Belfast

Game Of Throats

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03256 2016-01-20 DarkHorseThrones Studio+

The HBO show Game Of Thrones wrapped up its sixth season recently in its customary fashion, which is to say, with intrigue and murder.

Interior scenes for the show are shot at the old Harland & Wolff ‘Paint Hall’ in the Titanic Quarter. The filming is parodied in the image above — the boom operator is wearing a Northern Ireland football top and has a tattoo saying “Is grá liom uisce” (“I love water”) on his bicep.

The popularity of the show has proven a bonanza for tourism: Wilderness Ireland provides a list of filming locations and Discover Northern Ireland has a page listing many tours. The most famous is the Dark Hedges near Ballymoney.

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The Battle Of The Bottle

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03640 2016-07-06 Battle Bottle d+

A 2012 Belfast Telegraph opinion piece asked “Is it Orangefest or vodka and Orangefest?” This year sees a campaign to curb alcohol consumption during marching season (including both the centenary of the Somme on July 1st and the traditional Twelfth celebration of the Battle of the Boyne) using the slogan “It’s about the battle not the bottle” and the hashtag #battlenotbottle. Here is a NewsLetter article on the campaign, which includes 25,000 beermats bearing the message.

It also contains (as shown in the wide shot, below) figures for both the number of casualties suffered by the 36th (Ulster) Division on July 1 at the Battle of the Somme (5,500) and the number of Irishmen who served in the Great War (200,000).

03639 2016-07-06 Battle Bottle+

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03640 X03639 let me tell you a story of honour and glory helen’s tower conlig thiepval ulster tower

Stuff We Don’t Need

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03539 2016-06-14 Stuff We Don't Need+

The image below is from a Twelfth bonfire collection point in Belvoir in April, threatening a fifty pound fine for anyone caught dumping unwanted material. The image above of a collection point near Sandy Row articulates what is unwanted: ironing boards, chairs, washing machines, sofas, sinks, fridges, wheels, comfy chairs, toilets, beds, stoves. This Belfast Telegraph article includes a good image of the pallets gathered in the car-park.

03416 2016-04-26 No Fly Tipping+

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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No Steps Backward

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03498 2016-06-03 Beechm Drumm CnamBan+

“We must take no steps backward, our steps must be onward. If we don’t, the martyrs that died for you, for me, for this country … will haunt us forever” — the words of Máıre Drumm from an anti-internment rally in Dunville Park on 10th August, 1975 (RN) are featured against a backdrop of female volunteers in Cumann Na mBan wearing berets and holding rifles.

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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VTEC Engine

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03558 2016-06-23 Islandbawn Writing+

Colourful wild-style writing by ANCO and CASP(?) in Beechmount, an area without any other writing or street art.

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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We Support All POWs

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03473 2016-05-17 32CSM tricolour+

In quick succession to the Easter Rising centenary mural in the same spot, there comes this 32 County Sovereignty Movement mural, with the island of Ireland in green, white, and orange, and (representing prisoners) barbed wire and a candle.

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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‘A’ Batt

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03523 2016-06-13 McMichael Memorial Garden columns+

The image above is of a small (4′ x 3′) plaque in the memorial garden in City Way, off Sandy Row. It reproduces a mural (2005 M02408) from nearby Rowland Way (which was itself a repaint of an earlier mural from 1995 M01183 and 2001 M01518). The same thirteen names also appear on the “roll of honour” plaque in the garden, shown second.

The thirteen are: John McMichael, Jim Kenna, Frankie Smyth, Ernie Dowds, Sammy Hunt, Steven Audley, William Kingsberry, Harry Black, Joe Bratty, Raymie Elder, Tommy Morgan, William Hamilton, Samuel Curry

03524 2016-06-13 McMichael Memorial Garden roll+

X01553 2013-02-12 Only By Remembering+

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03523 [X01554] X03524 X01553 city way rowland way only by remembering these men and others like them can we ever repay their memory south belfast brigade UDA

Warszawiacy Berlinowi

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03551 2016-06-22 Warszawiacy Berlinowi d+

“From Warsaw to Berlin” — Polish airmen in England, in the 300 Mazovian bomber squadron, write a “dedication” on a bomb headed for Germany in August 1941. The plane added as a background is perhaps an Avro Lancaster, while the one in the middle ground (in the wide shot, below) is a Vickers Wellington. According to the information board (shown last, below) “many Polish servicemen remained in Great Britain and Ireland after the [Second World] war, laying the foundations for a large Polish community that now (in Northern Ireland) numbers over 30,000.”

Here is the original image (which has been coloured for the mural).

Previously: Love Demands Sacrifice, which celebrated the 303 squadron and The Silent Unseen, which celebrated the 1st Polish parachute regiment.

03552 2016-06-22 Warszawiacy Berlinowi+

03553 2016-06-22 Warszawiacy Berlinowi info+

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03551 X03552 X03553 benburb st formed on July 1st 1940 fairey battles antwerp boulogne calais ostend dunkirk pawel wojchiechowski ballyhalbert bramoote swinderby faldingworth air marshal arthur harris michael bentine cologne launched 2016-06-10 housing executive shared history ACT initiative

Crouching Tiger, Urban Jungle

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03481 2016-05-26 Caged Tiger+

Two animal pieces: in the second, below, the giraffe and the monkey roam free among the flowers; in the first, the tiger (painted by Friz web) is caged behind some railings along Donegall Street Place.

03483 2016-05-26 Urban Jungle+

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Civil Order, Plastic Death

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02897 2015-09-02 Beechm 06+

“Since 1970 seventeen people killed – including eight children”. A vintage poster against plastic bullets (see also Plastic Death in the Peter Moloney Collection for a mural) is part of this Beechmount Avenue mural showing a candle for each of the victims. The first listed (Rowntree, Molloy, Friel) were killed by rubber bullets, the rest by plastic; plastic bullets took over from rubber bullets in 1975 (WP).

Panels 10-15 of the ‘murdered’ follow to the right of the Plastic Bullets board, here presented two-at-a-time. The 11th panel (the second one shown here, with Francis Bradley in top left) was previously the ninth panel; it is not clear why its position was swapped.

X02898 2015-09-02 Beechm 07+

X02899 2015-09-02 Beechm 08+

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02897 X02898 X02899 X02900 geddis stewart donnelly whitters carol anne carol ann kelly julie livingstone duffy norah mccabe doherty mcguiness mcconomy white downes duffy