painted wall

Lagan Village

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In the 1860s, Ballymacarrett, Mount Pottinger, and Lagan Village, all on the east side of the Lagan, were not a part of Belfast (Lennon-Wylie). Lagan Village stretched from where Hutchinsons car dealership now is down to the modern Park Parade, just above Ormeau Park. In the 1880s Belfast expanded and Lagan Village Road became Ravenhill Road (NVTv). Ormeau Park opened in 1871 (WartimeNI). It did not then include the BMX track celebrated in this mural.

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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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#RememberMyNoah

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14 year-old Noah Donohoe went missing on June 21st while cycling in the York Road area en route from his south Belfast home to the Cave Hill. His body was found in a north Belfast storm drain six days later and the postmortem showed death by drowning (Irish News). Many details of his last hours remain unknown, however, including how he came to drown in the drain. His mother, Fiona, started a campaign on August 11th on Facebook and Twitter to press for answers and signatures are being collected for a petition into the PSNI handling of the case. CCTV images of Noah were released on Friday by the BBC. An inquest will be held in January, 2021 (BelTel) with a preliminary hearing on September 30th.

Previously: Gloria Ab Intus

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Politics & Prayer

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The New Lodge grotto in honour of Mary, adjacent to various murals in support of republican POWs, has been repainted (see previously) with images of the Immaculate Heart Of Mary, Our Lady Of Fatima, and the trio above, showing St. Joseph the carpenter, Mary, and St Patrick(?).

St Thérèse is the figure next to “New” in “New Lodge Grotto” and Our Lady Of Medjugorje is on the right.

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Every Cloud

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“Summer” continues today with showers and a high temperature of 18. Danni Simpson (web | ig) helps us keep perspective on the Norn Iron weather: “no rain, no flowers”. She has also painted the scaffold at the North Street end of Garfield Street – see the final image, preceded by a 2019 shot from when the scaffolding was raised.

X06800 2019-09-08 Garfield Scaffold+

X07340 2020-08-01 RainFlowers w+

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Copyright © 2019/2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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When You Enter This Loving School

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“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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Kelly’s Eyes

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Electrical box by Irony (ig | Fb | tumblr) in Queen Street, Belfast.

Previously by Irony: Jail Bird | Pearl | That Faraway Look

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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X07321

The Gateway Is Love

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William Swanston, with partner Thomas Bones, commissioned a new building for their linen collar and cuff concern, to be raised in 1890 at the corner of Queen and College streets. Arthur Chichester, flanked by the coats of arms of Belfast and Ulster, looks down over the now-unused doorway. (For more, see the excellent page at History Hub Ulster.) Swanston House is known to many in Belfast as the home of the Athletic Stores and the Educational Company; the facade was retained for its current incarnation ‘The Roost’, a student dormitory.

“‘Soul is deep, essence is beauty, the journey is freedom & the gateway is love’ – Beatrix.” 

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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Better Days Ahead

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The weather hasn’t been great and coronavirus is till here too, but hope is the last thing to die and we might get one of the two. Better Days Bob replaces Clive The Whale – work by FGB (Francois Got Buffed | web | tw | ig) in Belfast city centre.

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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Thank You, NHS

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Union flags with “Thank You NHS” in east Belfast, one (above) in front of “Freedom Corner” on Newtownards Road (for the recent history of the mural on the right, see East Belfast Brigade) and another (below) in Ballarat Street.

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As The Stars Are Known To The Night

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William McFadzean won a VC for sacrificing himself on the morning before the Battle Of The Somme (in WWI) and is commemorated in several murals. He shares a plaque here with “Vol W Miller”, who is perhaps the (modern UVF) volunteer Billy Miller from Donegall Pass who was killed in an RUC ambush in 1983 (Long Kesh I/O). The two names on the newer plaque are unknown on-line, perhaps having survived the Troubles and being recently deceased.

The title of today’s post comes from the Laurence Binyon poem For The Fallen.

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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X07249 X07251 X07250 replaces the old Titanic mural in Ballarat St