The Spirit Of Commerce

A ship’s figurehead (perhaps) cranes upwards – as the viewer must also do – in front of a background of decaying tile-work. Perhaps the decay is being left behind? In any case, Belfast City Council thought a suitable symbol of Belfast moving onward and upwards when used the art to announced the Belfast Stories project (tw; see The Rising Place).

The piece is by Irony (tw | ig | Fb | tumblr). According to Adam Turkington, Irony was inspired by “the commercial themes in Ciaran Carson’s many visions of Belfast” (Belfast Live). (Belfast Confetti was the inspiration for emic’s piece in Winecellar Entry.)

In Pottinger’s Entry. There is a separate Visual History page on the Belfast entries and the recent (2020 onward) efforts to beautify them.

See also: The Verticality Of The Divine | Tile Refinery.

Click and click again to enlarge (to 1200 x 900)
Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy

The Factory Girls

Tillie & Henderson’s shirt factory opened in 1856 at the junction of Abercorn Road and Foyle Road, Derry (next to the ‘Hands Across The Divide’ statue) and survived until 2003 when it was demolished after a fire (BBC); an apartment block is currently planned for the site (Derry Journal | BBC). It was the largest such factory in the world and one of 44 shirt factories in the city in 1900, all of which employed women, many starting in their teens.

Derry Of The Past has a gallery of historical images.

The murals are in the courtyard of the Craft Village in Shipquay Street; they were designed by Joe Campbell and painted by UVArts (web | ig).

(BBC | BBC | DEPOT | BelTel)

See also: Derry Women Make Communities

Click and click again to enlarge (to 1200 x 800)
Copyright © 2022 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
Camera Settings: f8, 1/100, ISO 800, full size 5472 x 3468

Click and click again to enlarge (to 800 x 1200)
Copyright © 2022 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
Camera Settings: f4.5, 1/100, ISO 100, full size 3468 x 5472
X10465 [X10462] X10463 [X10464]

Fryday

It’s been a long time since workers walked en masse from east Belfast to the shipyard, but fish and chips remain popular, though the number of chippies has fallen from about 35,000 in 1920 to 10,500 today (BBC | Dockside). This mural is on the side of the ‘Chipyard’ in Strandtown.

See also in the Woodvale: The Chipyard.

Click and click again to enlarge (to 900 x 1200)
Copyright © 2022 Extramural Activity
Camera Settings: f2,4, 1/279, ISO 16, full size 3024 x 4032

Click and click again to enlarge (to 1200 x 900)
Copyright © 2022 Extramural Activity
Camera Settings: f2,4, 1/1297, ISO 16, full size 4032 x 3024

Click and click again to enlarge (to 1100 x 708)
Copyright © 2022 Extramural Activity
Camera Settings: f1.8, 1/2000, ISO 20, full size 4031 x 2596
X09905 X09906 X09903 [X09904] Strandburn Dr

Sailortown Dockers

This is a mural of a painting of a mural of a mural. The original is the piece by Terry Bradley (web) and Friz (web) at the Titanic museum, which was then reproduced in a different colour for the opening montage of the Kenneth Branagh film Belfast. The success of the film prompted the Department Of Justice to commission Bradley for a painting that could be turned into a mural and he reproduced the film version (BelTel). The mural that enlarges that painting was painted by DMC on Lanark Way, just above the security gates (Belfast Live).

“The dockers who feature in the painting are inspired by real characters and men Terry remembers walking home from the shipyard when he was a child. These hardworking men from Sailortown, Belfast, show a glimpse into the past of the shipyard pubs, where the men congregated after a hard day’s work.”

With support from R-City (web).

Click and click again to enlarge (to 900 x 1200)
Copyright © 2022 Extramural Activity
Camera Settings: f2.4, 1/231, ISO 16, full size 3024 x 4032 x 3024

Click and click again to enlarge (to 1250 x 740)
Copyright © 2022 Extramural Activity
Camera Settings: f2.4, 1/372, ISO 16, full size 4032 x 3024

Click and click again to enlarge (to 900 x 1200)
Copyright © 2022 Extramural Activity
Camera Settings: f2.4, 1/228, ISO 16, full size 3024 x 4032

Click and click again to enlarge (to 900 x 1200)
Copyright © 2022 Extramural Activity
Camera Settings: f2.4, 1/120, ISO 20, full size 3564 x 1960
X09884 X09883 [X09885] X09886 X09887

The Flax And The Lily

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 and click again to enlarge (to 1200 x 900)
Copyright © 2022 Extramural Activity
Camera Settings: f1.8, 1/166, ISO 20, full size 4032 x 3024

Click and click again to enlarge (to 888 x 1200)
Copyright © 2022 Extramural Activity
Camera Settings: f1.8, 1/163, ISO 20, full size 2490 x 3366

Click and click again to enlarge (to 900 x 1200)
Copyright © 2022 Extramural Activity
Camera Settings: f1.8, 1/196, ISO 20, full size 3024 x 4032

Click and click again to enlarge (to 900 x 1200)
Copyright © 2022 Extramural Activity
Camera Settings: f1.8, 1/155, ISO 20, full size 3024 x 4032

