The “Do not use” sign – from last year – is Saoaradh (web) reserving a wall in Braemar St (on the Falls Road) that has never (to our knowledge) been used by anyone else. As the image above shows, the space is now being used – in part – by a hunger strike 40th anniversary board.
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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08199 [X08200]
During WWII, Tom Moore worked with motorcycles and tanks (rather than aircraft) in India and Burma (Myanmar) and achieved the rank of captain. He became famous during the pandemic for raising about 33 million pounds for NHS Charities during the pandemic. He died in February of this year, aged 100 (WP). He is honoured by this new mural in Tullyally, Londonderry.
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Copyright © 2021 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
[X08185] X08186 milltown view
Joe McCann was IRA/OIRA OC in the Markets area of Belfast. He was famously photographed among burning buildings in Inglis’s bakery, during protests against the introduction on internment, crouched beneath a Starry Plough and holding an M1. (For more, see Battle Of The Markets, which features the same photograph.) For McCann’s death the following year (on April 15th, 1972) see Joe McCann. This new board replaces a tarp in the same location: see On The Brink Of Sectarian Disaster.
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X08135 X08134 X08136 Clondara St civil rights for everyone Liam mcmillen republican movement soldier of the people James Nora Connolly
“Land for people not for profit.” About 900 people have been living in the former Woodstock Hospital – renamed Cissie Gool House – in Cape Town, South Africa, since 2017, in an on-going dispute with the city over housing and redevelopment of the site. In the most recent twist in the long-running tale, the occupants, campaigning under the name “Reclaim The City”, won a court battle to ensure that a survey of the residents must be undertaken by their own attorneys; the survey is ostensibly for the purposes to determine their eligibility for re-housing but the activists say it is a first step to eviction. (See IOL one | two | three | four.) “CMYC [Clonard Monastery Youth Centre web | Fb] supports the city Cape Town and Cissie Gool house”.
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X08125 X08123 X08124 Iris Street
Faustina Kowalska was a Polish nun who, from age 19 onwards, claimed to have visions of a suffering Jesus, including one at age 26, of Jesus with red and white rays emanating from his heart and issuing instructions to have the vision painted – it appears here on the right. Kowalska died at age 33 in 1938, of tuberculosis, and was canonized in 2000 (WP). The “H Block Martyrs” pursued a vision of a United Ireland, and likewise died young, of starvation; this is the 40th anniversary of their deaths.
Both Kowalska placards are marked “This image is blessed. Please do not remove.” It is not clear if the hunger striker tarp on the left has also been anointed.
At Groves Reilly Corner.
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X08119 soared
“The Annals of the Four Masters record that in 665 AD, the Battle of Farset (Belfast) took place between the County Down Dal Fiatach, self styled Ulaid, and the Pretani or Cruthin where Cathasach, son of Laircine, was slain. This was an attempt by the Dal Fiatach to encroach on the Curtain territory of Trian Congail. The “third of Congal”, which encompassed territory on both sides of the Lagan, corresponding more to less to Uppers and Lower Clandeboye, including modern Belfast. Cathasach was Congal’s grandson. The battle was the first mention of Belfast in Irish history.”
The battle scene shown is Jim Fitzpatrick’s vision of the battle of Moira (in 637), rather than “Bellum Fertsi”. The salience of this description of intra-Ulster fighting is that there is a contention that the Cruthin were Scots (Picts) thus allowing for the idea (employed especially by the UDA – see Ulster’s Defenders and Defender Of Ulster From Irish Attacks) that present-day northern Protestants have a heritage, and a history of fighting for what is roughly Co. Antrim, that pre-dates the plantations. For more information and a similar board, featuring the tower blocks of Rathcoole rather than Cuchulainn and the Battle of Moira, see Kingdom Of The Pretani. For the debate over a connection to the Picts, see WP.
The Annals date back to the 1630s though they mostly comprise a variety of earlier sources.
The image of the gentleman with the sword appears to be a stock fantasy image, used for at least two characters in Game Of Thrones fandom (Rhaegon Targaryen and Lord Cameron Umber).
For the celebration of Rangers and the NI team, see Respect, Heritage, Culture.
The board on the right reads “Centenary of cultural expression 1921-2021. Sons Of Belfast LOL 743. Castleton Temperance LOL 867. The Memorial LOL 1197. Belfast Harbour LOL 1883. The Coote Memorial LOL 1921. Cave Hill Temperance LOL 1956.”
For the Crusaders FC mural, see The Northern Crusades.
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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08100 X08098 X08099 [X08101]
The Ulster Banner flies at the bottom of the Limestone Road above a (new but possibly pre-dating the NI Protocol) hand-made ‘Brexit’ sign.
Previous ‘Brexit’ signs around Tiger’s Bay: Brexit Loyalists
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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08083
“Gordon ‘Galloper’ Thompson – the headless horseman of North Belfast …. The Gordon ‘Galloper’ Thompson mural has been designed and created by young people from the Tiger’s Bay, New Lodge and York/Shore Rd areas of North Belfast as part of the CIRCA project delivered by Arts for All. … According to local legend, Gordon Thompson claimed that if he died and didn’t get into heaven, he would come back to haunt his ancestral home of Jennymount. An apparition of a man on horseback (with his head tucked under his arm) is rumoured to have been seen around Jennymount Mill where it is believed he was decapitated in an accident while fixing one of the weaving machines. Often parents used this tale to encourage their children to come in before dark. Many people still remember their parents telling them to be in for a certain time or: “Galloper Thompson will get ye.” ” (The text is from Joe Baker’s Haunted Belfast. More info from Walking Tours Belfast.)
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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
[X08076] X08077 X08078 [X08079] [X08080] [X08081] X08082 York Rd Star Neighbourhood North Belfast Alternatives Jim Russell Jonny McKerr
“North Belfast will never accept a border in the Irish Sea – there is no union without NI.” The Sun shines on a flag from Shore Road Loyal Rangers Supporters Club (Fb) and a board protesting the NI Protocol – Rangers are triumphant but the union is in peril.
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X08017 Northwood Rd
Extramural Activity 