A good or bad sign of things to come? Wild-style writing in McKibben’s Court/Unity Walk, Belfast.
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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03994
The Omen
My Anchor Holds
Words (by Edward Mote in 1836) from a Christian hymn ‘My Hope Is Built On Nothing Less’, commonly sung to the 1863 tune by William Bradbury ‘The Solid Rock’ (WP) but also used with a different melody for the song Cornerstone (which is the name of the east Belfast community group) written on a ribbon wrapped around an anchor in east Belfast: “In every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil.”
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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Workman Clark’s
Workman & Clark’s (in the centre panel above) was a Belfast shipyard existing from 1880 to 1935. During the first world war it took over the construction of two monitor ships (specifically, M29 and M31) for the Royal Navy that H&W did not have space to build. For more, see Grace’s Guide | BBC audio on monitor ships and their construction, including a record for number of rivets hammered in by one John Moore at Workman Clark’s.
These are panels 6, 7, and 8 from the new boards along York Street on the outer wall of the NI Railways mechanical engineering workshop.
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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03991
Runner & Hunter On The Wild Frontier
Christopher Walken, Adam Ant, and Harrison Ford are the final three figures from Glen Molloy’s gallery of stars on Corporation Street. The wide shot below also shows Noel Gallagher and Bruce Lee in the second and third spots.
See previously: Jack Nicholson | Billy Casper | Shaun of the Dead/Leo DiCaprio/Bowie
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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04003 X03999
Repaying Their Memory
“Only by remembering these men, and others like them, can we ever repay their memory.” The Woodstock Somme Centenary Project aims to do that with a new collection of boards in Willowfield Street (for the wide shot, see Faugh-A-Ballagh) which include (above) the nine Victoria Cross recipients from the 36th (Ulster) Division in World War I (from 1917 and 1918) – E[dmund] De Wind, E[rnest] Seaman, C[ecil] L[eonard] Knox, N[orman] Harvey, (from 1916) G[eoffrey] St. G[eorge] S[hillington] Cather, W[illiam] F[rederick] MacFadzean, E[ric] N[orman] F[rankland] Bell, R[obert] Quigg, and J[ames] S[amuel] Emerson – and information about the Ulster Tower and Thiepval memorials.
The illustrations come from Cyril Falls’s book The History Of The 36th (Ulster) Division (from Project Gutenberg).
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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04011 X04174 X04175 X04176 X04177 “In Flanders fields the poppies blow/Between the crosses, row on row/That mark our place; and in the sky/The larks, still bravely singing, fly/Scarce heard amid the guns below.//We are the Dead. Short days ago/We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,/Loved and were loved, and now we lie/In Flanders fields//Take up our quarrel with the foe:/To you from failing hands we throw/The torch; be yours to hold it high./If ye break faith with us who die/We shall not sleep/Though poppies grow/In Flanders fields.” Canadian physician John McCrae 1872-1918
Henry Wilson Helen’s Tower Edward Lutyens President Doumer Philip Gibbs official british reporter
No RUC
A vintage small board dating back to 1995, still visible in Abercorn Street, London-/Derry.
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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02843
UDU – IRA
UDU (Ulster Defence Union) mural in Pine Street, Londonderry, vandalised with “IRA” graffiti. The mural has since been repaired. For the original, see Union Shield.
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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02874
Break The Connection With England
“Ireland did not vote for Tory cuts. Break the connection with England. www.irsp.ie. Páırtí poblachtach sóısıalaıgh na hÉireann.”
This IRSP/INLA board outside the party offices on the Falls Road protests policies coming from the Westminster parliament and specifically the Conservatives. On the left-hand side of the board are an adjustable pipe-wrench (for IRSP) and a rifle (for INLA). The sticker on a post-box is in Cavendish Street.
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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03100 X04017 socialist
King Of The North
Jon Snow, the character from Song Of Ice And Fire, as incarnated by Kit Harrington on the TV show Game Of Thrones during the Battle Of The Bastards (s6e9).
Time-lapse video of the piece being painted can be found on Visual Waste’s youtube channel.
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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04009 Garfield St
As Long As 100 Of Us Remain Alive
Here is the UDA/UFF mural on the left-hand gable of “Freedom Corner”. The mural is a 2015 repaint of the previous mural, which had to be replaced when it disintegrated. (See Freedom Corner for speculation as to the cause.) At the time, there was some disappointment that it was not repainted in a non-paramilitaristic fashion but defenders described the mural as “historical” (Tele).
The mural shows a UDA-jacketed volunteer with assault rifle and a modified version of the Declaration of Arbroath: “For as long as one hundred of us remain alive we shall never in anyway consent to submit to the Irish for it’s not for glory, honour or riches we fight but for freedom alone which no man loses but with his life – U.D.A./U.F.F”
From left to right: For Freedom Alone | As Long As 100 Of Us Remain Alive | Loyalist East Belfast | The Strangest Victory In All History | Ulster’s Past Defenders | Nationality is included in Loyalist East Belfast | Ulster’s Present Defenders | Freedom Corner
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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Extramural Activity 