The mural above is in St. Katharine’s Road (Bóthar Chaıtríona) and was painted for the Champions League match between Cliftonville and Celtic on July 17th (2013). “Just Can’t Get Enough” is a 1981 Depeche Mode song which Celtic fans made one of their chants in 2009, soon to be followed by other teams’ fans (WP).
The St. James area was once home to Celtic Park (home of Belfast Celtic), now the site of the Park Centre, and a mural to Belfast Celtic faces this one.
Here are four small painted metal-work pieces, signed “B McC”, on the railings of the Ledley Hall Boys & Girls Club, just off Beersbridge Road in east Belfast. The pieces show the building, soccer being played in the shadow of Harland & Wolff – the goal is prevented by a giant red hand – and two boxers boxing – the club was originally a boxing gym (est. 1942), and girls playing hockey and netball.
Above is a scored clay piece showing workers in a “foundary” (foundry). There are foundries in Belfast dating to the mid-to-late 1700s (e.g. Eileen McCracken, “Charcoal-Burning Ironworks in Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Ireland”, Ulster Journal of Archaeology, 21 (1957)) but nothing specifically about 1767 or about a foundry in Exchange Place (or whatever preceded it – Exchange Place dates to the Victorian era). If you have information, please get in touch. There is a set of six pieces in a similar style on the Cupar Way “peace” line, regrettably covered in graffiti and tourists’ signatures. See also: Pot-House Lane.
These three painted boards, in frames, on the exterior of the Connswater Community Centre, were unveiled this past December (2012). The first commemorates Titanic, the second the Somme, and the third the WWII Blitz.
Above is a new mural in Templemore Street, at the eastern edge of the residential part of the Albertbridge Road. The mural features seven boxers: John Lowey, Billy Birch (’47-’54), Herbie Young, James Gorman, Ray Close (who fought Chris Eubanks to a draw for a World belt in 1993), Luke Wilton (’08-present), and Stephan Keenan. Information on-line is sparse, so please comment or e-mail.
Update: 2013-12-24 Two plaques have been added to the piece above, one showing the photographs upon which the portraits in the mural were based (except Keenan’s), and the other describing the process by which the Ulster-Scots mural was replaced as part of a project by Charter NI (along with the city council and the housing executive). It reads: “Communities Moving Forward Re-Imaging Programme Phase One. The concept of renewal, change and respect lies at the heart of the ‘Communities moving forward’ programme, which recognises the importance of creativity in all its manifestations and in all our lives, reflecting the heritage of our communities in a positive manner. Boxing through the generations showcases the positive images of this proud small community.” (Also: NIHE press release)
Above is the new Joe Cahill mural in Beechview Park, next to the GAA pitch. The mural was unveiled on September 2nd. (Images of the unveiling from An Phoblacht.) Joe Cahill (WP) holds the cup aloft. The group in the bottom left corner (see the second image, below) are Pat O’Hare, Frank Cahill, Tom Cahill, (the three Cahills were featured in the previous mural) Ned Maguire, Jr., Ned Maguire, Sr., Alec Crowe, Paddy Meenan, Tommy Crowe, Dal Delaney, and Hugh Elliot. In the crook of Cahill’s arm (see third image, below) are Rita McParland, Sean Wallace, Paddy Corrigan, John Pettigrew, and John Stone. None of these adults is still alive; all were from the local area.
The chalet bungalows in the background on the left are gone, but you can see images of them on the Belfast Forum.
The plaque on the left names others in addition: Billy Kelly, Alice Cush, Kate Campbell, John Mulligan, Mary Mulligan, David Mulhern, Margaret Mulhern, John Clarke, Margaret Farrelly, Marie Williams, Kevin Sullivan, Michael Rock, John McColgan, Bridget Maguire, Martin Maguire, Sally Corrigan, Sonny O’Reilly, Maggie McArdle, Jimmy McArdle, Kathleen Wallace, Maragret McGuinness, John Flanagan, Maisie McGuckian, Charlie McGuckian, Anthony Muldoon, Jim Logue, Ellen Weir, Liam Mackie, Oliver McParland, Sadie McMahon, Tommy Crowe, Maddie Holden, Sarah Doyle, Jimmy Doyle, Kathleen Pettigrew, Mary Cushnihan, Bell Cosgrove, Gerry Campbell.
Here are two final images from the Clifton Street Orange Lodge, the first showing various insignia on a sash, including a Bible and crossed swords, the second showing various halberds.
The title of the post comes from a well-known phrase “with the Bible in one hand and the sword in the other”, the earliest appearance of which seems to be in Giovanni Battista Nicolini’s 1854 History Of The Jesuits: “Protestantism, a giant in its infancy, standing in a menacing attitude, with the Bible in one hand and the sword in the other, bid defiance to the impugners of the Sacred Volume.”
Three images of a low wall mural in Hogarth Street (in Tiger’s Bay). Above is the right-hand side, showing workers of a former era heading home from the shipyard. One of the H&W cranes can be seen in the background (and to its left, the new Titanic centre). Below is the right-hand side of the piece, depicting a preacher with a sandwich board: Seek, and you shall find – Matthew: 7:7. The artist is (reportedly) the same person as did the Belfast Blitz mural on the other side of the street.
Above is a recently-added banner, from Tiger’s Bay loyalists, to the Twaddell Avenue protest camp – Carson’s statue in front of Stormont with the words ‘We will not be the generation to fail Ulster. Ulster is British. No Surrender’. A wide shot of the south side of the street, where the camp is, can be found below.
Above is a new mural by JMK (Jonny McKerr – Fb) in Hogarth Street (in Tiger’s Bay) with images of the Belfast Blitz – in the apex a Nazi bomber sets buildings alight; in the main panel, people, including a milkman, walk among the bombed-out buildings.
900 people died and half the homes in Belfast were destroyed or damaged (WP).
In the bottom right corner, men listen to a woman testing a piano after it was moved. The garden wall (to the right of the shot) has an outline on it but is not yet finished.
Update 2013-10-16: The garden wall to the right has been completed. It features a painted frame surrounding a manufactured plaque. See below for an image.
Extramural Activity 