City/Town

Ireland Supports Palestinian Resistance

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A rally at Free Derry Corner took place on Tuesday evening to express solidarity with the Palestinians (Derry Now). The wall has been decorated with support for Palestinians. On the left a boy in a tricoloured t-shirt waves a Palestinian flag although at his feet are the words of Bobby Sands: “Our revenge will be the laughter of our children”. On the right, a lark in barbed wire (symbol of political prisoners) sports the colours of Palestine, above “RSYM” [Republican Socialist Youth Movement (Fb)]. The text in the centre draws an analogy between Palestine and Ukraine: “Ukraine vs Russia = Self-defense. Palestine vs. Israel = Terrorism??”

More solidarity rallies are planned in towns around Ireland throughout the week (IPSC) including a white-line picket in Derry on Saturday.

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Royal Visits To Carrickfergus

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William was granted the peerage “baron Carrickfergus” as a wedding present in 2011, which made Catherine/Kate baroness (WP). They visited the town in 2022 (BBC). The black-and-white photograph on the left is of Queen Elizabeth visiting in 1961 (youtube).

Replaces the kids mural We Are Friends in Hawthorn Avenue, Carrickfergus.

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Love, Marriage, And Country

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This Castlemara, Carrickfergus, board is notable for its background, which follows that of old coronation and jubilee portraits. These would show the royal couple (and sometimes immediate family) in plush surroundings and standing in front of chairs. This style of composition has been seen in murals of George V’s jubilee in 1935 and George VI’s coronation in 1937 — see Visual History 01. In this board, however, Philip and Elizabeth are portrayed in old age and are not in coronation gear; the chairs shown are from the Throne Room in Buckingham Palace.

Also notable is that the board replaces a UDA mural – see Joint Manoeuvres. The other UDA mural in the estate — Carrickfergus Eddie — has also been replaced.

For the UVF/YCV gunmen in the background of the wide shot, see Out Of The Trenches.

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Castlemara Celebrates

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Castlemara residents’ various emotions are on display at the entrace to the estates: celebrating the jubilee of Elizabeth II, the coronation of Charles III, the creation of Northern Ireland in 1921, and Rangers’ 55th league title; saluting Tom Moore; commemorating Prince Philip, 1921-2021; and remembering with gratitude the “100th anniversary of the Battle Of The Somme”: “We must not forget what they gave so we may live. Let not their deaths be in vain. Lest we forget.”

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Kragfargus Cultural Corner

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This is the second (at least) iteration of an installation along Taylor’s Avenue, Carrickfergus, showcasing the Ulster-Scots heritage of Carrickfergus and its later contributions to the United Kingdom.

The wall is 60 metres/200 feet in length and can be divided into about ten distinct panels – notes on the different panels are given below, following the order of presentation of images, which show the entire wall moving from left to right.

The original, as seen on Street View, included boards showing the Pretani Isles/British Isles, QEII, and Tom Moore. As seen here, there are now boards to King Charles III, a vintage postage stamp, ‘The Siege Of Carrickfergus’ in 1689, and ‘The Barn Mills Fallen’ of WWI.

Fair Fa’ Ye (or “fair faa ye”) is an (Ulster-)Scots blessing, “fair fall you”, meaning roughly “good luck” (Bloggin Fae The ‘Burn | r/scots | Nelson McCausland).

The stained-glass is called the Dalaradia Window. For images and explanation, see Picts Exiled From Alba.

For Dalaradia, see Kingdom Of The Pretani and the Visual History page on Cú Chulaınn.

James Orr, the ‘Bard Of Ballycarry’, was a contemporary of Robert Burns and a United Irishman. It does not appear that he wrote a poem with the line “I wish I was in Carrickfergus”.

Daniel Cambridge won his VC for service in the Crimean War (WP) and James Crichton for service in WWI (WP).

CarrickfergusHistory includes “the oldest know map of Carrickfergus” from 1560, employing the spelling “Kragfargus”.

The 2/6 postage stamp featuring Carrickfergus Castle was one of four in a “Castle series” in 1955 (WP).

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The Zombie-Slayer

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This Castlemara, Carrickfergus, board is not remarkable so much for what it depicts — the new prince and princess of Wales, “baron & baroness of [sic] Carrickfergus” — but for what it replaces, namely, the Carrickfergus Eddie, which had been in place since (at least) 2000 — see Show No Mercy.

This means that there are no large murals of Eddie remaining; there are only some smaller versions of Eddie of boards or tarps. Eddie has his own Visual History page.

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We Are At War

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On Saturday morning at about 6:30 local time, Hamas launched thousands of rockets against Israeli targets and then followed this up by breaking out of Gaza by land, air, and sea, and attacking two-dozen or more locations, killing about 700 (including 270 at a music festival near Re’im) and abducting about 100 people. In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu declared, “We are at war” and retaliatory air-strikes against Gaza killed more than 400 people. (WP | BBC | France 24 | WaPo)

Gael Force Art took to Slıabh Dubh (Visual History) to place a large Palestinian flag on the mountain (seen in The United Nations and UN 194), and posted a statement in support of the Palestinians on Facebook.

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How Many Loved Your Moments Of Glad Grace

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W. B. Yeats’s poem When You Are Old is generally understood to be directed at Maud Gonne, who was born on this day in 1866. Yeats met the actress and activist in 1899, fell in love with her, and proposed marriage four times in the years to follow, each time being rejected. It is as Yeats’s muse — and not for her mysticism or anti-Semitism or Irish nationalism — that she is the subject of this mural in Union Street, Sligo, painted by artist Nick Purdy of Blowdesigns (Fb) in 2018.

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