For a trip down memory lane, check out the wide variety of sweets available from Old Time Favourites, including the foam shrimps and bananas painted by Pigment Space (Fb | ig) on the side of the shop in Winetavern Street, Belfast. Painted by street artist MWAK/Pigment Space (ig).
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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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“The young and the old rallied around/To help fight the forces of the British crown/Unsung heroes too many to name/Defended Unity flats and never sought fame”. Unity flats were built in 1968 to replace the old Carrick Hill but immediately came under repeated attack by loyalists from the nearby Peter’s Hill and Shankill; by 1987 their demolition had been approved but because of difficulty in rehousing residents (Hansard), the new Carrick Hill was not completed until 2009 (BelTel). The flats have a Facebook page, Growing Up In Unity Flats. The plaques shown today are on the side of the newsagents in the new Carrick Hill.
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Work is well under way on the main floors of a new 12-storey student accommodation that will tower over the houses in Stephen Street (in the middle-ground of today’s images); the construction involves Lacuna Developments, Farrans Construction, and Plantavi and is due to be completed in spring 2023. For a timeline of the development, see SkyScraperCity.
The plot along Carrick Hill remains vacant – see Dense for the board (in the second image) calling for traditional family housing.
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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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London-based artist Fanakapan (ig) specialises in what he calls “balloon graff”. For his trip to HTN2021 he painted shamrock smiley faces. Kent Street car park, Belfast.
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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Pirate Santa flag opposite the Con Club on the Newtownards Road, Belfast.
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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The “S”s are “5”s in the Union Bears sticker in the top right corner, to give “5uper Ranger5”, in celebration of Glasgow Rangers’ 55th Scottish League title (see e.g. 55). At home stadium Ibrox, fans “do the bouncy” – which means jumping up and down (youtube) – much like “pogo” dancing or as children do on a “bouncy castle”; hire firm ‘Bouncy Castle Madness’ (Fb) has been advertising heavily in Belfast and their sticker is on the left. The final sticker celebrates the centenary of Northern Ireland, 1921-2021 (see e.g. The Centenary Of Oppression or We Will Take Nothing Less).
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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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“West Belfast supports the Community Rescue Service (web | Fb | tw) – Thank you for all the work you do for our community.” “West Belfast” in this case means PUL west Belfast, though this tarp is at the very edge of the Shankill, on the railings at the bottom of Lanark Way. A mural to the Service was painted on Northumberland Street (in CNR west Belfast) in November – see Hill Or High Water.
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Mary Ann McCracken lived to the age of 96 (1770-1866) and over the course of that long life used her family prosperity and the success of her own muslin business to support various causes: these included the United Irishmen and her brother Henry Joy McCracken – whose illegitimate daughter Maria was taken in by Mary Ann after he was executed – and a long list of ‘social justice’ causes, including the abolition of slavery, the protection of working children, education for young children both male and female, women’s rights, and care for the destitute in Belfast – her uncles Henry and Robert had founded the Belfast Charitable Society and built a poorhouse on Clifton Street and Mary Ann served on the Ladies Committee (WP | NICVA). This new bust of Mary Ann McCracken looks towards Clifton House from Stanhope Street in Carrick Hill. (The bust was designed by Anto Brennan (Irish News), who also did the No Pasarán bust in Writer’s Square.) In the other direction, as shown below, can be seen the Divis tower block.
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This Nathan Bowen (ig | web store) piece is on the hoarding on the west side of North Street (in front of the car-park). There is no actual construction taking place – the area has been in decline since the fire in the arcade in 2004 (see below and Condensed Community Confidence and Who Burnt Us Out?) and the Tribeca renovation has proven controversial.
Previously by Bowen: Covid-Era Canvasses
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In this board the Rising Sons Flute Band (“RSFB”) portrays itself as following in the footsteps of the Ulster Volunteers who joined the British Army and specifically the 8th battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles in the 36th (Ulster) Division, which was drawn from east Belfast’s Ulster Volunteers in 1914. The insignia for the battalion is usually shown as dark blue rather than the black shown here – see the mural of 36th Division insignia in Canada Street. There is a similar board outside the band’s practice hall in Castlereagh Street.
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Extramural Activity 