A nautical-themed mural in Short Street providing a “Welcome to Sailortown”, including a speedy seahorse, a lobster, and a hammerhead shark. The mural was sponsored by the Community Arts Project and painted last (2016) summer by residents led by artists from Seedhead Arts (report from Clanmil Housing). Here is video of (former) residents describing life in the area (from @AndrewJMolloy).
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Saoradh (Fb) tarp in Ardoyne with scenes of protest, including a placard reading “Sinn Fein, SDLP, Catholic church silence”. The tarp is next to the plaque for IRA volunteer Larry Marley (shown below), whose protracted funeral meant scenes from Ardoyne being broadcast worldwide.
Previously with the same slogan: Falls Curfew (“oppression breeds resistance, resistance brings freedom”) and Gaza-Ireland solidarity.
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X04121 X04122 assassinated in his home at havana gardens by loyalists in collusion with british crown forces on the 2nd april 1987
Two final pieces from the #ae17 election campaign. Above, a somewhat menacing crocodile waits impatiently for an Irish-language act: “Meas do chách – Acht na Gaeılge anoıs!” (“Respect for all – Irish language act now!”) The white circle on red is the logo of An Dream Dearg, an Irish-language campaign (Irish News); the crocodile stems from DUP leader Arlene Foster’s response to Sınn Féın demands for an Act, when she said “If you feed a crocodile, they’re going to keep coming back and looking for more.” (BBC-NI | video at RTÉ) She later said she regretted the remarks as they allowed her to be demonised during the campaign (BelTel).
Below, Saoradh’s plea that “A vote for Stormont equals a vote for British rule – Don’t vote! Reject the quislings and Brit collaborators.” (See also: Stormont Must Go)
Previously: Previously from the 2017 Assembly Elections: Tapaıgh An Deıs | End The Age Of the Dinosaurs | Keep Belfast Clean | Hard Border | The Burning Issue
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Three more panels from the Glen Molloy gallery on Corporation St: Shaun (of Shaun Of The Dead, played by Simon Pegg), Dom Cobb (from Inception, played by Leonardo DiCaprio), and David Bowie.
Previously: Jack Nicholson in God Of Madness | Billy Casper from Kes.
Shaun replaces DMC’s Three Missed Calls, below.
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“The Belfast Scottish Association was founded in 1888 and headed by prominent businessmen, including Sir George Clark of Workman Clark and Andrew Gibson (pictured) whose Robert Burns collection is now housed in the Linenhall Library.”
This is the final entry in a series from discoverulsterscots.com about York Street businesses and Ulster Scots businessmen: Shipbuilding | London, Midland and Scottish | Workman Clark’s | Belfast Goods
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Among the Belfast goods “exported around the world from York Street by rail and sea” were Gallaher’s Blues (cigarettes), Irish linens, Davidson & Co (Samuel Davidson, born in County Down to an Ulster-Scots family, was the inventor of the Sirocco centrifugal fan “for mine ventilation, dust removal, induced draft, forge fires”), and linen carpet thread from York Street (Threads) Ltd. Robinson & Cleaver’s department store is now out of business. Gallaher’s is now the multinational Gallaher Group, but its factories in Belfast and Ballymena have closed. And Davidson’s company was bought by Howden UK in 1988.
Previously in the series: Shipbuilding | London, Midland and Scottish | Workman Clark’s
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Workman & Clark’s (in the centre panel above) was a Belfast shipyard existing from 1880 to 1935. During the first world war it took over the construction of two monitor ships (specifically, M29 and M31) for the Royal Navy that H&W did not have space to build. For more, see Grace’s Guide | BBC audio on monitor ships and their construction, including a record for number of rivets hammered in by one John Moore at Workman Clark’s.
These are panels 6, 7, and 8 from the new boards along York Street on the outer wall of the NI Railways mechanical engineering workshop.
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In addition to the famous trans-Atlantic ships (image above), Belfast was part of the travel network in the UK and Ireland (image below). Before there was British Railways, there were the Big 4: the Southern, Great Western, London and Northeastern, and London, Midland, and Scottish (LMS) railways. The latter included the railways in the Northern Counties. In addition to railways, the company owned canals, ships (including the Princess Victoria which sank on the Larne-Stranraer route), and hotels. “Belfast-built liners bridged the Atlantic and took people all over the world.” “Railway-owned ships ensured a seamless journey throughout the British Isles.”
Previously:The history of Shipbuilding in Belfast.
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A history of shipbuilding and its role in Belfast’s industrial life is told in the first five panels of a 13-panel installation along York Road (“The harbour made York Street Belfast’s global gateway”) and in particular its connection with Scotland. (It is sponsored by Discover Ulster Scots.) Two Scots, William Ritchie (whose 1802 portrait by Thomas Robinson is shown) and Charles Connell (who oversaw the construction of the first wooden steamboat in Belfast – Aurora, pictured below) along with another Scot, Alexander MacLaine, were the leading shipbuilders in Belfast from 1791 until the 1860s, when Englishman Edward Harland (soon joined by German Gustav Wolff, and then in 1874 by William Pirrie and Wilson brothers Walter and Alexander) took over the rival Hickson yard (which included land on Queen’s Island and on the south side of the Lagan) and became dominant. Their connection to York Street is that all of them except Pirrie lived on or near York Street.
For potted histories (and a larger picture of Aurora) see LibraryIreland and Ulster-Scots.com.
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In addition to many paintings in a distinctive style, Belfast artist John Luke’s (one | two) work included a few murals, most famously an image of Belfast’s Charter painted in the City Hall. He lends his name to the gallery in north Belfast’s Arts For All centre which is now fronted by a mural in his style.
For the undead in the windows of the taxi office, see Haunted.
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Seosamh Mac Coille Collection 