Man does not live on bread alone, but on cheese and tomato sauce. And perhaps some extra toppings and side orders, from We Knead Pizza (Fb) in McQuillan St. For information about Sr Faustina Kowalska, “Apostle Of Divine Mercy”, who had visions of Jesus, see This Image Is Blessed.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08620
“We always knew who was ‘essential’ and who keeps our society going … the working class. Thank you to all our members – keeping the country up and running.” Transport House, built in 1959 and once home of the TGWU, has been vacant and there have been plans to renovate it since at least 2019, without any apparent movement, perhaps due to the expense involved (tw). The modern union, Unite (tw), is supposed to move into it upon completion (tw).
The entrance to the building has been boarded up since 2012. For the previous art on the hoarding, see Unite The Union (one | two). The new (computer-generated and -printed) mural shows a graffitist surreptitiously painting a pro-union message.
Brendan Harkin has a gallery of images of the interior on Twitter.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08587 X08586
“I loved it here, and still miss it. The characters that came into the shop … and I miss the craic!” The advertising hoardings at the corner of Ligoniel and Crumlin roads have been replaced with this community alcove with pavers and a space for “sharing positive stories together” at “the turn of the road” from Ballysillan towards Ligoniel village. The plaque to the UDA’s Bill Reynolds, which stood on the building where he was killed until the building was demolished (see the old plaque) and then replaced with a new plaque next to the hoarding, has been included.
“In loving memory [UDA] Lt. Col. Bill Reynolds murdered [by the IRA] 7-7-87. Always remembered by his family, friends and comrades. Quis separabit.”
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08578 X08575 [X08576] X08577 Ligoniel Road
Photography was still in its infancy in 1850 and would not appear in newspapers until the 1880s (LoC). Instead, newspapers used illustrations to bring their stories to life. This board in Ard An Lao (Ardoyne/Bone) – “An Gorta Mór [The Great Hunger] 1845-1851 – The Great Irish Famine” – combines three of them to serve as a background for other images and information.
On the left is Family Being Evicted From Their Home In Rural Ireland.
At the centre is Searching For Potatoes In A Stubble Field from the Illustrated London News. ILN images are a staple of Belfast muraling on the Great Hunger: they were previously used in 1995 (An tOcras Mór in the New Lodge), 1999 (Ireland’s Holocaust on the Whiterock Rd), 2002 (An Gorta Mór in Ardoyne). (Here is a list, with links, of all of the illustrations of Ireland in ILN from the period 1845-1852.)
On the right is food arriving from the USA in the famine of 1879-1880.
See also The Mass Graves Of Ireland.
See also the Visual History page on the Great Hunger in muraling.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08360
This Village board celebrates the Covenant, Ulster Volunteers, and the 36th (Ulster) Division, with photographs both vintage and contemporary.
For the photograph of Carson signing the Covenant, and an earlier mural, see Betting Office. For the photograph of the car-mounted gun, and an earlier mural recreating the photo, see UVF 75th Anniversary. For images akin to the contemporary photos, see these BelTel galleries one | two of the 100th anniversary celebrations of the Ulster Volunteers.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08430 X08429 Lwr Rockview St
The ‘Hidden Treasure’ wild-style writing that in 2004 replaced the UDA C company mural from the Johnny Adair era on Beverley Street has itself now been partially replaced with the paintings (by emic (web)) of soldiers from the Shankill killed during WWI; the paintings were previously exhibited in the Shankill graveyard.
For more on the Shankill-Falls “peace” line and the early graffiti-art that was used to re-image it, see Visual History 10 – Re-Imaging.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X15338 X15339 X08363
The old shop-window sign of the Irish experience in England “No blacks, no Irish, [no dogs]” is repurposed and reclaimed positively by the RNU in the Colin area, with the rainbow flag, Irish tricolour, and Nelson Mandela (alongside James Connolly) below the skyline of Belfast. For the original, see previously Oppose Racism | No Dogs, No POWs
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08464 X08465 pantridge rd Phil Lynott
“Fuaır sıad bás ar son saoırse na hÉıreann” [they died for Ireland’s freedom] Although it’s the 40th anniversary of the 1981 hunger strike, this Lifford (Co. Donegal) board includes Michael Gaughan and Frank Stagg who died in English prisons in the 1970s.
If you can explain the flag in the centre, please get in touch. The wide shot, below, includes a call to rally for 100% Redress, No Less.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08446 X08447
Part of the most recent development of the upper streets in the Village was not to rebuild the two rows on houses on Ebor and Nubia/Moltke streets and in their place construct a park – the Village Green – and playground. This new board on the outside railings make the park a “community park of remembrance” for WWI, showing an Ulster Banner with a Union Flag in the canton. There was formerly on this site an image of Thiepval Tower and a UVF stone.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08437 X08436
These two new boards along the Falls Road were mounted by Belfast RNU (tw), commemorating the actions of Billy McKee, Alec Murphy, and Brendan Hughes in 1969 at the onset of the Troubles, and of Máıre Drumm and “the brave women of Belfast who stood up against the might of the British” in bringing the Falls Curfew to an end. (This board was previously a mural on Divis Street.)
McKee and Hughes are profiled in a D Company mural in the number one spot of the International Wall. Murphy died in 2019 “unrepentant” of his republicanism (which was prompted by the Falls Curfew) and in particular his conviction along with Harry Maguire for the Corporal Killings (Irish News | BelTel). For a personal obituary, see The Pensive Quill.
For the plaque and board to the left of the wide shot below, see The Falls Road Massacre.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08366 [X11832] [X15342]
X08364 [X08365] [X15340] [X15341]
X08367 [X11831] [X15343]
launched June 17, 2021
Extramural Activity 