boyne, continued on southward, to Cork and then to Limerick, and westward, to Athlone, Aughrim, and (again) Limerick. The campaign ended in October, 1691, with the signing of the Treaty Of Limerick. The information is available in pdf format from the Schomberg House Museum.

King William’s Corner joins Queen’s Corner and King’s Corner (and first of them all, Conor’s Corner –Conor’s ‘The Twelfth In Wellington Place, Belfast 1918’ is included to the left of the map, under a few lines from The Sash – “It is old but it is beautiful, and its colours they are fine/It was worn at Derry, Aughrim, Enniskillen and the Boyne” – and “The Boyne Standard [a.k.a. the flag of the Orange Order] with the heraldic crest of King William”).

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X12764 [X12763] X12762 [X12761] X12765 “This artwork was commissioned by ACT Initiative [web] – Protecting Our Community.”

Living In Poverty

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“Population of the Six Counties: 1,800,000. Living in poverty: 313,000. Children in poverty: 100,000.”

The source for the statistics presented might be the Department Of Communites, which gives statistics for 2021-2022; the Rowntree foundation has a report on 2022 poverty levels. No source is given here or on the campaign’s web page at Lasaır Dhearg (web | tw).

Glenveagh Drive; with a bonus image of on old Marian Price stencil in nearby Carrigart Avenue.

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Shankill Parade

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The Shankill Area Social History (SASH) (Fb) celebrates the people and events of the Shankill Road with a new mural in Downing Street.

From left to right: girls wrapped in Union Flags watching the parade; boys on pallets; the Shankill Mission; Orange Order parade; the Summer festival in Woodvale Park (The Cabin); the former Belfast Savings Bank, now an undertaker’s; the Winter festival and switching-on of the Christmas tree lights, with Mrs. Claus, the Grinch in Santa jacket and hat, and last year’s (2022) celebrity guest Charlie Lawson (youtube); local band Casual Riots (ig). (SASH Fb Gallery)

For a mural of famous Shankill faces and places, see Save The Shankill.

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Solidarity With The French Riots

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“Solidarity with the French riots against racism & police – justice for Nahel!” 17 year-old Nahel Merzouk was shot and killed on June 27th by a motor-cycle policeman in Nanterre, France. The scope of use of firearms by police was expanded in 2017 to include dangerous drivers who refused to stop; Merzouk was at the wheel of a Mercedes that had twice failed to stop and (according to police) was putting others in danger. Police specifically alleged that the car, after the second stop, was driving towards the officer; video evidence later disproved this. This cover-up, combined with long-running discontent over the use of deadly force by police, led to six nights of rioting in which two people were killed, more than 3,000 people arrested, and 800 police injured. (BBC includes video | Independent | WP)

Divis Street, Belfast

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Saved By The Bell

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Here are two panels from the front yard of Gaelscoıl An Lonnáın (which recently acquired a new mural).

Above, Lear’s four children are turned into long-living, singing swans by their jealous step-mother Aoıfe, and are restored 900 years later to human form by the pealing of a chapel bell and the touch of a Christian monk. For more on the myth, see The Children Of Lear (and also the story of the mermaid Lí Ban in Sea-Born).

Below, a compilation of local landmarks: Broadway cinema (see At The Pictures), St Peter’s pro-cathedral (see Mysterious Ways), Conway mill (see The Mill), the Corporation Public Baths (and swimming pool), later the Falls Road Public Baths, and here called “The Falls Swimming Baths” (for a reminiscence of the baths, see Belfast History), and the fountain in Dunville Park. The cinema is no more; the baths have been replaced by a leisure centre; the mill stands but functions as a cultural centre.

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The Sun Never Sets

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“For God and Ulster” (as seen on the bucket hat) is the more common slogan of the of the Ulster Volunteers, but “For King and Empire” (as seen on the shirt) was occasionally used, as on the colours of Central Antrim’s 3rd battalion (Sam’s Flags | see also The Central Antrim Regiment). The phrase also appears on a plaque outside Carrickfergus Orange hall – see On Foreign Fields.

The items are for sale in the Shankill Historical Society in the middle Shankill. The shop is at least 25 years old.

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