City/Town

Better The Grave Than Slavery

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“How is freedom measured? By the effort which it costs to retain freedom!” (See also How Is Freedom Measured? and Deserted! Well – I Can Stand Alone.) This anti-Home Rule mural is the fifth of fourteen panels in Thorndyke Street, east Belfast. The “Ulster Unionist Convention” is connected to the Ulster Defence Union. The mural copies a WWI propaganda postcard.

One of fourteen panels in Thorndyke Street, east Belfast. For a list of entries for each panel, see East Belfast Historical And Cultural Society.

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Copyright © 2004 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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To Hell Or Connaught

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Dan Winter, along with James Wilson and James Sloan, founded the Orange Institution in Loughgall in 1796 in response to sectarian tensions over land. After a decisive victory by the Protestant ‘Peep O’ Day Boys’ over the Catholic ‘Defenders’, the Order was founded and Catholics driven out with the threat ‘to hell or to Connaught’.

One of fourteen panels in Thorndyke Street, east Belfast. For a list of entries for each panel, see East Belfast Historical And Cultural Society.

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Copyright © 2004 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The City Is Saved

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Derry city was saved from its siege by the Mountjoy “breaking the boom” that had been laid across the river Foyle. James II’s siege had lasted from April to July, 1689. King William III is in the insert.

One of fourteen panels in Thorndyke Street, east Belfast. For a list of entries for each panel, see East Belfast Historical And Cultural Society.

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Copyright © 2004 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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East Belfast Historical And Cultural Society

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In 2004 the East Belfast Historical And Cultural Society sponsored a series of 14 murals in Thorndyke Street charting Protestant history from Cromwell to Cluan Place.

This entry contains two wide shots. Individual panels, from left to right, can be seen in the following entries: (M includes the info plaques that were added later)

  • Covenant M
  • Lord Protector M | X
  • The City Is Saved M | X
  • Civil & Religious Liberty M | X
  • Better The Grave Than Slavery M | X
  • Their Sacrifice Our Freedom M | X
  • United Kingdom M | X
  • Hitler Attacks Belfast M | X
  • Defending The Community M | X
  • Unity Solidarity M | X
  • Their Loyalty Betrayed M | X
  • Out Of The Ashes New Life M | X
  • Britannia M | X
  • Commonwealth/Sponsors M | X

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Copyright © 2004 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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History Is Written By The Winner

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The mask of “revisionism” is lifted from the “truth” of “Irish history”. The quote is here attributed to Miriam Daly of the IRSP (web), but it or something like it has been attributed to Napoleon, Göring, and Churchill.

The mural was originally painted “Aug ’96” by Ciaran McKernan, Brian O’Loan, and Miriam’s son Donal Daly. (An in-progress shot can be found on Sean Patrick Allen’s Facebook page.) The mural is now in poor condition owing to all the graffiti along the bottom.

Oakman Street, Beechmount, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2003 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Robert Emmet

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“Emmet to hang!” The launch of a new 200th-anniversary Robert Emmet board in Ard Eoın/Ardoyne (“Comóradh Ard Eoın – Roıbeard Emmet 1803-2003”) included a re-enactment of Emmet’s execution on 20th September, 1803, for his role as the leader of the 1803 rising of the United Irishmen (WP). The words along the bottom of the board – “Let no man write my epitaph until my country takes her place among the nations of the world” – come from Emmet’s Speech From The Dock, given after the ‘guilty’ verdict was announced.

In the medallions in the corners are (clockwise) three United Irish republicans Michael Dwyer, (cousin) Anne Devlin and Thomas Russell, and Emmet’s fiancée Sarah Curran.

A mural to Emmet was one of the very few CNR mural painted before the Troubles, in 1953 for the sesquicentennial – see Visual History 02.

Havana Way, Ard Eoın/Ardoyne, north Belfast

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Copyright © 2003 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02969 X02968 X00004 michael dwyer anne devlin sarah curran thomas russell comóradh ard eoın roıbeard emmet 1803-2003