The famous “Eddie the Trooper” figure, previously seen marching over a field strewn with bodies in green and gold, is now on horseback in the Fountain area of Londonderry. For background, including the connection to Iron Maiden, see The Trooper and the Visual History page on Eddie.
“If stones could speake then London’s prayse should sounde who built this church and cittie from the grounde.” Above is the dedication stone for St. Columb’s Anglican church in Derry and within that is a smaller stone “said to have come from Derry’s mediaeval cathedral” (colmcille.org) which reads “In templo verus deus est vereq[ue] colendus” – In the temple is the true God and truly deserving to be worshipped.
“Ano do 1633” [Anno Domini – In the year of our Lord, 1633], “Car Regis” 9 [Caroli regis – in the ninth year of the reign of King Charles], Vaughan Aed [Vaughan aedificavit – built by Sir John Vaughan, Governor of the City of Londonderry; the builder was in fact William Parrott. Construction began in 1628 and was completed in 1633, at a cost of 4,000 pounds.]
The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (amwu.org.au) sponsored the mural above in Conway Street, west Belfast.
The painted plaque on the left reads, “Casement Memorial. In proud memory of the 10 Republican prisoners who died on hunger strike in “H” blocks of Long Kesh in 1981. “It is not those who can inflict the most but those who can endure the most who will conquer.” Terence McSwiney. Unveiled by Martin McGuinness, Sınn Féın MP MLA Minister for Education Wednesday 6/12/2000. Donated by AMWU, Craig Johnston State Secretary”. The plaque itself is in Carlton, Australia, named (presumably) for Roger Casement.
Secretary Johnston is on the left in the back. The flag to the right is the flag of the Eureka Stockade.
Mural celebrating the old Tiger’s Bay First Flute marching band, established 1983. The mural is in the style of the UDA’s insignia; of late a UDA power-struggle has been taking place in the area – see Split.
In the background is a board showing the Union flag, the Ulster banner, and St. Andrew’s saltire (the latter pair are also featured in the lower corners of the mural), which in June replaced a ‘Mother – Daughter – Sister’ board celebrating women and designed by children from the local Mountcollyer Youth Club.
“Every turn of the wheel is a revolution”. This streetart by KVLR is outside The John Hewitt (pub) in the city centre. The John Hewitt was set up in 1999 by Belfast Unemployed Resource Centre (BURC | Belfast Media) and the mural was painted in 2000 (Turkington). This makes it one of the earliest pieces of street art in Belfast, if not the earliest. See Visual History 11 – The Rise Of Street Art.
Community and anti-bullying board at the junction of Hallidays Road and the Limestone Road welcoming people to Tiger’s Bay. You can see two images of the boards in progress on the Dean Clarke Foundation’s Fb page. The foundation is also involved in the community garden which can be seen in a previous post on a H&W workers mural and which sits across from the b&w Belfast Blitz mural.
2014 is the tenth anniversary of the fire in the North Street Arcade (2004-04-17). The image above, which is one and a half storeys tall, is part of a recent (June) work by Matt Sewell (Twitter | Web | Fb). His work is at the Donegall Street end of the arcade; Andy Council’s Belfast Phoenix is at the other end; see that entry for more about the fire.