“Freedom 2000” – this mural commemorates loyalist prisoner kept in the H-Blocks. Previously, the left flank bore the letters UDA and the right flank UFF, with LPOW at the bottom of each (see M02473).
Hopewell Crescent, lower Shankill. Also seen in 2008.
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Copyright © 2009 Cathal Woods
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Legend has it that Ulster was won in a competition among warriors to be the first to touch the land. In order to win the race, one contestant cut off his hand and threw it ahead of the others. The flag of Northern Ireland (the Ulster Banner) is in the apex.
WP entry on the legend.
Shankill Parade, west Belfast.
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Copyright © 2009 Cathal Woods
X00309 the red hand of ulster
The Protestant Reformation is here attempted as a re-imaging theme in the lower Shankill. Luther’s signature is worked into the “stained glass” on the left.
Below, the accompanying text … “Hier stehe ich, Ich kann nich anders, Gott helfe mir.” Martin Luther 1483-1546. Unhappy with many of the Catholic church’s practices, Martin Luther, a monk, wrote what became know as ‘the 95 theses’. These challenged the authority of the church and were spread quickly around Europe via a new invention, the printing press. Keen to get luther to recant, the general assembly of the Holy Roman Empire summoned Luther to the town of Worms on the Rhine in 1521. An unapologetic Luther is said to have uttered this famous phrase which, translated means ‘Here I stand, I can do no other. God help me. Amen’. Thus began the Protestant Reformation.”
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Copyright © 2009 Cathal Woods
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From the info board, later added to the left: “The Gold Rush mural replaces a paramilitary image of two silhouetted gunmen representing Scottish Brigade. This new image by artist Tim McCarthy represents an event in July 1969 in Christopher Street when children digging in the rubble of the then demolished ‘Scotch Flats’ discovered a hoard of gold sovereigns. Word spread quickly and thus began ‘the Gold Rush’. The project was funded by the Re-imaging Communities programme of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and delivered by Belfast City Council with the support of the Lower Shankill Community Association. The project would not have been possible without the support and participation of the local community.”
There is a short series of BBC radio programmes on the finding of the sovereigns and how they came to be in the chimney.
With support from the Arts Council, Belfast City Council, and Lower Shankill Community Association. By Tim McCarthy/Verz in Hopewell Crescent, lower Shankill, Belfast.
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Copyright © 2009 Cathal Woods
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Car Park Of Dreams, Hopewell Square, lower Shankill, west Belfast.
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Copyright © 2009 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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This is a 2007? repainting of a lower Shankill mural placing Ulster Freedom Fighters/Ulster Defence Association (UFF/UDA) within the historical context of “a new organization entitled the Ulster Defence Association, the objects of which are to elect an assembly of 600 delegates, having authority to declare the policy and direct the action of the Ulster Unionists and to raise funds for the purposes of the organization from loyalists of all classes.” The motto of the organisation was “Quis separabit” (which is the same as the UDA’s).
The Union faded away in the 1910s, but the name was revived by the UDA in 2007.
The manifesto was launched on St Patrick’s day 1893, in response to the 2nd Home Rule bill. Membership was closed on June 1st, by which time 170,000 people had signed up. The newspaper source of the text is unknown; a similar newspaper article from the Tasmanian Daily Telegraph can be found here. The words “Ulster Defence Association” do not occur in the manifesto.
For more on Saunderson, see Union Is Strength.
The side wall is new, and other small changes were made during the repaint: “UFF member” was previously above the gunman and “Est.” was previously used instead of “Formed”.
The Orange Order mural in the background is here.
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Copyright © 2009
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member founded 1893 1972 ulster defence union
This mural shows Orange Order marchers in front of a banner depicting previous gatherings in Malvern St. The text on the side wall reads “This mural depicts Malvern St arch which was where the local community gathered to celebrate the traditional 12th of July commemoration.”
By Blaze FX in Hopewell Crescent, lower Shankill, west Belfast
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Copyright © 2009
X00275 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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New ‘Play’ mural on Hopewell Crescent, painted by Ed Reynolds (steadyhanded.com), replacing the Can It Change? mural.
Two panels of text on the left-hand side-wall read “‘The young do not know enough to be prudent and therefore they attempt the impossible and achieve it … generation after generation’ – Pearl S Buck” and “‘Adults do not perceive children as a minority group but as helpless, inexperienced, defenseless young people who need protection … This attitude must be confronted, challenged and refuted if young people are to secure their political rights’ – Bob Franklin”
Copyright © 2009
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Copyright © 2013
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The UVF memorial garden in Mount Vernon gets a new wall, with poppy crosses on either side of the gate (see the previous wall). On the mural, the battles that the 36th (Ulster) Division took part in are listed on either side of the silhouetted soldier: Ypres, Fricourt, Cambrai, Thiepval, Messines, Beaucourt, Somme, Albert, Flanders, St Quentin, Bailleul, Courtrai. Although the mural is in Mount Vernon, the scroll at the top says “Tiger’s Bay”. The memorial stone is to the “3rd battalion, north Belfast”. A plaque would later replace the poppy cross to the left of the gate.
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Copyright © 2008 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Graffiti on the British Portland Cement building outside Magheramorne, possibly dating to 1969 and UUP leader and NI prime minister Terence O’Neill’s reform plan in the wake of the rioting in Derry and the march to Burntollet.
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Copyright © 2008 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Extramural Activity 