Click and click again to enlarge (to 900 x 1200)
Copyright © 2022 Extramural Activity
Camera Settings: f1.8, 1/120, ISO 20, full size 3024 x 4032

Click and click again to enlarge (to 1200 x 792)
Copyright © 2022 Extramural Activity
Camera Settings: f1.8, 1/120, ISO 32, full size 4032 x 2660
X09325 [X09318] X09319 X09320 [X09321] [X09322] X09323 X09324 X09317

H&W Welders

Titanic was built at Harland & Wolff shipyard in east Belfast; it took more than three years to build but was in service for only five days, as it famously hit an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic ocean. The welders formed their own football club, in 1965. The football and hockey players on the right are perhaps associated with Ledley Hall.

The final image is of the piece in 2014.

Cluan Place, east Belfast.

Click and click again to enlarge (to 1200 x 900)
Copyright © 2021 Extramural Activity
Camera Settings: f2.4, 1/120, ISO 25, full size 4032 x 3024

Click and click again to enlarge (to 1200 x 900)
Copyright © 2021 Extramural Activity
Camera Settings: f1.8, 1/120, ISO 25, full size 4032 x 3024

Click and click again to enlarge (to 1200 x 900)
Copyright © 2014 Extramural Activity
Camera Settings: f8, 1/200, ISO 200, full size 3888 x 2592
X08783 X08782 X02460

Ghosts Of The Supermarket

Earl Street and Sussex Street used to be sandwiched between wings of the largest tobacco factory in the world, Gallahers, which took up seven acres between York Street and North Queen Street. The factory was partially demolished in 1990 and became Yorkgate shopping centre and the two streets are roughly now the back and front entrances to the Tesco supermarket. These two plaques (both on North Queen Street) are to former residents. William Campbell, a H&W joiner, might have witnessed the construction of Gallahers (in 1897 – Look Again) before dying on Titanic in 1914. Francis Liggett, an IRA volunteer, was shot and killed by British forces during an attempted robbery of the Royal. (He is also remembered in a mural in St James’s near the site of his death and home – see Liggett & Brady.)
Click and click again to enlarge (to 1600 x 1148)
Copyright © 2019 Extramural Activity
Camera Settings: f4, 1/80, ISO 125, full size 4618 x 3312
Click and click again to enlarge (to 1800 x 1200)
Copyright © 2019 Extramural Activity
Camera Settings: f4, 1/125, ISO 80, full size 4896 x 3264
X06907 X06908 “William Campbell, an Apprentic Joiner at Harland & Wolff, lived in Earl Street, a site now occupied by the shopping centre. He was a member of the company’s Guarantee Group for RMS Titanic and lost his life on the voyage.” “Francis died on 18th January 1973 on IRA active service on the grounds of RVH hospital. Francis was shot dead dead by undercover British soldiers after an exchange of gun fire. 27th January 1948 – 18th January 1973. Francis family home was close to this spot.”

Over The Bridge

The large mural of H&W shipyard workers at the turn of the century has been restored by Dee Craig (Fb). The mural is on the footbridge linking Dee Street and Queen’s Island. Inspired by paintings of William Conor such as Shipyard Workers Crossing Queen’s Bridge and Over The Bridge. For images of the previous version, see Titanic Workers.
Click to enlarge (to full size)
Copyright © 2018 Extramural Activity
Camera Settings: f7.1, 1/125, ISO 800, full size 3568 x 2432
Click to enlarge (to 2400 x 1600)
Copyright © 2018 Extramural Activity
Camera Settings: f7.1, 1/1250, ISO 800, full size 3888 x 2592
text: X04884 X04883 harkness pde

Metalwork

Newcastle artist Alan Burke in 2015 produced four pieces for Eastside Partnership (with funding from the Arts Council) for the area between the Newtownards Road and (what is now) CS Lewis Square (Tele). The piece shown in today’s post is a pair of metalworks depicting the heavy industry of Harland & Wolff. The works themselves are made from sheet metal, stainless steel, and weathering steel which is designed to “form a stable rust-like appearance” after a few years of exposure the elements.
Click to enlarge (to 2400 x 2400)
Copyright © 2018 Extramural Activity
Camera Settings: f9, 1/200, ISO 80, full size 3562 x 3562
Click to enlarge (to 2100 x 2106)
Copyright © 2018 Extramural Activity
Camera Settings: f5.1, 1/200, ISO 80, full size 4265 x 4278
text: X04867 X04866 manderson st

SOS

“SOS – Wall St rapes Ireland”. Conor Devine (at EamonnMallie.com) provides context. This message on the mountain (Sliabh Dubh) came and went in a matter of days, if not hours, because the television exposé it was designed to coincide with was not in fact broadcast; also perhaps because parents did not appreciate having to explain rape to their young children – the mountain can be seen from a large portion of west and central Belfast.

Click and click again to enlarge (to 1200 x 800)
Copyright © 2015 Extramural Activity
Camera Settings: f8, 1/400, ISO 100, full size 3888 x 2592
X03312