PUL

Ready For War

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Carson inspects the Ulster Volunteers at Glencairn (the grounds are also mentioned in this mural). The date is June 14th, 1914: guns have been smuggled in, but Britain has not yet declared war (August 4th).

The is the middle of three murals concerning unionism at the time of the (third) Home Rule bill and First World War. The first depicts the signing of the Covenant; the third depicts women farmers protecting their lands.

The first also contains a wide shot of all three and the surrounding area.

The photograph on which the mural is based in the Mary Evans collection. See e.g. this copy at the Express.

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Copyright © 2004 Cathal Woods
X00074 1st belfast battalion moscow street

Families Of Displaced, Dispersed, Distressed

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X00072 2004-07-27 QueenMother r+

This is a 2002 mural commemorating the death of the Queen mother, HM Queen Elizabeth. “Salute our sovereign, now we part/To us our queen was dear/Because she had a soldier’s heart/And man she did not fear/Her soul forlorn she will not scorn/Where her worth is known/No rebel hate will harm this state/The bible and the crown”

At the Shankill Road end of Conway Street, west Belfast.

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Copyright © 2004 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Betting Office

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“Ulster Day. Sir Edward Carson (WP) signing the covenant (WP). Belfast City Hall, 28th September, 1912.”

This is the first of three panels on this wall that together trace the history of the Ulster Volunteers; see also the second (Carson and the Ulster Volunteers) and third (women defenders while the men fight in Europe).

Below is a shot of the full scene in the courtyard of the Rex bar, two weeks away from the 12th

Moscow Street/Shankill Road, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2004 Cathal Woods
X00049 X00050 1912, lest we forget, 36th ulster division, battle of the boyne, 1st july 1916, ycv, uvf, rex bar est. 1865 moscow street

90 Years Of Resistance

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“The Peoples Army 1912-2002” showing landmarks in the history of the Ulster Volunteers and UVF:

“1912 – newly formed Shankill Volunteers train at Fernhill Estate, Glencairn”;
“1916 – RIR (West Belfast UVF) go over the top at the Somme”;
“1969 – Volunteers defend Shankill community from republican attack”;
“2002 – At the crossroads?” with PUP leader David Ervine pictured holding a copy of the Good Friday Agreement.

Canmore St and Shankill Rd.

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Copyright © 2004 Cathal Woods
eire united kingdom war peace X00045

Buchanan

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Three murals in the series “From pioneers to presidents” were painted in London-/Derry, to Theodore Roosevelt, George Washington, and James Buchanan. A version of the latter was also painted on Ainsworth Street/Woodvale Road in Belfast in the same year (1999).

See the Visual History page on Ulster-Scots Murals.

00086 2004-07-27 Buchanan+

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Copyright © 2004 Cathal Woods
X00054 X00086 from pioneers to presidents, my ulster blood is my most priceless heritage, james buchanan 15th US president 1857-1861

Where Is Our Truth?

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“30 years of indiscriminate slaughter by so-called non-sectarian Irish freedom fighters. Where are our inquiries? Where is our truth? Where is our justice?”

?2003? mural off the main Shankill Road at Bellevue Street. The central panel reproduces a BelTel photograph of the Balmoral furniture showroom bombing, 11 December 1971. The others are the Mountainview Tavern, Frizzell’s fishmongers (shown in the detail, above), the Bayardo Bar, and the Four Step Inn.

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Copyright © 2004 Cathal Woods
X00090 X00076 no military economic legitimate targets, fourstep inn bombed sept 29th 1971 2 innocents killed, balmoral showrooms bombed dec 11th 1971 2 adults and 2 babies killed, mountainview tavern bombed april 5th 1975 5 innocents killed, bayardo bar bombed aug 13th 1975 5 innocents killed, frizzells fish shop bombed oct 23rd 1993 9 innocents killed

The Dividing Wall Of Hostility

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This is the Cupar Way “peace” line in 2004. Note that the wall only has two (vertical) parts – a third tier will later be added that almost doubles the height of the barrier. It also has very little art – in 2009 both state-funded agencies and wild-style writers will take to the wall. (See the Visual History page.) The two pieces that can be seen here show a dove in barbed wire with a quote from Ephesians 2:14 (“For He Himself is our peace who has made the two one and destroyed the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing in His flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His Purpose was to create in Himself one new man out of two, thus making peace and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross by which He put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace … For through Him we both have access to the Father by one spirit.”) and a mural for New Life church, which is in the no-man’s land between the Northumberland street barricades.

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Copyright © 2004 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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UFF 2nd Batt C Coy

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C Company of UFF 2nd battalion was the lower Shankill company headed by Johnny Adair until he was expelled from the UDA in September 2002 and his friends and family fled to Scotland in February 2003.

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Copyright © 2004 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X00037 X00036

Our Family Of “Nations”

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The fourteenth and final panel in Thorndyke Street contains a number of small panels, including the two above, along with emblems of local Orange and Black lodges, John McCrae’s In Flanders Fields, a list of acknowledgements, and a copyright claim.

For a list of entries for each panel, see East Belfast Historical And Cultural Society.

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Copyright © 2004 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X00012 X00017 X00033

Brittania

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“The Union flag, or Union Jack, is the national flag of the United Kingdom and it is so called because it embodies the emblems of three countries united under one sovereign – the Kingdoms of England and Wales, of Scotland and of Ireland. The flag consists of three heraldic crosses, those of St Patrick, St George and St Andrew. The Welsh dragon does not appear on the Union flag. This is because when the first Union flag was created in 1606, Wales by that time was already united with England and was no longer a separate principality.”

One of fourteen panels in Thorndyke Street, east Belfast. For a list of entries for each panel, see East Belfast Historical And Cultural Society.

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Copyright © 2004 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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