“… but not the revolution.” Turf Lodge mural (shown in full below) showing two armed volunteers (one female, one male) with portraits of eleven others. See previously: Che Guevara Lynch
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Here is another image of the scootering pig, spotted previously (Unseen Miracles) on the Springfield Road next to the head of Christ, and now to be found on the Cupar Way “peace” line.
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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This Belfast Popeye has four arms and massive thumbs, enough to hold up Titanic. As well as an anchor and life buoy, the figure sports an Irish harp, mushrooms, a lion rampant, a pike(?), a shamrock, a Celtic cross, tiger stripes, a snake, and various other symbols.
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The first image, above, shows a Continuity IRA (CIRA) stencil over what appears to be a ‘support Maghaberry POWs’ poster outside the West Belfast Partnership/Páırtíocht Iarthar Bhéal Feırste offices on the Falls Road (see the third image, below, for a wide shot). The second, below, claims that Waterford Street/Sráıd Phort Láırge is CIRA GHQ – general head-quarters.
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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This Monkstown mural commemorates four UDA volunteers: Malcolm Fisher, Colin Weir, Jim McClurg and William Hobbs. Hobbs and McClurg were killed when a bomb went off prematurely (CAIN’s Sutton Index 1977) ; there is no mention of the other two. Please leave a comment or send an e-mail if you have any information.
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02118 absent friends quis separabit at the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them
“A friend is a hand that is always holding yours no matter how close or far apart you be; A friend is someone who is always there and will always always care. A friend is a feeling of forever in the heart.” A new community mural in Ballymurphy shows locals seated in a circle of hands. Among the surrounding quotes (visible in the second image, below) are two lines from Robert Burns’ Auld Lang Syne (“And there’s a hand my trusty friend [fiere] And gies [gie’s] a hand to [o’] thine”, and, “We’ll take a cup of kindness yet For auld lang sang [syne]”)
The other lines are from …
I’ll Tell Me Ma (“Out she comes as white as snow, rings on her fingers a bells on her toes”, and, “My Aunt Jane she called me in, she gave me tea out of her wee tin”)
I Know My Love (“I know my love by her way of walking”)
The Gypsy Rover (“The gypsy rover came over the hill, down through the valley so shady”)
The Fields Of Athenry (“Low lie the fields of Athenry, where once we watched the small free birds fly”)
The Cobbler (“Oh, my wife she is humpy, she’s lumpy, my wife she’s the devil, she’s black, and no matter what I may [do] with her, her [tongue it goes clickety-clack]”)
and a skipping song (“On the hillside stands a lady, who she is I do not know”)
A wide shot (third below) shows the other two murals on this stretch of Ballymurphy Road: Between and Bryson-Mulvenna.
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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“Sam Thompson 1916-1965 Playwright ‘Over The Bridge’ 1960. Born in 2 Montrose Street beside this house.” In addition to his written works, Thompson was a painter for H&W and the Corporation, a trade unionist and Labour candidate (WP).
Montrose Street South, Belfast
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus, white-headed sea-eagle (WP)) is typically found only in North America, but the one above can be found in Ballymurphy.
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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“Hill Street was originally called Pot-House Lane after pottery works located here in the late 17th century. By the 1790’s it was known as Foundry Lane, after Stewart Hadski’s iron foundry, the first of its kind in Belfast.” The original of the tin-glazed earthenware tankard shown can be seen in this lot from Christie’s (worth 10,000 pounds). The words “Queen Anne 1720” are inscribed on the tankard, a memorial to the queen who reigned from 1702-1714.
See previously: Old Foundary 1767
Here is some information about excavations in the area, and below is a brief video on the history of Hill St:
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01972 belfast city council queen anne artist’s initials “KN”
Extramural Activity 