painted wall

Frederick Douglass

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This mural is on the International Wall, Divis St, celebrating Frederick Douglass 1818-1895 (WP).

“Inspired by two Irishmen to escape from slavery, Frederick Douglass came to Ireland during the famine. Henceforth he championed the abolition of slavery, women’s rights and Irish freedom.”

“Perhaps no class has carried prejudice against colour to a point more dangerous than have the Irish and yet no people have been more relentlessly oppressed on account of race and religion.

(Also by Douglass, and which would have made an apt quote for the mural: “I prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs.”)

Divis Street, Belfast. There would later be a larger Douglass mural on Northumberland St (Visual History).

To the left of the Guernica mural.

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Copyright © 2009 Cathal Woods
X00297

Maghaberry Prisoners

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Mural on the International Wall to interned prisoners in Maghaberry, overlapped by the pro-Palestine mural to the left.

Previously Maghaberry (barbed wire) – M01758.

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Copyright © 2009 Cathal Woods
X00304 not forgotten end internment by remand, irpwa (irish republican prisoners welfare association), zionist new year message to the world happy war christmas is over

Barbarian Israeli Aggression

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Last year’s pro-Palestine mural on the International Wall (see Free Palestine From 60 Years Of Nakba!) has been augmented with words in red reading “End this barbarian Israeli aggression! “This is a war crime!” – Yonaton Shapira, Israeli refusenik. 1300+ slaughtered. Get the truth! Go to aljazeera.net/english”

The number was originally 700 (Alamy); it was presumably changed to 1000 at some point, though no image has been found of this; in any case, here 1000 has been crossed out and replaced with 1300.

For the girl on the right-hand side, see Maghaberry Prisoners.

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Copyright © 2009 Cathal Woods
X00321

Talavera 1809

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“The Bloody Battle, July 1809. Prince of Wales own Irish became the Royal Irish Fusiliers 1827, motto Quis separabit.”

Talavera de la Reina is southwest of Madrid, Spain. The French, who had invaded Portugal but been driven out by British forces under Wellesley, fought the combined forces of the Spanish (previously allies of the French in the Peninsular War) and British armies. The second battalion of the Prince Of Wales’s Irish fought at Talavera. It then became the Prince Of Wales’s Own Irish, the Prince Of Wales’s Own Irish Fusiliers, and finally the Royal Irish Fusiliers (after the prince had been king for seven years). Its motto seems to have been “Faugh A Ballagh” rather than “quis separabit” but sources are scarce.

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Copyright ©
X00326c Cathal Woods 2009
X00279 Seosamh Mac Coılle 2008 in progress
X00325 X00327 Cathal Woods 2009

Loyalist H-Block Mural

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“Freedom 2000” – this mural commemorates loyalist prisoner kept in the H-Blocks. Previously, the left flank bore the letters UDA and the right flank UFF, with LPOW at the bottom of each (see M02473).

Hopewell Crescent, lower Shankill. Also seen in 2008.

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Copyright © 2009 Cathal Woods
X00300

I Would Give My Right Hand …

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Legend has it that Ulster was won in a competition among warriors to be the first to touch the land. In order to win the race, one contestant cut off his hand and threw it ahead of the others. The flag of Northern Ireland (the Ulster Banner) is in the apex.

WP entry on the legend.

Shankill Parade, west Belfast.

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Copyright © 2009 Cathal Woods
X00309 the red hand of ulster

Gold Rush

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69 Gold Rush

From the info board, later added to the left: “The Gold Rush mural replaces a paramilitary image of two silhouetted gunmen representing Scottish Brigade. This new image by artist Tim McCarthy represents an event in July 1969 in Christopher Street when children digging in the rubble of the then demolished ‘Scotch Flats’ discovered a hoard of gold sovereigns. Word spread quickly and thus began ‘the Gold Rush’. The project was funded by the Re-imaging Communities programme of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and delivered by Belfast City Council with the support of the Lower Shankill Community Association. The project would not have been possible without the support and participation of the local community.”

There is a short series of BBC radio programmes on the finding of the sovereigns and how they came to be in the chimney.

With support from the Arts Council, Belfast City Council, and Lower Shankill Community Association. By Tim McCarthy/Verz in Hopewell Crescent, lower Shankill, Belfast.

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Copyright © 2009 Cathal Woods
X00298 [X05054] ’69 gold rush

UDU-UFF-UDA

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00283 UDUUFFUDAclose+.JPG

This is a 2007? repainting of a lower Shankill mural placing Ulster Freedom Fighters/Ulster Defence Association (UFF/UDA) within the historical context of “a new organization entitled the Ulster Defence Association, the objects of which are to elect an assembly of 600 delegates, having authority to declare the policy and direct the action of the Ulster Unionists and to raise funds for the purposes of the organization from loyalists of all classes.” The motto of the organisation was “Quis separabit” (which is the same as the UDA’s).

The Union faded away in the 1910s, but the name was revived by the UDA in 2007.

The manifesto was launched on St Patrick’s day 1893, in response to the 2nd Home Rule bill. Membership was closed on June 1st, by which time 170,000 people had signed up. The newspaper source of the text is unknown; a similar newspaper article from the Tasmanian Daily Telegraph can be found here. The words “Ulster Defence Association” do not occur in the manifesto.

For more on Saunderson, see Union Is Strength.

The side wall is new, and other small changes were made during the repaint: “UFF member” was previously above the gunman and “Est.” was previously used instead of “Formed”.

The Orange Order mural in the background is here.

00284 UDUUFFUDAsidewall+.JPG

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Copyright © 2009
X00283 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X00310 Cathal Woods
X00284 Seosamh Mac Coılle
[X00328] [M03809] [M03810] [M03811] [M03812]
member founded 1893 1972 ulster defence union

Malvern Arch

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00275 MalvernArchclose+.JPG

This mural shows Orange Order marchers in front of a banner depicting previous gatherings in Malvern St. The text on the side wall reads “This mural depicts Malvern St arch which was where the local community gathered to celebrate the traditional 12th of July commemoration.”

By Blaze FX in Hopewell Crescent, lower Shankill, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2009
X00275 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X00305 Cathal Woods
X00306 Seosamh Mac Coılle

UVF 3rd Battalion North Belfast

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The UVF memorial garden in Mount Vernon gets a new wall, with poppy crosses on either side of the gate (see the previous wall). On the mural, the battles that the 36th (Ulster) Division took part in are listed on either side of the silhouetted soldier: Ypres, Fricourt, Cambrai, Thiepval, Messines, Beaucourt, Somme, Albert, Flanders, St Quentin, Bailleul, Courtrai. Although the mural is in Mount Vernon, the scroll at the top says “Tiger’s Bay”. The memorial stone is to the “3rd battalion, north Belfast”. A plaque would later replace the poppy cross to the left of the gate.

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Copyright © 2008 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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