16 leaders and 70 others who were “killed whilst fighting” in the Rising during Easter Week 1916.
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Easter Week 1916
knot-work
The Falls Road Massacre
Muralist Gerard ‘Mo Chara’ Kelly (whose catalogue of work can be seen in a separate site) and others from Gael Force Art (Fb) have mounted a three-piece memorial for the centenary of the Falls Road Massacre in which four people were killed – one of them being Mo Chara’s great uncle Jimmy Shields – in a 5-minute shooting spree by a “special patrol” on the night of the funerals of three men killed by the ‘RIC Murder Gang’ (see the 2007 post). For more background see the memorial’s Facebook page.
More than 500 people were killed in Belfast from 1920 to 1922; for details and their locations see The Social Geography Of Violence During The Belfast Troubles.
“These four innocent local men were murdered by an RIC/British Army death squad near this spot in [September 28th] 1920: James Shields, William Teer, Robert Gordon, Thomas Barkley.” With perhaps the first appearance of a hashtag on a plaque: #fallsroadmassacre1920
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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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A Great Feeling Of Love
“The true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality” – Che Guevara Lynch. The INLA’s Kevin Lynch died in the second hunger strike after 71 days. He is buried in Dungiven, where this memorial sits on the main road between Derry and Maghera.
“I ndíl [ndıl] chuımhne ar Óglach Kevin Lynch a fuaır bás ar staılc ocraıs ar son saoırse, 1ú Lúnasa 1981 [who died on a hunger strike for freedom, 1st August 1981]. Erected by the Irish Republican Socialist Ex-Prisoners Memorial Committee.”
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When You Enter This Loving School
“Welcome: When you Enter this Loving school Consider yourself One of the special Members of an Extraordinary family”. Two images from St Patrick’s primary on the edge of the New Lodge. The “Hail Mary’ is written in Irish
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Imprisoned In A Glass Tower
“Eıthne – daughter of (Evil Eye) Balor and maternal grandmother of Fıonn Mac Cumhaıll, Eıthne was imprisoned in a glass tower on Tory Island because of a prophecy that a child of hers would grow to defeat Balor in battle. Despite Eıthne’s imprisonment the prophecy was fulfilled.” This Eıthne is in the foyer of the “house” (tower block) that bears her name: Teach Eıthne in the New Lodge.
Le buíochas do Mícheál Ó D as an ıontráıl.
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Copyright © 2020 Sabine Troendle (web | Fb)
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Pray For Us
A home-made sign on cardboard “NHS – stay safe” has been attached to the mural to IRA volunteers Bobby McCrudden, Mundo O’Rawe, and Pearse Jordan, and the wall below it painted with the message “Stay home – Protect the NHS – Save lives”.
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Copyright © 2020 Sabine Troendle (web | Fb)
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Welcome To West Belfast
Tourists to West Belfast/Feırste Thıar are given a tour of the sights on a black taxi tour: (clockwise from left) the entrance to Milltown Cemetery at the edge of Andersonstown, a trio of murals (the Bobby Sands mural on the side of the Sınn Féın offices; the Easter Rising mural in Beechmount Ave; the Acht Anoıs fáınne on Divis Street (also in Ardoyne)) with a march taking place, Cultúrlann McAdam-Ó Fıaıch, gaelic football and hurling, Divis tower, Conway mill, and the Falls library. This is the third such tourist mural in the area, after one at Divis tower (Gateway To West Belfast) and one on the offices of Fáılte Feırste Thıar (Go West! | Fáılte Feırste Thıar | The Conlan Revolution).
Replaces Willowbank Huts from the centenary mural.
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McVerry & McElvanna
IRA volunteer Mickey McVerry was killed by the British Army during a bomb attack on Keady RUC station in 1973. Peadar McElvanna was killed by the British Army on June 9, 1979, outside Keady, south Armagh. The 40th anniversary commemoration this year drew criticism from the DUP as it was on the same weekend as a ‘time for truth’ rally in Belfast (BelTel). The memorial shown here is in Victoria Street.
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They Were Faithful And They Fought
The D Company board that was placed over the Brendan Hughes painting earlier in the year (see: Nailed To The Mast) was prelude to this new mural. Brendan Hughes has been included since the 2008 version (compare 2005 with 2008) but Crumlin Road hunger-striker Billy McKee is included for the first time. McKee was the first OC of the PIRA’s Belfast Brigade and arrested for possession of a handgun. The hunger strike was to secure political status for prisoners who had been convicted of crimes (WP).
“This mural is dedicated to the lives of: Billy McKee, Hunger-striker, Crumlin Road Gaol, achieved political status, 1972; Kieran Nugent, Blanketman, H-Blocks Long Kesh, fought the loss of political status, 1976; Brendan Hughes, Blanketman, Hunger-striker, H-Blocks Long Kesh, 1980.”
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Active Service
“In memory of IRA volunteers Gerard Crossan, Tom McCann, Tony Lewis, John [Sean] Johnston, who died while on active service on the 9th March 1972 at 32 Clonard St. Erected by the Greater Clonard Ex-Prisoners Association.” The four died in a premature explosion (“active service”) presumably at the home of Lewis, who lived in Clonard Street. Crossan and Johnston were 19, McCann and Lewis were 20 (The Troubles 11).
Clonard Street, Belfast.
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Extramural Activity 