éırígí stencil-on-boards on Northumberland St. & Divis St. in sharp contrast to the advertising hoardings above.
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Copyright © 2012 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X00749 130,000 out of work, 1 in 5 children live in poverty, stormont isn’t working!!
An Irish-language board outside Ladbrokes on the Falls Road/Shiels Street: “Lig do chroí chun rásai” – let your heart go to the races/let your heart race.
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Copyright © 2012 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X00747
Fernhill House, which features in various loyalist murals/boards, in its present state. In 1996 it was opened as a museum, but has since been shuttered and is gradually falling into disrepair. The house is located off the modern-day Ballygomartin Road, in Glencairn Park.
Info boards below …
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Copyright © 2012 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X00743 X00741 X00742 Glencairn was the former home of the Cunningham family, whose estate in north west belfast covered over 100 acres of land in the shadow of divis mountain the cunninghams were of scottish descent their forbear thomas left scotland during the troubles of 16?? and settled in the parish of killead co. antrim the family was involved in the west indian trade and barber cunningham a great-grandson established himself as a tobacco manufacturer and importer in belfast barber’s son josias 1819-1895 founded the stockbroking firm of & co in 1843 in 1856 josias purchased 50 acres of land at ballygomartin and named it glencairn after the family’s ancestral home in scotland the following year he purchased a large mansion called house at its height the estate contained three imposing houses glendivis each was known for its distinctive features for its manicured lawns and wrought iron fence for its rolling pastures and stables and for its lawn tennis courts today on remains this elegant victorian villa was built around 184 by john smith a wealthy belfast butter merchant the architect is unknown but the perfect symmetry of its front and the general restraint of its lines epitomise the classical style of architecture the house symbolises a period in belfast’s history when the growing wealth and social aspirations of its middle class merchants led them to build fine homes on the outskirts of the city. were prominent unionists the ulster volunteer force paraded in the estate in 1914 and stored guns and ammunition in the stable yard beside they were well known throughout the shankill district for their work in politics the orange order the church and in education as well as for their social work during both world wars. when the three estate houses were at their peak the family employed as many as 90 local people in positions ranging from gamekeepers and grooms to household staff and drivers lived on until 1962 when the property was acquired by the corporation it has since be re-opened as a public park today visitors can wander through its 70 acres of impressive landscaped parklands and enjoy its extensive lawns and mature trees set against the backdrop of divis mountain welcome center organised walks and tours
Glenard-Glenbryn “peace line”/”war wall” on Alliance Avenue, north Belfast.
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Copyright © 2012 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X00744
A loyalist stencil on Hallidays Road in Tiger’s Bay, north Belfast, flying next to a Northern Ireland flag.
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Copyright © 2012 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X00746
For the 40th anniversary, a painted shopfront and plaques to the victims of the McGurk’s Bar Bombing were added last December (2011) to the Celtic Cross and plaque already at the site. The text on the info board to the right is ad follows: “At 8.48 pm on Saturday 4th December 1971, a no-warning bomb, planted by British terrorists, exploded on the doorstep of family-run McGurk’s Bar. Fifteen innocent men, women and children perished. Those who were not crushed or slowly asphyxiated by masonry where [sic] horrifically burned to death when shattered gas mains burst into flames beneath the rubble. Nearly the same again were dragged from the debris alive. In the aftermath of the atrocity, the British and Unionist Governments, RUC police force and British military disseminated disinformation that the bomb was in-transit and that the innocent civilians were guilty by association, if not complicit in this act of terrorism. This is despite a mountain of forensic evidence and a witness who saw the bomb being planted and lit before watching the British terrorists escape into the night. From the moment the bomb exploded, and for 40 years since, the families and friends of those murdered have campaigned constitutionally and with great dignity to clear the names of their loved ones. It is a Campaign for Truth that continues to this day. Join us at www.themcgurksbar.com.”
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Copyright © 2012 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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A plaque in the old Shankill graveyard. “Watch-House: This wall once formed part of a small building known as the “Watch-House” which was erected about the year 1830 by Mr. William Sayers and Mr. Israel Milliken, following the Burke and Hare sensation in Edinburgh. In it, relatives of the newly-buried kept watch to protect their dead from the unwelcome attention of body-snatchers who disinterred corpes [corpses] and sold them for medical research, or in the hope of securing articles of value which might have been buried with them.”
Wider scene below …
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Copyright © 2012 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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A mural commemorating the Battle of the Somme on the locally-named “Passchendaele Court” (a.k.a. Conway Walk, off Conway St.). See also Thiepval Street. Replaces the Tombo Kinner mural. With support from the Govan Somme Association, Grapes Bar, Glasgow.
The images below of the previous mural blacked out are from September, 2011. For the mural in its prime, see M05506.
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Copyright © 2011 Extramural Activity
X00738 X05199 govan somme association grapes bar glasgow 1914 1918 1916 1st shankill 36th ulster division
Biographical plaques have been added to the Covenant board on N Howard St (Argyle Centre).
For a straight-on shot of the board, without plaques, see We Perish If We Yield.
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Copyright © 2012 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X00737 N Howard St
All of these images are of different parts of the Somme memorial next to the Shankill graveyard. There is an opening in the graveyard boundary wall which leads into the Somme memorial garden. The Mountainview Tavern, which featured several times during the troubles, can be seen behind the memorial, as well as the spire of St. Matthew’s Church.
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Copyright © 2012 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X00716 X00725 X00717 X00718 1st shankill somme 36th ulster division this memorial was erected by the office bearers and members of the 1st shankill somme association it is dedicated in solemn but glorious memory to those brave and gallant men from the greater shankill who served with the 36th (ulster) division and were immortalised on the fields of france and flanders during the great war 1914-1918, lest we forget, 1st july 1916, it stands also as a tribute to the men and women of the greater shankill, who in the many conflicts which followed the great war, fought with courage and defiance for crown and country and made the ultimate sacrifice ‘at the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them;
oh you who sleep in flanders fields sleep sweet to rise anew we caught the torch you threw and holding high we keep the faith with all who died, we cherish too the poppy red that grows on fields were valour led, it seems to signal to the skies that blood of heroes never dies but lends a lustre to the red of the flower that blooms above the dead in flanders fields, and now the torch and poppy red we wear in honour of our dead fear not that ye have died for naught we’ll teach the lesson that ye wrought in flanders fields carson inspects local volunteers at fernhill house glencairn 36th ulster division, ulster volunteer force, the 2nd west belfast battalion
Seosamh Mac Coille Collection 