“No vote, no voice” and “Vote Unionist”. Here are two pieces of loyalist graffiti concerned with (as they see it) under-representation in the political process. The first is at the corner of Springmartin Road and Ballygomartin Road (“Bobby Sands died 4 fuck all” can be seen underneath). The second is on the Forthriver Road at the Glencairn Day Centre.
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The artist’s name is on the track-suit top where a logo might typically be: work by NOTA (of TMN – The Most Nasty) in Garfield Street.
Previously: The Sun Will Make You Blind
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A metal banner (attached to the two barrels) outside the Bowtown Youth Club in Newtownards shows the classic image of the signing of the Ulster Covenant against the background of a Union flag, and also a rocket taking off, in the children’s mural painted on one side of the club.
“NVF” in the left-hand insignia stands for “Newtownards Volunteer Flute [Band]” (Fb). On the right is the insignia of another flute band, the North Down Defenders (Fb).
The caption below the image of the covenant signing lists a good number of those in the picture:
Sir Edward Carson (later Lord Duncairn) signing the Ulster Covenant in the Belfast City Hall, September 28, 1912.
Left to right, 1st row: Mr. R.J. McMordie, Lord Mayor of Belfast, Lord Charles Beresford, Marquess of Londonderry, Sir Edward Carson, Captain James Craig (later Lord Craigavon), Mr. J.H. Campbell, K.C. (later Lord Glenavy), and Dr. W. Gibson.
2nd row: present Lord Londonderry, and Col. R.H. Wallace, C.B., D.L. Behind the latter, Ronald McNeill, M.P. (later Lord Cushendun).
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King Billy’s On The Wall of John Street, in Newtownards. Full lyrics to the song (which begin with the title of today’s post) can be found here.
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IRA Volunteer Sean Martin is at the centre of these panels in Beechfield Street, in the Short Strand, (CNR) east Belfast. The image in the apex of the house depicts his death in nearby Anderson Street (which no longer exists; roughly where Arran Street is).
milltowncemetery.com (link now dead) reports that Sean Martin “was killed in April 1940 during a lecture on arms and a Millis hand grenade in a small terrace house in Anderson Street. In the course of the lecture Sean, who was giving the instruction, had dismantled the grenade, and was putting it together again. The detonator which he was using was thought to have been a dud one. In demonstrating how to throw the grenade, he pulled out the pin and released the lever. Hearing the hissing sound of the fuse he realised that the detonator was live and that the grenade was about to explode. He rushed to the window with the intention of throwing it out on to the street, but some children were playing outside. In the few seconds left to him, Sean had to make that terrible choice; shouting to the others to get out of the house – he pulled the grenade into himself with his two hands and leaned over the kitchen table with the grenade covered by his whole body. The device exploded and blew him right across the kitchen, killing him instantly. All the others escaped uninjured.”
The Irish at the bottom reads “Grádh níos fearr ní raıbh ag duıne na a bheo a thabhaırt ar son a chomrádaıthe” – “A greater love no person has than to give his life for his comrades” (John 15:13)
Belfast Forum has some pictures of Anderson Street; according to the accompanying conversation, the Martins (might have) lived at no. 29. Sean Martin’s CLG/GAA club was named after Martin.
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“As we scrambled over the trench ladders the Y.C.V. flag appeared.” One of the many panels in an extended mural in Thorndyke Street, this one inspired by a drawing by Jim Maultsaid, who joined the YCV in 1914 and kept a diary and sketch-book. More of his sketches can be found as part of the Friends Of The Somme’s account of the war in 1916. His portrait is included below.
The plaque reads: At the outbreak of the Great War in August 1914, when Lord Kitchener, the War Minister, was desperately looking for men, he had asked Sir Edward Carson for a brigade consisting of four battalions. Carson offered him a division consisting of twelve battalions, uniformed and equipped at Ulster’s expense. The UVF was transformed rapidly into the 36th (Ulster) Division. On the 1st July 1916 the 26 (Ulster) Division took part in the Somme Offensive. Nine Victoria Crosses were awarded for acts of valour on that day. Men of the 36th (Ulster) Division won four of these. Of those, three were awarded posthumously. Of the 9,000 men of the Division who took part in the attack, scarcely 2,500 answered roll call on 3 July; while of 400 officers, more than 250 were killed or wounded. The Division lost 5,500 officers and other ranks killed, wounded and missing as a result of the first two days of the Somme offensive. The illustration depicted is derived from a drawing by Jim Maultsaid, an American citizen. He joined the 14th Royal Irish Rifles, which was drawn from members of an organisation called the Young Citizen Volunteers (YCV).
One of fourteen panels in Thorndyke Street, east Belfast. For a list of entries for each panel, see East Belfast Historical And Cultural Society.
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“It is not those who can inflict the most but those who can endure the most who will conquer.” 1981 hunger-striker Francis Hughes is flanked by blanketmen Hugh Rooney and Freddie Toal and surrounded by a host of other republican faces in this 2011 mural commemorating the 30th anniversary of the strikes. Painted by Seany McVeigh.
Top 1. Wolfe Tone 2. Mairead Farrell 3. Thomas Ashe 4. Kevin Lynch 5. Michael Gaughan 6. Padraig Pearse, [FH] 7. Thomas McElwee 8. Constance Markievicz 9. Joe McDonnell 10. Terence MacSwiney 11. Frank Stagg 12. fuiseog
Middle 1. Hugh Rooney, 2. Kevin Barry 3. Patsy O’Hara 4. Máire Drumm 5. James Connolly, [FH] 6. Denis Barry 7. James O’Donovan Rossa 8. Bobby Sands 9. Mickey Devine 10. ? 11. Freddie Toal
Bottom 1. Roger Casement 2. Kieran Doherty 3. Michael Fitzgerald 4. Seán McNeela 5. Tony D’Arcy 6. Ray McCreesh, [FH] 7. Joseph Murphy 8. Andrew Sullivan 9. Seán McCaughey 10. Martin Hurson 11. Anne Devlin
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A1 Homeware in Sandy Row, replacing the old fishing tackle shop. According to the Belfast Forum, the tackle shop’s owner, Tommy McCutcheon, died in 2011, after retiring in 2009.
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A ‘peace curtain’ (see below) was erected in November inside the grounds of St. Matthew’s chapel which, when opened, will stop stone-throwing between the Short Strand and the Newtownards Road. (News reports: U.tv | BBC – includes video.) It has already ensnared the dove in the image above.
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We have it on the authority of the Superman wiki that Superman’s eyes glow red when using his super-power of heat vision. He really hates this wall!
This is the last, but not least, superhero at the entrance to Sliabh Dubh, incomplete at the time of our earlier entries (Wallbusters | The Walls, Unbroken | Cartoon World).
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Extramural Activity 