“Preparing to bear arms 1914 – Prepared to bear arms 2004.” The Ulster Volunteers and the modern UVF are put in parallel.
A wider shot, including the stone memorial to the right of this mural and a banner above, is shown in Fasting For Human Rights And Justice.
Spier’s Place, Shankill, west Belfast
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Copyright © 2004 Cathal Woods
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“The Peoples Army 1912-2002” showing landmarks in the history of the Ulster Volunteers and UVF:
“1912 – newly formed Shankill Volunteers train at Fernhill Estate, Glencairn”;
“1916 – RIR (West Belfast UVF) go over the top at the Somme”;
“1969 – Volunteers defend Shankill community from republican attack”;
“2002 – At the crossroads?” with PUP leader David Ervine pictured holding a copy of the Good Friday Agreement.
Canmore Street, Shankill, west Belfast
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Copyright © 2004 Cathal Woods
X00045 eire united kingdom war peace
“”My Ulster blood is my most priceless heritage …” – James Buchanan 15th US president 1857-1861″. This is the first of the murals in the “From pioneers to presidents” series to be painted in Belfast, depicting James Buchanan. Three murals had already been painted in Londonderry, to Theodore Roosevelt, James Buchanan (which contains more information about Buchanan and his heritage), and George Washington.
The words along the bottom read, “250,000 Ulster Scots emigrated to America in the 1700s and were the driving force behind the American Revolution.”
The small plaque to the right reads, “Shankill Ulster-Scots Cultural Society. The Buchanan Mural. This mural was dedicated to the memory of those early Ulster-Scots emigrants by Ms Jane Benton Fort, US Consul General, on Thursday November 4th, 1999. Sae monie hairts gaed far frae hame – bot ilka yin oor ain fowk [So many hearts went far from home – but every one [is/remains] our own folk]. This project was funded by Belfast City Council and Making Belfast Work.”
See the Visual History page on Ulster-Scots Murals.
Ainsworth Street, Woodvale, west Belfast
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Copyright © 2004 Cathal Woods
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“30 years of indiscriminate slaughter by so-called non-sectarian Irish freedom fighters. No military targets! No economic targets! No legitimate targets! Where are our inquiries? Where is our truth? Where is our justice?”
?2003? mural of bombings on the Shankill. The central panel reproduces a BelTel photograph of the Balmoral furniture showroom bombing, 11 December 1971. The others are the Mountainview Tavern, Frizzell’s fishmongers (shown in the detail, above), the Bayardo Bar, and the Four Step Inn.
Bellevue Street, Shankill, west Belfast
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Copyright © 2004 Cathal Woods
X00090 X00076 Fourstep Inn bombed Sept 29th 1971 2 innocents killed, Balmoral Showrooms bombed Dec 11th 1971 2 adults and 2 babies killed, Mountainview Tavern bombed April 5th 1975 5 innocents killed, Bayardo Bar bombed Aug 13th 1975 5 innocents killed, Frizzell’s fish shop bombed Oct 23rd 1993 9 innocents killed
The large board on the left commemorates the 10 dead hunger strikers (WP) and two blanketmen. “No greater love” echoes John 15:13.
There are also two smaller boards on the right: first, “Same old mural, same old force” with the three-in-one figure of RUC, Orange Order, and loyalist paramilitary under a traffic “No” symbol; second, an interesting board alleging collusion between the RUC and the UDA and UVF in north and east Belfast.
Oldpark Road, north Belfast
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Copyright © 2004 Cathal Woods
X00063 h-block martyrs 1981
These are the gates to the memorial garden in Bombay street; for images of the plaque and stone within, see M03774.
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Copyright © 2004 Cathal Woods
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This Bombay Street board commemorates the 1969 riots which led to Bombay Street being being cut by the Cupar Way “peace” line.
Update: This board was removed, but a copy of it has been placed over the garden of commemoration, across the street. See Never Again in the Peter Moloney Collection.
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Copyright © 2004 Cathal Woods
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Volunteers in Cumann Na mBan (or youth wing Cumann Na gCaılíní) from Ballymurphy and Springhill are remembered in a 2002 mural in Ballymurphy.
Anti-clockwise, they are Maura Meehan, Anne Marie Pettigrew, Dorothy Maguire, Eileen Mackin, Catherine (Cathy) McGartland, Anne Parker. All but Mackin are included in the Greater Ballymurphy plaque.
The volunteer on the right dates back (at least) to the 1982 poster below; the parade is perhaps based on a picture of Mao’s China?
Information from CAIN on four of the women shown.
Ballymurphy Road, west Belfast
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Copyright © 2004 Cathal Woods
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IRA volunteers Tommy ‘Toddler’ Tolan (in blue), James (Jim) McGrillen and John Stone (seated at table), and Michael Kane (foreground) are pictured in a safe house in Ballymurphy, with plates of sandwiches and a cache of weapons. The women are Annie Adams(?) and Kathleen Moore(?).
Tolan is also depicted at a larger scale on the right of the mural; in the original (2001) version, this figure was dressed in fatigues and carried a rifle (as can be seen in the Peter Moloney Collection), but this was changed within 18 months to a brown suit as shown here (July 2004).
The Springmartin “peace line” can be seen in the gap between the houses.
Update: The large Tolan figure is preserved in the 2014 mural Working Class Heroes and the other five are included anew.
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Copyright © 2004/2010 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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2001 mural to IRA volunteers Jim Bryson and Patrick Mulvenna in Ballymurphy, both holding serious weaponry.
“In memory of [IRA] volunteers Jim Bryson and Patrick Mulvenna. Died on active service 1973”. The pair were killed by undercover British Army soldiers firing from above the Ballymurphy shops (Broken Elbow). Mulvenna died immediately (August 30th), Bryson three days later.
For the plaque, see M01657. Another plaque would later be added to the centre of the mural.
Ballymurphy Road, west Belfast
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Copyright © 2004 Cathal Woods
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Seosamh Mac Coille Collection 