City/Town

Ready For War

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Carson inspects the Ulster Volunteers at Glencairn (the grounds are also mentioned in this mural). The date is June 14th, 1914: guns have been smuggled in, but Britain has not yet declared war (August 4th).

The is the middle of three murals concerning unionism at the time of the (third) Home Rule bill and First World War. The first depicts the signing of the Covenant; the third depicts women farmers protecting their lands.

The first also contains a wide shot of all three and the surrounding area.

The photograph on which the mural is based in the Mary Evans collection. See e.g. this copy at the Express.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2004 Cathal Woods
X00074 1st belfast battalion moscow street

Betting Office

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Ulster Day. Sir Edward Carson (WP) signing the covenant (WP). Belfast City Hall, 28th September, 1912.”

This is the first of three panels on this wall that together trace the history of the Ulster Volunteers; see also the second (Carson and the Ulster Volunteers) and third (women defenders while the men fight in Europe).

Below is a shot of the full scene in the courtyard of the Rex bar, two weeks away from the 12th

Moscow Street/Shankill Road, west Belfast

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2004 Cathal Woods
X00049 X00050 1912, lest we forget, 36th ulster division, battle of the boyne, 1st july 1916, ycv, uvf, rex bar est. 1865 moscow street

1914-2004

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Preparing to bear arms 1914 – Prepared to bear arms 2004.” The Ulster Volunteers and the modern UVF are put in parallel.

A wider shot, including the stone memorial to the right of this mural and a banner above, is shown in Fasting For Human Rights And Justice.

Spier’s Place, Shankill, west Belfast

Click to enlarge
Copyright © 2004 Cathal Woods
X00041

90 Years Of Resistance

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“The Peoples Army 1912-2002” showing landmarks in the history of the Ulster Volunteers and UVF:

“1912 – newly formed Shankill Volunteers train at Fernhill Estate, Glencairn”;
“1916 – RIR (West Belfast UVF) go over the top at the Somme”;
“1969 – Volunteers defend Shankill community from republican attack”;
“2002 – At the crossroads?” with PUP leader David Ervine pictured holding a copy of the Good Friday Agreement.

Canmore Street, Shankill, west Belfast

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2004 Cathal Woods
X00045 eire united kingdom war peace

Buchanan

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“”My Ulster blood is my most priceless heritage …” – James Buchanan 15th US president 1857-1861″. This is the first of the murals in the “From pioneers to presidents” series to be painted in Belfast, depicting James Buchanan. Three murals had already been painted in Londonderry, to Theodore Roosevelt, James Buchanan (which contains more information about Buchanan and his heritage), and George Washington.

The words along the bottom read, “250,000 Ulster Scots emigrated to America in the 1700s and were the driving force behind the American Revolution.”

The small plaque to the right reads, “Shankill Ulster-Scots Cultural Society. The Buchanan Mural. This mural was dedicated to the memory of those early Ulster-Scots emigrants by Ms Jane Benton Fort, US Consul General, on Thursday November 4th, 1999. Sae monie hairts gaed far frae hame – bot ilka yin oor ain fowk [So many hearts went far from home – but every one [is/remains] our own folk]. This project was funded by Belfast City Council and Making Belfast Work.”

See the Visual History page on Ulster-Scots Murals.

Ainsworth Street, Woodvale, west Belfast

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2004 Cathal Woods
X00054 X00086

Where Is Our Truth?

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“30 years of indiscriminate slaughter by so-called non-sectarian Irish freedom fighters. No military targets! No economic targets! No legitimate targets! Where are our inquiries? Where is our truth? Where is our justice?”

?2003? mural of bombings on the Shankill. The central panel reproduces a BelTel photograph of the Balmoral furniture showroom bombing, 11 December 1971. The others are the Mountainview Tavern, Frizzell’s fishmongers (shown in the detail, above), the Bayardo Bar, and the Four Step Inn.

Bellevue Street, Shankill, west Belfast

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2004 Cathal Woods
X00090 X00076 Fourstep Inn bombed Sept 29th 1971 2 innocents killed, Balmoral Showrooms bombed Dec 11th 1971 2 adults and 2 babies killed, Mountainview Tavern bombed April 5th 1975 5 innocents killed, Bayardo Bar bombed Aug 13th 1975 5 innocents killed, Frizzell’s fish shop bombed Oct 23rd 1993 9 innocents killed

H-Block Martyrs

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The large board on the left commemorates the 10 dead hunger strikers (WP) and two blanketmen. “No greater love” echoes John 15:13.

There are also two smaller boards on the right: first, “Same old mural, same old force” with the three-in-one figure of RUC, Orange Order, and loyalist paramilitary under a traffic “No” symbol; second, an interesting board alleging collusion between the RUC and the UDA and UVF in north and east Belfast.

Oldpark Road, north Belfast

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2004 Cathal Woods
X00063 h-block martyrs 1981

Lady In Red

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Volunteers in Cumann Na mBan (or youth wing Cumann Na gCaılíní) from Ballymurphy and Springhill are remembered in a 2002 mural in Ballymurphy.

Anti-clockwise, they are Maura Meehan, Anne Marie Pettigrew, Dorothy Maguire, Eileen Mackin, Catherine (Cathy) McGartland, Anne Parker. All but Mackin are included in the Greater Ballymurphy plaque.

The volunteer on the right dates back (at least) to the 1982 poster below; the parade is perhaps based on a picture of Mao’s China?

Information from CAIN on four of the women shown.

Ballymurphy Road, west Belfast

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2004 Cathal Woods
X00065

1982 IntWomensDay