The Ten Foot Pikers

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The first few pages of Commandant Michael Sheer’s testimony to the Bureau of Military History describe the activities of the elite squad called the “Ten Foot Pikers”, including how postal officer Dan McGandy stole election ballots sent by mail during the general election of 1918. As described in the plaque above, McGandy went missing in January 1919 and was found in the Foyle six weeks later. This article suggests that he fell in after a struggle with British soldiers who had intercepted him while stealing grenades; this Derry Now article suggests he was thrown in by the soldiers, who then arranged his things to make it appear a suicide.

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03801 strabane old road óglach oglagh IRA IRB to die locally on active service war of independence

March For Justice

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Here are two images of the remnants of a poster left over from January’s Bloody Sunday March, one from Creggan with a “Boycott Israeli goods” stencil, the second from the Bogside.

The artist is given as “CH”.

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Who Fears A United Ireland?

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The night before he was executed for his part in the Easter Rising, republican leader James Connolly (5.6.1888-12.5.1916) penned a brief statement calling the British presence in Ireland “a usurpation and a crime against human progress” and declaring “The British government has no right in Ireland, never had any right in Ireland, never can have any right in Ireland”. Here are two images of Free Derry corner with Connolly’s quote, including The Petrol Bomber by the Bogside Artists and and “SFRY” (Sinn Féin Republican Youth) banner on the railings.

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Still Tortured

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IRPWA board (and stencil) in Shantallow, Derry, articulating the forms of torture of Irish republicans in “British gaols in Ireland”: isolation, internment, strip searching, and controlled movement.

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Local Heroes

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Five images from the Local Heroes at the Creggan shops: James McLean (footballer), Tony O’Doherty (footballer), David McAuley (Special Olympian who lit the flame to open the 2003 games in Dublin), Charlie Nash (boxer), and Aileen Reid (triathlete) (and, in a separate post, swimmer Liam Ball). The murals were painted by Karl Porter and Donal O’Doherty from UV Arts.

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The Saturday Matinee

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Young people in Derry would spend Saturdays (and many other days) rioting against the British Army presence in the city, which began in August 1969 after the Battle Of The Bogside. Thus, the popular name for this Bogside Artists mural ‘Saturday Matinee’; the official title is “The Rioter”. Part of The People’s Gallery.

The original photograph on which the mural is based is by Clive Limpkin. The rioter himself is perhaps Billy McVeigh.

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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JFT14

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These republican slogans are on the fencing along Southway, Derry. “End internment”, “1916 – 2016 Unfinished business”, “IRA”, “JFT14” = “Justice for the 14 [Bloody Sunday victims]”, and “Brits out”.

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The Children Of Lear

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Step-mother Aoıfe resents the bonds between her husband Lear and his children and their love for their lost mother and turns them into singing swans for 900 years, by the end of which time Christianity had come to Ireland. A monk heard their song and recognised them. At his touch, they are restored to human form. Being 900 years old, they die immediately but not before being baptised.

For another ‘baptised before death’ story, see the story of the mermaid Lí Ban in Sea-Born.

This is the third of three Celtic mythology boards in Creggan/An Creagán, Derry. See previously: Tír Na nÓg and Cú Chulaınn.

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Gulliver’s Voyage To Brobdingnag

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Minuscule humans work in the land of the giants: a lily in London-/Derry and Larne’s crowning glory.

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X03775 X03760 Rossville St Circular Rd Roundabout

The Phoenix Dies And Then Is Born again

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A stencilled phoenix in the Bogside, Derry’s, Meenan Square. The phoenix dies in flames and from its ashes rises another; a symbol of Irish republicanism.

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