CNR

Arkansas ’57 – Ardoyne ’01

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This Ardoyne mural connects the Holy Cross blockade (WP | Scannal RTÉ) to desegregation in the U.S.A. in the wake of Brown v. Board Of Education (WP).

The left panel is a rendition of an iconic image of Hazel Bryan hectoring Elizabeth Eckford, one of the Little Rock Nine (WP), in Little Rock, Arkansas.

In the central panel, red sweaters on b&w background might be a reference to Schindler’s List.

The right panel is a reproduction of a photograph of the terrified Eirinn Flood on her way to Holy Cross (Belfast Media).

This mural was later (2009) imitated on the International Wall, Divis Street.

Estoril Park, Ardoyne, north Belfast

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Copyright © 2004 Cathal Woods
X00044 everyone has the right to live free of sectarian harassment, it’s black and white, arkansas ’57, ardoyne ’01

H-Block Martyrs

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The large board on the left commemorates the 10 dead hunger strikers (WP) and two blanketmen. “No greater love” echoes John 15:13.

There are also two smaller boards on the right: first, “Same old mural, same old force” with the three-in-one figure of RUC, Orange Order, and loyalist paramilitary under a traffic “No” symbol; second, an interesting board alleging collusion between the RUC and the UDA and UVF in north and east Belfast.

Oldpark Road, north Belfast.

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Copyright © 2004 Cathal Woods
X00063 h-block martyrs 1981

No (Decom)Mission

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This Bombay Street board commemorates the 1969 riots which led to Bombay Street being being cut by the Cupar Way “peace” line.

Update: This board was removed, but a copy of it has been placed over the garden of commemoration, across the street. See Never Again in the Peter Moloney Collection.

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Copyright © 2004 Cathal Woods
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Lady In Red

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This 2002 Ballymurphy mural commemorates females (including several Cumann Na mBan members) who died in the troubles: anti-clockwise, they are Maura Meehan, Anne Marie Pettigrew, Dorothy Maguire, Eileen Mackin, Catherine (Cathy) McGartland, Anne Parker.

The volunteer on the right dates back (at least) to the 1982 poster below; the parade is perhaps based on a picture of Mao’s China?

Information from CAIN on four of the women shown.

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Copyright © 2004 Cathal Woods
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1982 IntWomensDay

Safe House

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00073 2004-07-27 TolanSafeHouse+

IRA volunteers Tommy ‘Toddler’ Tolan (in blue), James (Jim) McGrillen and John Stone (seated at table), and Michael Kane (foreground) are pictured in a safe house in Ballymurphy, with plates of sandwiches and a cache of weapons. The women are Annie Adams(?) and Kathleen Moore(?).

Tolan is also depicted at a larger scale on the right of the mural; in the original (2001) version, this figure was dressed in fatigues and carried a rifle (as can be seen in the Peter Moloney Collection), but this was changed within 18 months to a brown suit as shown here (July 2004).

The Springmartin “peace line” can be seen in the gap between the houses.

Update: The large Tolan figure is preserved in the 2014 mural Working Class Heroes and the other five are included anew.

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Copyright © 2004/2010 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Three Volunteers

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“In passing this mural, pause a little while, pray for us and Erin, then smile.” This is a Ballymurphy mural dedicated to three local PIRA volunteers: Bobby McCrudden, Mundo O’Rawe, and Pearse Jordan. McCrudden was shot in Ardoyne in 1972 (Sutton). O’Rawe was shot on the lower Falls in 1973 (Sutton). The circumstances of Jordan’s death in 1992 at the hands of an undercover RUC unit were controversial; his case went to the European Court Of Human Rights (WP).

From a photo in the Peter Moloney Collection, the plaque reads “I ndíl [ndıl] chuímhne [chuımhne] Oglach [Óglach] Edward ‘Mundo’ O’Rawe, Oglach Robert McCrudden, Oglach Pearse Jordan – who gave their lives for Ireland’s freedom.”

This is one of the murals in the Ballymurphy Mural Project.

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Copyright © 2004 Cathal Woods
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Belfast Graves

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“And all around are monuments that bear a martyr’s name/True patriots who fought and died to kindle freedoms flame/Jimmy Quigley, McCormick and O’Neill/Remember them, they died for us and found a martyr’s grave.” The words of Ray McAreavey’s song are modified to include four Ballymurphy IRA/Fıanna volunteers.

This Ballymurphy mural uses symbols of ancient Ireland and the pikes of 1798/1803 to commemorate four modern volunteers — Jimmy Quigley, Eamonn McCormick, Teddy O’Neill, Michael Magee – and two other deaths – Alice Franklin, Mary Fegan.

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Copyright © 2004 Cathal Woods
X00048 Belfast Graves with brave, I ndıl cuımhne [chuımhne] volunteers

Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann

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“Grieve not nor speak of us with tears but laugh and talk of us as though we were beside you.” This mural is on the gable wall at the end of the street which is depicted in it, namely Ballymurphy Parade, which is to the left of the mural. It reproduces a photograph of IRA volunteers on patrol taken by Gerard ‘Mo Chara’ Kelly in An Phoblacht ?1979?.

For a close-up of the plaque, see M07999.

Glenalina Road, Ballymurphy, west Belfast

Copyright © 2004 Cathal Woods
X00070 oglaıgh na heıreann belfast brigade b. coy 2nd batt

Easter Rising

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This Easter Rising (1916) mural shows Countess Markievicz (WP) outside the Dublin GPO, accompanied by Connolly and Pearse, though they would end up inside.

Whiterock Road, west Belfast.

(Also shown, in 2014, in the foreground of Yes Yes Catalonia.)

It’s difficult to get the whole mural without the fence and light-post. Below is a shot of the whole …

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Copyright © 2004 Cathal Woods
X00060 X00061 freedom fighters outside the G.p.o. easter rising 1916

Collusion Is Not An Illusion

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The handgun is “authorised by MI5” and “approved on behalf of her majesty’s government”.

Quote from Gusty Spence: “[There was] An element of the UVF [reconstituted in 1935 and some] were covertly enlisted by the Ulster Government at a fee of ten shillings a day to promote a sectarian war …”. (Balaclava Street)

The report of the Stevens Inquiry was published in 2003 and the Cory reports in 2004; both concluded that there had likely been collusion between the RUC and loyalist paramilitaries and called for public inquiries into specific cases.

Whiterock Road, west Belfast. Here is another ‘collusion is not an illusion’ mural, in Ardoyne.

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Copyright © 2004 Cathal Woods
X00055 collusion, it’s not an illusion