16 towns and town-lands of south-east County Antrim are named in this recent UFF mural: Rathcoole, Rathfern, Monkstown, Shore Road, Whitewell, Glengormley, Greenisland, Carrickfergus, Whitehead, Ballycarry, Ballyclare, Larne, Newtownards, Antrim, Antrim, Ballymena, Braidside.
This mural was painted in late summer, 2015, on a wall that had been blank since at least 2008. In 2006, it bore a UDA mural, for which see M03060 (by Peter Moloney).
Good walls for murals can be hard to come by. Here are three ‘reservations’, two from Newtownabbey and one from Bangor, claiming walls for the UVF, UDA, and RHC, respectively.
“Our pork is 100% David Cameron free”. This chalk-board outside a butchers in Glengormley makes reference to the allegation that David Cameron came into intimate contact with a dead pig while at Oxford. Although the allegation hasn’t been substantiated, the affair has taken on a life of its own and is known as “piggate“.
Soldiers from the 36th (Ulster) division in the trenches of WWI prepare to go ‘over the top’. One waits for the precise moment according to his watch, ready to fire a shot, while the other prepares to blow a whistle and launch a flare. “‘Throughout the long years of struggle, the men of Ulster have proved how nobly they fight and die.’ King George V”. The quote also appears on the Ulster Tower in Thiepval (Ulster Tower) and on the Cenotaph in Belfast (WP).
The images above and below show a new UDA mural in memory of John Gregg, “The Reaper”, who waged a campaign of terror against Catholics in south-east Antrim and was reputedly associated with British neo-Nazi groups. Gregg was gunned down in 2003, while returning from a Rangers match, as part of the power struggle with Johnny Adair. Watta-Chip (from the previous mural) has been replaced by Turkish Kebabs (Fb).
The Bawnmore area lies just beyond the border of Belfast, north of the city council along the Shore Road. While the area has seen many large retail chains erect stores over the last few decades, the local businesses have closed. Above, the Boundary Bar, which was burnt out in 2007, now with fake window dressing; below, Paul’s newsagents around the corner in Mount Street.
The flag of Israel flies beside the flag of the parliament of Northern Ireland and one celebrating “The glorious memory” of William III, crossing the Boyne on his horse. Ballyduff.
Here are some faded corporate hoardings: India tyres and Lambert’s cigarettes on Shore Road in north Belfast, and from much further along the same road, in Whiteabbey, Coca-Cola (with stormtrooper graffiti).
Monkstown WWI mural in four quadrants showing the emblem of the 36th (Ulster) Division, a soldier at the cross in the Thiepval Cemetery, soldiers feeding a belt of ammunition into a Vicker’s machine gun, and others loading a Stokes mortar.
Translations of Psalm 60.4 vary, but it is something like “You (the Lord) have given those who fear you a banner so that they will not flee before your arrows”, which might work quite well alongside a Union jack. But in fact, only one source claims the poetic lines on the side of this Ballyduff electrical sub-station come from Psalm 60.4; they are rather the first stanza of a 1902 poem (earliest found mention), The UnionJack, by Edward Shirley, in Little Poems For Little People:
‘Tis thy flag and my flag, the best of flags on earth;
Oh, cherish it my children, for ’tis yours by right of birth.
Your fathers fought, your fathers died, to rear it to the skies;
And we like them will never yield, but keep it flying high.
Extramural Activity 