“Through the years the uniforms may change, but our cause will always remain the same.” On the left (of the main panel) are the Ulster Volunteers drilling in 1914 (photograph at the Library of Congress) and a UVF show of strength on Newtownards Road (seen previously in East Belfast UVF On Parade).
On a wall along Abbot Drive (Newtownards) with purple and orange coping stones.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X11274 X11273
This UVF hooded gunman board (above the Pride Of Whitehill flute band (Fb) mural) was previously a memorial to the 36th (Ulster) Division (see They Sleep Side-By-Side) but has now become part of the East Belfast battalion’s markings in Bangor (see Always A Little Further).
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X11181 X11182 X11180 Skipperstone Rd
The hooded UDA gunmen stare down at you in the green in the middle of Bloomfield (Bangor) estate. The new printed board replaces the similar North Down battalion mural seen in Always Remembered. (The plaque to Andrew McIlvenny and Roy Officer has been moved to the right-hand side.) There are smaller UDA boards – one on top of some old “UVF” graffiti (third image) – and one RHC board on the other gables around the green; not included here is the somewhat odd history of Bloomfield that only shows images from the Shankill in Belfast – see A Journey Through Time And Space.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X11200 X11199 X11203 X11204 [X11205] X11206 X11207
There are nine gable walls along Clanmorris Avenue, Whitehill (Bangor) which – more importantly – can be seen from the South Circular Road approaching the Bloomfield shopping centre. On many of these walls “UVF reserved” has now appeared, even on the one that recently acquired a UDA board (see third image, below). Above: a small “UVF pilgrims” board; bottom: “RIP GFA“; in between: “The media is the virus”.
Previously: Booked | Reserved | A Message From The Board
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X11186 X11185 [X11187] X11190 X11184 [X11183] X11188 X11189
This is an example of a paramilitary mural replacing a cultural one – for eight years there was a giant Union Flag on this Westwinds gable, but it has been turned into a giant hooded UVF gunman instead.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X11471 X11472 X11470 Blenheim Drive
Andrew Cairns of the UVF was chased and beaten by about a dozen people before being killed by a single shot to the head (BBC). The killing took place next to the burning Boyne Square bonfire and the memorial (shown below) is on the other side of the bonfire site. Sutton attributes the killing to the UDA (Sutton); the Sunday Mirror reported that the killer was rejected by the UDA and was a member of the LVF (Free Library); see also BelTel | Guardian. One of the accused (Irish Times) was later UDA South East Antrim chief (BelTel).
Cairns was included in an old UVF mural, also in Wellington Green.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X10587 X10586 X10588 X10584 X10585
T02378 T02379 courtesy of Paddy Duffy 2023
Masked UVF gunman in Inverary Drive, east Belfast, in a style similar to UVF gunmen in Carrickfergus, Larne, and Millbrook.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X10321 X10320
For this year’s Twelfth, the famous UVF “Prepared for peace, ready for war” mural that has stood over the entrance to Mount Vernon for twenty years was retouched. The most obvious change is in the apex, as a different UVF symbol – with flags – has been included, along with the words “3rd Battalion” which had been in the much earlier version of this mural on another wall.
The image above has been photoshopped to remove the lettering on the left.
For the previous version (and a link to the original wall), see Prepared For Peace, Ready For War.
Update 2024-12: The wall was damaged by Storm Darragh.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X10663 [X10662] [X10661] X10660 ycv protestant action force PAF
This is the third commemoration to Village UVF volunteer Stevie McCrea and the second to Sammy Mehaffy – see Stephen Desmond McCrea and Battalion Of The Dead, which also includes John Hanna, who has a solo board in Prince Edward Pk.
As is often now the case, the modern UVF (McCrea died 1989-02-18 from wounds sustained in the IPLO attack on the Orange Cross, and Mehaffy on 1991-11-13, shot by the IRA in nearby Lecale Street) is mixed in with the 1912 anti-Home Rule Ulster Volunteers and Young Citizen Volunteers, which are themselves blended together with WWI and the 36th (Ulster) Division of 1914-1918.
Replaced 2nd Batt B Coy and next to Taking Aim in Tavanagh St.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X10091
Here are two signs of protests at the NI Protocol along with the third version of graffiti complaining about parking spaces being taken by people working at the Boucher Road complexes. The original version (in 2020) threatened that “your car will be burnt” (Street View). It’s not clear whether it’s new construction or existing businesses that are the target, though the Boucher Road area has been busy, with a refit of B&Q (BelTel) and new Lidl being built next to the Olympia (BelTel) (not to mention the stage for the Ed Sheeran concerts (Newsletter)).
“Loyalist Village says NO! to an Irish Sea border”, “Loyalist Village will never accept a border in the Irish Sea.”
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X10098 X10083 [X10084] [X10085]
Extramural Activity 