Here is another set of four portraits of Robert Bennett, Joe Long, James Cordner, and Robert “Squeak” Seymour, all members of the UVF killed in the 1970s (Bennet, Long, Cordner) and 1980s (Seymour).
Inverary Street, east Belfast.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04442 X04446 X04445 X04444 X04443
King Billy’s sword is tipped in blood, and he rides below a shamrock, rose, and thistle, uniting the kingdoms. Ballyclare Orange Hall is named after Hugh McCalmont, a major-general in the British Army Ulster Unionist MP for North Antrim in 1895 (and East Antrim in 1918?). His Whiteabbey house was burned down by suffragettes in 1914 because it was used as a training ground by the UVF of the anti-franchise Carson.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04455 X04454 rashee rd
IRA volunteer Francis Liggett was shot dead by the British Army during an attempted armed robbery at Royal Victoria Hospital, Falls Road in 1973 (Sutton) while local Sinn Féin member Paddy Brady was shot by the UFF while at work in 1984 (Sutton | An Phoblacht). They are commemorated in the St James memorial garden with the board shown above, featuring two verses from Bobby Sands’s poem Weeping Winds: Oh, Whispering [Whistling, in the original] winds why do you weep/When roaming free you are,
Oh! Is it that your poor heart’s broke/And scattered off afar?
Or is it that you bear the cries/Of people born unfree,
Who like your way have no control/Or sovereign destiny?
Oh! Lonely winds that stalk [walk] the night/To haunt the sinner’s soul/
Pray pity me a wretched lad/Who never will grow old.
Pray pity those who lie in pain/The bondsman and the slave
And whisper sweet the breath of God/Upon my humble grave.
The board is similar in design to the painted one it replaces, except that Éire was at the centre rather than the “SF” logo.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04398
“Seize victory”. This is the third in a small series of nail-ups in Derry/Doıre using “classic” imagery, in this case, the phoenix. (Here is a representative mural from 1989: Out of the ashes arose the Provisionals). Previously: Sniper At Work | Join The People’s Army.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04288
“We salute those who gave their lives for Irish freedom”, including James Connolly and Padraig Pearse in the 1916 Easter Rising, planned by Pearse (and others in the military committee of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). The IRA would be formed in 1919. The mural in the wide shot was featured in Mothers & Sisters.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04266 X04267
UVF volunteer John Hanna was 19 years old when he was killed by “the enemies of Ulster” (the IRA) at his home on Donegall Road in the Village. This new board is in Prince Andrew Park, just off Donegall Road. “Always remembered by the officers and volunteers South Belfast [2nd Batt Sandy Row] UVF”.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04312 greater love no man hath ycv
The new Bernadette mural on Lecky Road, Derry, is considerably lighter than its predecessor (which can be seen at Peter Moloney Collection). The setting is still the Battle Of The Bogside, after which Devlin was served six months for inciting a riot, but Bernadette, with megaphone, is in red while the woman with the bin lid is wearing blue jeans. The bulldog and the child in yellow carrying the bin lid like the shield of a Celtic warrior are new additions. The wall in the background was previously Free Derry Corner.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04290 X04291
Éıstıgí, or “listen, yous-uns” in Derry/Doıre, is the youth organisation associated with Soaradh (web); it promotes a socialist (and republican) ideology.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04285
This year’s Féıle An Phobaıl saw the launch of a new stained glass window in Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fıaıch. It features James Connolly (Séamus Ó Conghaıle 1868-1916) for his support of the Irish language and the support his two daughters Nora and Ina gave to the founding of the Gaelic League (Conradh na Gaeılge) in Belfast. The family is also featured in the centenary mural on Divis Street: Shan Van Vocht and Howth Gun Running. Supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund (tw).
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04402 X04403 2017-08-10
Twenty-five victims of five “Shankill atrocities” – at the Four Step Inn, the Balmoral Furniture Store, Mountainview Bar, Bayardo Bar, and (from the 1990s) Frizzell’s fish shop – are remembered in an updated board in Dundee Street. The central image remains 17-month-old Colin Nichol in the arms of ambulance man Bob Scott. (See the Peter Moloney Collection for the previous version. Before that, there was a painted version on Bellevue Street: Where is our truth?)
“30 years of indiscriminate slaughter by so-called non-sectarian Irish freedom fighters. Provisional Sinn Fein demands “equality/respect/integrity”. No military targets! No economic targets! No legitimate targets! No enquiries! No truth! No justice! Where is the “equality” in justice? Where is the “respect” for Protestants? Where is the “integrity” in murder? We remember the victims of Provisional Sinn Fein genocide.”
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04416 X04417 X04418 donated by the Kinner family
Extramural Activity 