Ulster Banner

The Flax And The Lily

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The orange lily and the (pale blue) flax flower take their place around the Ulster Banner alongside the English rose and Scottish thistle, and the Irish shamrock is retained even in the presence of the lily. The flax is perhaps included because we are in the Factory area of Larne, near the site of a (former) linen mill. The Welsh daffodil is excluded. The detail above is part of a wider board “Boyne Square celebrates 100 years of Northern Ireland”; the flanking emblems of the Boyne Defenders (LOL 1297), Rangers Supporters club (Larne Branch) – which also uses the shamrock – Boyne Square Bonfire Forum, and Larne & District Great War Society and included below; the emblems of three flute bands can be seen in Norman Anderson and The Gunrunners.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Extramural Activity
X09325 [X09318] X09319 X09320 [X09321] [X09322] X09323 X09324 X09317

Norman Anderson

Extramural Activity1 Comment

RUC Constable Norman Anderson was set upon and executed in 1961 by the IRA on the Fermanagh border as he returned from visiting his Co Monaghan girlfriend (SEFF) but he and his family hailed from Larne and he is remembered by the Constable Anderson Memorial flute band (emblem below), which was formed in the same year (Fb), and the Auld Boys (emblem above). These are two of three flute bands in the Factory area of Larne, along with the Clyde Valley flute band – see The Gunrunners.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X09330 X09328 X09329 Herbert Ave border campaign auld boys

The Sleeping Giant Has Awoken

Extramural Activity1 Comment

Japan attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbor (near Honolulu, Hawaii) on December 7th, 1941. In the movie adaptations of the events, Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) and Pearl Harbour (2001), the Japanese Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto wondered if the effect of the attack would be “to awaken the sleeping giant and to fill him with terrible resolve” (WP). In the case of today’s images, the sleeping giant is a lion, and the lion is the UVF 1st East Antrim, with units not just in Larne, Ballyduff, Ballyclare, Greenisland, Glengormley, Monkstown, Rathcoole, Carrickfergus, and Whitehead, but in Drumchapel (Glasgow, Scotland), Springburn (Glasgow, Scotland), Possilpark (Glasgow, Scotland), Paisley (Scotland), Falkirk (Scotland), Liverpool (England), Blackpool (England), Corby (England), and Blairgowrie (Scotland). Balaclava’d men with ArmaLites stand ready: “Our forefathers fought for our freedom & rights/No border in the sea or we continue the fight.”

The combination of a free-floating Northern Ireland with Britain (in the first image, above) is rare in muraling, but necessitated by Brexit and the Protocol.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X09303 X09304 X09305 X09306 X09308 X09302 X09307 stop PSNI harassment of the loyalist community no surrender YCV D Coy for god and ulster Drumahoe Gdns Millbrook

The Orange State

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The orange lily began appearing in murals with some frequency in the mid-2000s (with one earlier appearance in Londonderry; compare this to posts with orange lilies at Peter Moloney – Murals and at Extramural Activity). It became part of the logo of the Orange Order in 2007 – see Design Research Group – and there was an attempt to re-brand the Twelfth as “Orangefest” (Irish Times). It is used in this centenary celebration board to make it clear that Northern Ireland was created as a Protestant and unionist state.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X09093 X09092 Sandy Row

Order Restored

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Rangers went into administration in 2012 and the “new” club played in the 4th tier of Scottish football. After four years, they had played themselves back into premiership football. Ten years after their previous league championship, they topped the table at the end of the 2020-2021 season, prompting the board shown above “order restored”. See also: 55 | F*ck Your Ten In A Row | Blues Brothers | We’re Back (and Legends Never Die).

The area in front of the Tiger’s Bay Flute Band mural bears an “Anfield Road’ street sign; and there is a Chelsea FC crest on the house across the street (not shown).

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08859 [X08860] X08863 X08861 [X08862] watp we are the people

Do The Bouncy

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

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).

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08752 [X08751]

An Act Of Betrayal

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“We are united by the Act Of Union, we won’t be divided by an act of betrayal.” The ‘act of betrayal’ in question is the Northern Ireland Protocol of Brexit which puts NI outside the single market but allows for the free movement of goods with the EU but not Britain – hence the “Irish Sea border”.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08786 [X08785] mcmaster st

Forever Young

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

On this date twenty years ago (November 11th, 2001 – Remembrance Sunday) sixteen year-old Glen “Spacer” Branagh was killed by the premature blast of a pipe bomb he was carrying during a riot with New Lodge nationalists. He was affiliated with Tiger’s Bay First flute band – which held a memorial parade for him on October 16th (youtube) – and the UDA/UYM – for which see the old “Young Guns” mural on the site of the current Duncairn community garden. Distant relative Kenneth Branagh was also born in Tiger’s Bay (An Phoblacht), before leaving at age nine with his family in 1969 (WP); his film Belfast will be released in the USA tomorrow.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08591 [X08592] X08593 X08589 [X08590] X08642 X08643 N Queen St

What We Have We Hold

Extramural Activity1 Comment

This Village board celebrates the Covenant, Ulster Volunteers, and the 36th (Ulster) Division, with photographs both vintage and contemporary.

For the photograph of Carson signing the Covenant, and an earlier mural, see Betting Office. For the photograph of the car-mounted gun, and an earlier mural recreating the photo, see UVF 75th Anniversary. For images akin to the contemporary photos, see these BelTel galleries one | two of the 100th anniversary celebrations of the Ulster Volunteers.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08430 X08429 Lwr Rockview St

Loyalist Monarch Celebrates 100 Years Of Northern Ireland

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The Village (specifically the Monarch Street/Parade area, above Donegall Road) “celebrates 100 years of Northern Ireland, 1921-2021”.

The Village Team (“VT”) is still on tour (“OT”), trying to kill all Taigs (“KAT”) – all Taigs are targets (“ATAT”). See previously: Taigs Will Be Dealt With | Concerned Loyalists | Loyalist Monarch

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08432 X08433