For Freedom Alone

This is the fourth version of the UFF mural on the first gable in “Freedom Corner” along the Newtownards Road but the changes are minor compared with the 2009 version: the jacket and skyline are darker in colour. The mural shows a balaclava’d volunteer with assault rifle and a modified version of the Declaration of Arbroath: “For as long as one hundred of us remain alive we shall never in anyway consent to submit to the Irish for it’s not for glory, honour or riches we fight but for freedom alone which no man loses but with his life – U.D.A./U.F.F”

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01545

From The Boyne To Afghanistan

2012-12-26 FaughABallagh+

On the side wall of the Times Bar in York Street, a mural commemorating Irish and Northern Irish service in the British military.

Robert Blair “Paddy” Mayne is featured on the left (WP).

A plaque in the middle reads: In memory of Pte. F.G. Dolloghan, Parachute Regt. Killed at the Nijmegan Bridges, Holland, Sept. 1944. (WWII’s Operation Market Garden (WP))

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Copyright© 2012 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X00795 [M05258 in prog] Faugh-A-Ballagh, Lt. col. robert blair mayne d.s.o. middle east 1st bar sicily 2nd bar normandy 3rd bar n.w. europe 1939-45 stat africa italy france germany defence medal war legion d’honneur croix de guerre 36th ulster division royal irish rifles ulster leinsters guards inniskilling dragoon UDR fusiliers queens hassars north horse south rangers munster dublin connaught martinique 1762 havannah st. lucia 1778-1792 india cape of good hope 1806 maida monte video nourbon busaco fuentes d’onor java tarifa talavera badajoz salamance vittoria pyrennes ciudad rodrico niagara orthes toulouse ava south africa 1935, 1846047 sevastopol central india tel-el-kebir egypt 1882, 1884 relief of ladysmith 1899-1902 mons le cateau marne 1914 messine 1914 17 18  ypres 1914-15 neuuve chapelle loos albert 1917 arras 1917 cambrai 1917-18 st. quentin hindenburg line france and flanders macedonia suvla gallipoli gaza jerusalem palestine 1917-18 dyle scomer-la bassee dunkirk 1940 normandy landing caen iraq thine bremen bou arrada djebel tanniguocha 1942-43 centuripe 1943 sangro garigliano crossing anzio cassino II tiber argenta gap 1943-45 malta 1940 yenangyuang 1952 burma 1942043 imjin korea 1950-51

Tower Street

2012-12-23 TowerStDetail+

A detail from a board in Tower Street (off the Lower Newtownards Road) featuring a young girl carrying a union flag – a famous photograph from VE Day, 1945. For the whole mural, see M04869.

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Copyright © 2012 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X00790

Mount Vernon Welcomes You

2012-12-26 MtVernonWide+

Loyalist boards showing a (UVF) hooded gunman and a tiger from the “Mount Vernon Volunteers” wearing a purple beret, on Ross House, the Mount Vernon tower block. On the upper floors are an Ulster Banner and Union Flags.

See also: Families Against Supergrass Trials.

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Copyright © 2012 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X00797

Prepared For Peace, Ready For War

This is one of the most famous murals in Belfast on account of its position overlooking the entrance of Mount Vernon and the M2 – the central gunman appears to be aiming right at you as you come down the off-ramp to the Shore Road. The original mural (T00138 | D00382) – which dates back to the ceasefire (1995) – was on a gable at the front of the estate but the entire block of houses was knocked down (c. 2000 – BelTel). It was later recreated (though without the words “3rd battalion” above “North Belfast) in the current more elevated position.

The other gunman-aiming-right-at-you mural is the UDU mural in the lower Shankill estate.

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Copyright © 2012 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X05216

Send Our Prisoners Home

This vintage UDA/UFF stencil goes back to the time of the ceasefire and the Agreement.

On the shutters of A1 Alterations on the Newtownards Road, east Belfast.

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Copyright © 2012 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X00849

Letters Only

2012-12-13 Letterbox+

A Post Office box on the Falls Road that’s green, has a Free Marian Price sticker on it, and has a letter-only aperture to prevents parcel-bombs, pipe-bombs, etc. being inserted

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Copyright © 2012 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X00776

Nollaig Shona

2012-12-13 NollaigShonaMid+

Seasonal greeting in support of Republican political prisoners – with candles at base – in Northumberland St. This is the centre part of a wider mural-board composite – left and right shots below.

2012-12-13 NollaigShonaLeft+

2012-12-13 NollaigShonaRight+

The “Nollaıg shona” and board  in the picture just above together replace the previous “human rights” mural; the area below the “doors” hoarding, where the phoenix now appears, was previously blank.

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Copyright © 2012 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X00779 X00778 X00780 remember cogús p.o.w’s at christmas nollaig shona support all republican this time doorways quality doors r.i.c. murder gang harrison nixon the beehive 1926 victims september 1920 vol. ned trodden sean gaynor sean mcfadden

We Will Take The Matter Into Our Own Hands

2012-12-04 CarsonQuote+

“We in Ulster will tolerate no Sinn Féin but we tell you this – that if, having offered you our help, you are yourselves unable to protect us from the machinations of Sinn Féin, and you won’t take our help; we tell you, we will take the matter into our own hands …. ” A quote from Sir Edward Carson (probably, 12th of July, 1920 rather than 1912 – Treason Felony | RTÉ) replaces the previous “free men” quote (see M03378); the poppies between the emblems in the main panel are also new, as is the plinth the hooded gunmen are standing on, which reads “1912 East Belfast Ulster Volunteer Force” (also, “1981 Gareth Keys 2008″). In other words, the mural has been softened (slightly) by adding historical elements.

Castlereagh Road, opposite Ravensdale Street.

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Copyright © 2012 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02970 X00846 u.v.f. for god and ulster

View From The North Bank

2012-12-10 ViewNorthBank+

A Union Flag flies together with an Israeli flag on O’Neill Road over the Rathcoole estate (which saw some rioting last week over the removal of the Union Flag from Belfast city hall) and a Red Hand Commando mural.

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Copyright © 2012 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X00767 B coy 1st batt