PUL

Buchanan

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“”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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Where Is Our Truth?

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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 Dividing Wall Of Hostility

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This is the Cupar Way “peace” line in 2004. Note that the wall only has two (vertical) parts – a third tier will later be added that almost doubles the height of the barrier. It also has very little art – in 2009 both state-funded agencies and wild-style writers will take to the wall. (See the Visual History page.)

The two pieces that can be seen here show a dove in barbed wire with a quote from Ephesians 2:14 (“For He Himself is our peace who has made the two one and destroyed the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing in His flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His Purpose was to create in Himself one new man out of two, thus making peace and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross by which He put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace … For through Him we both have access to the Father by one spirit.”) and a mural for New Life church, which is in the no-man’s land between the Northumberland street barricades.

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Copyright © 2004 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Our Family Of “Nations”

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The fourteenth and final panel in Thorndyke Street contains a number of small panels, including the two above, along with emblems of local Orange and Black lodges, John McCrae’s In Flanders Fields, a list of acknowledgements, and a copyright claim.

For a list of entries for each panel, see East Belfast Historical And Cultural Society.

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Copyright © 2004 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Britannia

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“The Union flag, or Union Jack, is the national flag of the United Kingdom and it is so called because it embodies the emblems of three countries united under one sovereign – the Kingdoms of England and Wales, of Scotland and of Ireland. The flag consists of three heraldic crosses, those of St Patrick, St George and St Andrew. The Welsh dragon does not appear on the Union flag. This is because when the first Union flag was created in 1606, Wales by that time was already united with England and was no longer a separate principality.”

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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Copyright © 2004 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Hitler Attacks Belfast

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From the info board, added later: In the blitz of 15/16th April 1941, “Across Belfast 745 civilians were killed, 420 were seriously injured and more than 1,000 less seriously. April and May 1941 an estimated 56,000 houses were damaged.”

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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Copyright © 2004 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Defending The Community

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This (ninth) panel shows UDA paramilitaries (the UVF was formed in 1965, the UDA in 1971) standing guard in front of a barricade of sand-bags.

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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Copyright © 2004 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01642 [X00015] [X00016] ulster news people take stand against republican tyranny july 1972 bloody friday 9 killed 130 injured by pira bombs june 1970 2 dead 28 injured people shot like flies by provo gunmen the city is saved civil and religious liberty for all better the grave than slavery their sacrifice our freedom united kingdom ulster to britain hitler attacks belfast unity solidarity their loyalty betrayed out of the ashes new life