More vintage graffiti, this time in Derry, dating back at least to 2001. It might come from 2001: after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and its implementation, the IRA moved toward decommissioning its weapons, beginning to do so in October 2001.
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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02868 racecourse rd
Michael “Mickey” (though here “Micky”) Devine was red-headed and was a founder member of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) in his native Derry (The Plough & The Stars) and also of the INLA (IRSP Derry). The mural on the gable shown above includes the socialist symbols of the red star and the plough, great bear (ursa major), or “big dipper” shining over the towers of Long Kesh, where Devine died on the 21st of August, 1981, after 60 days on hunger strike, the tenth and final striker to die.
The writing that can be seen faintly in the lower third (from a previous version of the mural) reads “They have served their British masters, the poor pathetic fools. They think that inhumanity and cruelty can break us. Haven’t they learnt anything? It strengthens us, it drives us on, for then more than ever we know that our cause is just. INLA Vol. Micky Devine, Long Kesh 1981”
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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02856 shantallow derry
Mural in Derry commemorating members of Na Fıanna Éıreann, the youth wing of the IRA. The names are listed in the order of death, from earliest to latest, beginning with fifteen-year-old Gerald McAuley who was shot dead in Clonard (Belfast) in 1969, and ending with John Dempsey shot on the Falls Road (Belfast) in 1981.
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X02870 michael sloan eamonn mccormick gerard donaghey david mcauley sean oriordan michael magee joseph campbell john dougal tobias molloy joseph comiskey bernard fox sean hughes michael marley neal mccrory robert allsop james templeton kevin mccauley james o’neill paul mcwilliams brıogaid dhoıre 1909-2009 oglaıgh na héıreann fuaır sıad bás ar son saoırse na héıreann sunburst ógra shınn féın
Two republican boards at the Eastway roundabout on the eastern side of Creggan estate. The upper board shows an IRA volunteer with RPG-luancher – “Welcome to Creggan. Watch your back on the way out.” – the other is an IRPWA board urging people to speak out against internment of republicans in Maghaberry, Portlaoise, and Hydebank.
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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02860 irish republican prisoners welfare association
19 year-old Provisional IRA volunteer Eamonn Lafferty was killed on August 18th, 1971, in a gun-battle with British Army forces who were attempting to dismantle barricades in republican “Free Derry”. The mural and plaque shown (and a headstone) are situated—as the mural states—in the location where he was killed, in Creggan’s Kildrum area. (His body is buried in City Cemetery.)
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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02863 killed on active service at this spot on by crown forces whilst defending his community was just 19 years old fuaır sé bás ar son na héıreann derry brigade óglaıgh na héıreann beırıgí bua song in Lafferty’s honourimages from Lafferty’s funeral commanding officer 1st battalion
Partially torn-off ‘Smash Internment’ sticker in Derry.
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X02836 street?
“You are the future” is the message from Long Tower Youth & Community Centre (Fb) to young people in the Brandywell. Sporting heroes of the past, especially boxing and soccer (for a mural of local clubs, see I Don’t Like Mondays) are featured in black and white. (Derry Journal article on the mural and its sponsors.)
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X02842 lecky rd serving the community since 1943 2014 derry londonderry dove oak leaf spider kelly tommy mccann george mccann johnny campbell joe healy liam coyle eddie crossan frankie campbell Tony o’doherty jim mcloughlin jobby crossan fay coyle lisa toland anne lyttle jim leland jimmy lyttle st columba’s lumen cristi college
The Provisional IRA emerged from a split in the IRA in the wake of sectarian unrest in 1969. The Derry battalion became the Derry Brigade (An Brıogáıd Dhoıre) in 1972 when the number of people wishing to become volunteers swelled in the aftermath of Bloody Sunday. It is estimated that 1,000 Derry Catholics (2% of the population) were imprisoned for IRA activities in the 70s and 80s. (WP) The image above shows a mural with Cú Chulaınn, an oak leaf with crossed rifles, and a lily. In the centre is a board commemorating volunteers from the 1st battalion — an identical board can be found on Westland Street; see Spirit Of Freedom – and below are a commemorative standing stone and dolmen a short distance away.
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X02834 X02827 X02812 lecky rd irish republican army óglaıgh na héıreann lafferty donaghey keenan starrs mcgillen carr mcdaid moyne heaney coyle harkin duffy quigley english mcsheffrey mcfadden unbowed and unbroken erected in memory of the fallen in ireland about 3000 BC it is believed that they were erected to honour an esteemed chieftain or warrior tógadh an leacht cuımhneacháın ın ónóır agus ı gcuımhne ar chéad chathlán bhrıogáıd dhoıre óglaıgh na héıreann tugtar ómós do mhısneach saoırse poblachta
A vintage small board dating back to 1995, still visible in Abercorn Street, Derry.
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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02843
On Saturday mornings Brandywell Celtic play in the premier division of the Northwest league, while on Sunday mornings Brandywell Harps and Ballymoor FC play in the Senior league. Brandywell Swifts played in the Astroleague. Also included are the Oakleaf Amateur Boxing Club (Fb) and the Long Tower Judo Club.
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X02831 Derry dove peace oak leaf
Seosamh Mac Coille Collection 