City/Town

Dockers’ Rest

Extramural Activity2 Comments

This is the Titanic Quarter version of Terry Bradley’s (ig) painting Dockers’ Rest, realised in mural form by Friz (ig) at the Titanic museum’s “destination bar” Hickson’s Point (Titanic Belfast) which is named after the (pre-H&W) yard of Robert Hickson (Belfast Titanic Society).

Since this piece was created, in 2019, another version has been created in 2022 by DMC on Lanark Way – see Sailortown Dockers.

For a Sailortown pub still in operation, see McMahon’s.

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Copyright © 2023 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Rook O’Prey

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Martin “Rook” O’Prey was the Belfast brigade commander of the IPLO [Irish People’s Liberation Organisation], a breakaway INLA group responsible for killing George Seawright and attacking the Orange Cross social club (WP).

There is a plaque to O’Prey in Leeson Street (M07985).

The RNU has reserved the spot to the left; the edge of the Kieran Abram board is visible on the right.

“Martin ‘Rook’ O’Prey – OC IPLO. Murdered in 1991 aged 29 by loyalist death squads in collusion with British state forces. He fought and died for Ireland. Also remembering his fallen comrades. “Ireland unfree shall never be at peace.””

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The Derry Dryad

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Derry is well-known as “doire”, an oak grove, and the oak leaf and acorn are used as symbols by many civic and county organisations. Friz’s (ig) piece for Derry Féile combines Derry’s oaky background with the dryads (tree spirits) of Greek mythology.

Central Drive, Creggan, Derry.

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Copyright © 2023 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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As You Lived You Must Die

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“”As you lived you must die/An’ your last gasp or cry/Will be heard very likely by none/Not one/You unfortunate devil, Maglone.” – Barney Maglone Robert A. Wilson.”

Wilson was a Donegal man who, after some time in America, worked for newspapers in Enniskillen and Belfast. He was most famous under the pen-name “Barney Maglone” as the author of ‘To My Cousin In Amerikay’ and ‘Barney Maglone’s Notions Of Things’ (DIB).

The poem from which these lines come can be found in the [Belfast] Morning News obituary reprinted in the Portland Guardian And Normanby Advertiser (Victoria, Australia) for November 2nd, 1875 (though it gives “misfortunate divil” in the final line).

The paste-up is by Peter Strain (web) in Wilson’s Court, one of the Belfast Entries. 

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The Farset Voice

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These two fake newspapers allude to the fact that the river Farset, after which Belfast is named, still runs below the city, invisible since it was covered over in 1804. (You can read George Benn’s A History Of The Town Of Belfast at archive.org.)

Wilson’s Court; presumably by Leo Boyd (compare with New Weird Order).

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Love The Brotherhood

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This entry is an update to 2022’s Upward which showed the new arch in Denmark Street (the north side of the lower Shankill estate). To each side of the arch has since been added a quote from scripture: on the outside, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel – Psalm 41 v. 13”, and on the inside “Love the brotherhood, fear God, and honour the King – [1st] Peter 2 v. 17”

The ‘Platinum Jubilee’ panel has been replaced with the image from the other side of the ‘Faithful Unto Death’ stained glass that is in Schomberg House (see Our Murdered Brethren), and it has been replaced with an image King Charles III.

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England Get Out Of Ireland

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Irish-language rappers and provocateurs Kneecap (web | ig) unveiled another mural in Hawthorn Street yesterday afternoon ahead of their Falls Park gig last night.

The entry on last year’s mural (Níl Fáılte Roımh An RUC), Incendiary Device, included a shot of the sticker that has been turned into this year’s mural. The sticker, in turn, is based on a vintage mural painted in Strabane (England Get Out Of Ireland) and Belfast (Stad Maggie Anoıs). (See also Give It Back, Thief!)

For images from the launch on August 11th, see the Paddy Duffy collection.

Replaces the large GAA board.

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Yellowman & Dulse

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This is Shane O’Driscoll’s (ig) abstract take on the distinctively Antrim-coast foods dulse (a seaweed) and yellowman (a honeycomb confection) on Castle Street, Ballycastle.

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Spread Your Wings

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Active Communities Network (web) is a non-profit in Belfast, Manchester, and London, focused on youth and community development: “Tackle inequality; create opportunities; inspire change”. Passers-by are invited to stand in the middle of the mural and “spread their wings”.

Replaces: Embrace Change Together.

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There Is No Lie Big Enough

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“There is no lie big enough to cover the shame of jailing two innocent men #JFTC2”, in this case Brendan McConville and John Paul Wooton. Their portraits have been appearing on RNU (Fb) walls (and on Sliabh Dubh) since 2013. They are in prison, for 25-year and 18-year minimums, respectively, for the 2009 killing of PSNI Constable Stephen Carroll (BBC).

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