East Belfast Ulster Volunteers

The Union Flag/UVF side-wall is a new addition to the Ulster Volunteers/UVF memorial in London Road, east Belfast. The main panel shows WWI soldiers going over the top (see Between The Crosses) while the four portraits to its right are of deceased UVF volunteers of the 70s and 80s – Seymour, Long, Cordner, and Bennett – (see Ulster’s Brave).

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Disband The Rebranded RUC

A vintage image – of the 3-in-1 policeman, Orange Order member, and loyalist paramilitary – is used in the centre of a new Soaradh (web | tw) board at the corner of Central and Fanad drives in Creggan, Derry. For some earlier uses, see Disband The RUC (Derry, dating back to 1995) Keep The Orange Order Out (Markets, south Belfast) | No Entry PSNI (New Lodge, north Belfast) |  Disband The RUC (Newry). “Corrupt, sectarian – disband the rebranded RUC” (and also, “Smash Stormont”).

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Manny’s N Belfast

The “N”orth Belfast Manny’s now matches the city centre location, with a mural featuring local faces and places, even down to the inclusion of a vintage mural, in this case the old Joe Doherty mural from the New Lodge Road in the late 80s. Among those included are a trio of boxers – Carl Frampton, Ryan Burnett, and Paddy Barnes (the latter two went to school together at Bearnageeha) — and media personalities Eamonn Holmes and May McFettridge (John Linehan). Locations include the New Lodge towers and Manny’s itself, including the plaque to Dana and Kevin Fitzpatrick who were hit by death-drivers.

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Comrades In Arms

John Meeke signed the Ulster Covenant in Dervock Orange Hall in 1912 and went to war with the Ulster Volunteers. Willie Redmond, brother of John Redmond, had been jailed three times and was a nationalist MP at Westminster when, at age 53, he signed up for service.

Major Redmond went over the top with the 16th (Irish) Division at Messines Ridge and was hit by machine-gun fire. Private Meeke, a stretcher-bearer with the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in the 36th (Ulster) Division, found and stayed with Redmond under heavy fire, taking two bullets himself.

Redmond would die that night. He was awarded the Legion Of Honour by the French. His East Clare seat was taken by Éamon de Valera. Meeke survived after several surgeries. He was awarded the Military Medal by the British. After the World War, he joined the Specials and LOL 1001 in Benvarden before dying of TB in 1923 (NALIL | Irish Times | WP | BelTel).

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His Young Life

“In memory of Vol Colm McNutt Derry Brigade INLA. On 12th December 1977 18 years old Colm McNutt was killed by an undercover British Army unit in William Street. In lived in Balbane Pass and was a popular young lad around the Creggan estate. He witnessed occupation and injustice and as a result joined the resistance movement, paying ultimately with his young life.” This large board was launched in December 2017 on the fortieth anniversary of McNutt’s death.

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Fact

This is a bonus piece by Dublin artist Shane O’Malley (webFb | tw | ig) during the week of Culture Night. His official piece for Hit The North we called The Fractured Self.

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Eddie’s Remains

As reported earlier (in Digital Eddie), the 2016 Eddie The Trooper laminate in Ebrington Terrace, Londonderry, began disintegrating as soon as it went up. Today’s images (from late 2018) show that he has completely gone, exposing scraps of the former Eddie. A few Eddies still stalk the land, most notably in Carrickfergus – see the Visual History page for Eddie.

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Shutting Of The Gates

The Apprentice Boys mural in Emerson Street, Londonderry, which was at least fifteen years old, was replaced in 2018 with a version of boards (shown above). The shutting of the city gates in December 1688 began the Siege Of Derry.

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Go West!

As you head west along Falls Road, you will pass by the three landmark buildings depicted in the mural above: Clonard Monastery, Cultúrlann McAdam-Ó Fıaıch (opposite this mural and the offices of Fáılte Feırste Thıar), and the entrance to Milltown Cemetery at the edge of Andersonstown. For the parts of the mural in Brighton Street, see The Conlan Revolution and Fáılte Feırste Thıar.

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Guns For Ulster

Carson, Crawford, and Craig are lionised as resisters of devolvement of Ireland to Dublin in the early twentieth century. Despite calling Home Rule “the most nefarious conspiracy that has ever been hatched against a free people” and vowing to fight it by “all means necessary”, including the Ulster Volunteers armed by Crawford’s “guns for Ulster”, Edward Carson “warned Ulster Unionist leaders not to alienate norther Catholics, as he foresaw this would make Northern Ireland unstable.”

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