So sayeth the entablature above the entrance to Ballyhackamore Gospel Hall on the Upper Newtownards Road (which dates back to 1919). The Lord may be sought there during services on Sundays and Bible study on Tuesdays; the Tesco express next door is open seventeen hours a day, seven days a week. “The wages of sin is death, the gift of God is eternal life – Romans 6:23”
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08994
“Don’t let me body lie here – get me back to the green hill by Murlough, by the McCarry’s house, looking down on the Moyle. That’s where I’d like to be now, that’s where I’d like to lie. … Death is not dark but only deeper blue.” [Letter to Elizabeth “Eilis” Bannister, July 25th, 1916] Roger Casement was executed in Pentonville prison, in England, in 1916, for his role in gunrunning for the Rising, and his corpse was buried in the prison cemetery. Despite repeated requests for repatriation, it wasn’t until 1965 that the corpse was returned to Ireland – but to his home town of Dublin rather than to his beloved Murlough, where his cousins Eilis and Gertrude lived (in what was by then Northern Ireland): the corpse was released on condition that it not enter Northern Ireland, for fear of stoking political tensions between the sects (WP).
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X09004 X09011 erected by casement commemoration committee Andersonstown Rd
Another mural on Upper Newtownards Road on the lamplighter theme: Ballyhack-Amore by Alana McDowell (ig | web). The name “Ballyhackamore” comes not from Italian but from Irish: Baile an Chacamair, town of the mud flat (PlaceNamesNI).
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08982 [X08981] X08980 Sandown Road
The Bloody Sunday march each year follows the same route as was taken on January 30th, 1972, from Creggan shops to the Bogside. For the 50th anniversary of the event, two marches took place, the earlier one ending at the NICRA memorial (unveiled in 1974) where Taoiseach Micheál Martin laid a wreath. For images see Derry Journal | Museum Of Free Derry’s Fb; for the speeches, see the MoFD youtube channel.
A later march ended with speeches at Free Derry Corner (Derry Journal | Derry Now). Today’s images show this march at the Bloody Sunday Commemoration mural by the Bogside Artists (originally painted in 1997 without a cross in the centre). The coal lorry in the image above is of a similar vintage to the one that led the march in 1972 (see final image); the Bedford TK was built from 1960 to 1992 but Springtown Fuels (ig) appears to have one in good condition.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
[X09005] X09006 X09007
Art by R|B Blackcat (Fb | ig) in the door of the Swanston building in College Street, Belfast. For background on the building, see the previous art in this doorway, The Gateway Is Love.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08999
Street art by Leighoops (ig) at the entrance to Artcetera off Rosemary Street.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X09001 [X09000]
Episode 38 of the BBC’s “Year ’21” podcast considered the life (and diary) of a lamplighter in east Belfast who witnessed the violence that gripped the city in 1920-1922. The tribute on Newtowanards Road is by emic (web) with support from Daisy Chain (tw) and EastSide Partnership (tw).
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08988 X08986
“It’s okay not to be okay” – These are the shutters of Beep’s ice-cream and sweet shop (Fb) on the Woodstock Road, painted last October in support of mental health in the community.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08885
“One world, one struggle” and one common cause: British imperialism. The Palestinian flag flies beside Free Derry Corner (and the Petrol Bomber mural), which has been papered over with “There is n0 British justice” – this sets the theme for the march this afternoon (recreating the 1972 civil rights march in Derry from Creggan to the Bogside, starting at 2:30) which not only commemorates the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday (Bloody Sunday 50) but protests the British occupation of countries all around the world – the poster from Bloody Sunday March makes reference to the Amritsar (Jallianwala Bagh) Massacre, the Barbados Slave Code, (Second) Boer War concentration camps, and many others.
See also: the Visual History pages for the front of Free Derry Corner | the rear of Free Derry Corner
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
X08960 X08963
The Maidens was originally a pair of lighthouses built on a pair of rocky islets (also called the Maidens) about 9 km from Ballygally, first made operational in 1729. One tower was abandoned in 1903 and the remaining tower was automated in 1977 (WP).
“Audrey Kyle is a watercolour artist from Islandmagee and draws inspiration from the area’s rich maritime history and beautiful scenery. Her painting shows one of the Maidens Lighthouses off the coast of Islandmagee, along with a Schooner and the Princess Victoria. This is to demonstrate maritime history both old and new. One of the local stories related to the Maidens is from 1830s when the Assistant Keeper of one lighthouse fell in love with daughter of the keeper of the other. He would visit his love by boat, until the girl’s father found out and he forbade them to meet. The story ends with the couple eloping to Carrickfergus on the mainland.”
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08658 X08659 Broadway, Larne renovation
Extramural Activity 