City/Town

He Sowed That We Might Reap

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02871 2015-08-26 SeanDolanSociety+

The Derry branch of the 1916 Societies (Fb) is named after Sean Dolan, an IRA volunteer interned at the outbreak of WWII on the prison ship Al Rawdah (WP | saoırse32) before being moved to Crumlin Road gaol. He was released on grounds of ill health shortly before dying in 1941 at age 28 in Derry. The title of today’s post comes from Dolan’s gravestone, which is in Ardmore (findagrave).

It was the 1916 Societies that hoisted an Irish tricolour from the roof of Stormont in June 2015 (BBC).

The wide shot below shows the 1916 board next to a Fıanna roll of honour and an IRSP O’Hara-McCreesh hunger-strikers memorial (see Socialist Volunteers).

02869 2015-08-26 RacecourseRdWide+

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X02871 X02869 racecourse rd derry

McMonagle

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02864 2015-08-26 LeafairPkMcMonagle+

This painted board (shown above) to INLA volunteer Neil McMonagle is in Leafair Park, Derry, close to the spot where McMonagle, aged 23, along with friend Liam Duffy, were shot by undercover British soldiers (specifically Sergeant Paul Oram of 14 Intelligence Company (WP)) on February 2, 1983. McMonagle died instantly while Duffy was wounded but survived. The official account alleged that both McMonagle and Duffy were armed; locals deny this. For an account of the killing and a tribute, see these obituaries from republican publications in 1983.

The board shows an armed McMonagle behind a stone wall with a Plough In The Stars flag with a blue background, with the view towards Buncrana (perhaps).

“Vol Neil McMonagle, Derry Brigade INLA. Killed in action 2nd February 1983. “They may kill the revolutionary but never the revolution.””

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Waked & Buried

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02855 2015-08-26 DevineRathkeele+

“In proud and loving memory of Óglach Mickey Devine. Died 20th August 1981 in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh after 60 days on hunger-strike. Mickey was waked and buried from this house [in Rathkeele Way, Derry], the family home of his sister Margaret. Also died 30th March 2005.” For an image of the open coffin within the house, see this An Phoblacht article. Here is a Guardian interview with Margaret (Devine) McCauley.

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X02855 INLA final last tenth hunger striker

Keep Your Eyes On The Road

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02859 2015-08-26 GlendermottEyes+

Above is a piece from the Release The Pressure (Fb) streetart festival in London-/Derry in July, one side full of technicolour eyes by Vyal One (web | Instagram) and the other with swirls by ArtByEoin (web | Fb). If you know who the artist was, please comment or e-mail; there doesn’t seem to be much info on-line about this piece.

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X02859 glendermott st

Red Mick

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02856 2015-08-26 DevineShantallow+

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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X02856 shantallow derry

Roll Of Honour

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02870 2015-08-26 RollOfHonour2009+

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

Waterside, Cityside, Quayside

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02872 2015-08-26 SperrinPkFilm+

The Peace Bridge is shown spanning the Foyle between (the former) Ebrington barracks and the Guildhall, with a film-strip of images, many depicting naval and military scenes, above and below. The detail below shows a gap in the walls of Derry, a poster encouraging people to “Join the Wrens [and free a man for the fleet]” (the Women’s Royal Naval Service; see the poster at IWM), soldiers playing ping-pong in their barracks, and the ship’s bell of the HMS Londonderry (which served as a training ship during the Falkland War (WP)).

02873 2015-08-26 SperrinPkFilmDetail+

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X02872 X02873 project funded reimaging communities programme supported by shared communities consortium lottery housing executive social development first minister deputy international fund for ireland derry londonderry doire

External & Internal

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02862 2015-08-26 KildrumWide+

Two images of graffiti in the Kildrum area of Derry. The first (above) sends messages to outsiders (or at least, directed at external pressures) — “Tıocfaıdh ár lá”, “End British Internment”, “Victory to the POWs”, and “RUC not welcome in Foylehill” — while the second, which is in a more secluded spot, contains many for internal audiences — “Drugs out”, “Bring back RAAD” (Republican Action Against Drugs | WP), “Kill Hoods”, “SF scum”, “Not a bullet, not an ounce” (a comment on IRA disarmament), as well as “Free Gaza!!” and “Israel scum”.

02861 2015-08-26 KildrumGraffiti+

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