City/Town – Page 71 – Seosamh Mac Coille Collection

Andrew Cairns

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Andrew Cairns of the UVF was chased and beaten by about a dozen people before being killed by a single shot to the head (BBC). The killing took place next to the burning Boyne Square bonfire and the memorial (shown below) is on the other side of the bonfire site. Sutton attributes the killing to the UDA (Sutton); the Sunday Mirror reported that the killer was rejected by the UDA and was a member of the LVF (Free Library); see also BelTel | Guardian. One of the accused (Irish Times) was later UDA South East Antrim chief (BelTel).

Cairns was included in an old UVF mural, also in Wellington Green.

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It’s A Long Way To Tullygarley

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The previous Tullygarley mural on this wall included images of the local area in addition to the emblem of the 36th Division and the Clyde Valley but the new one is devoted solely to the years 1912-1918. On the left is the Ulster Covenant and the Clyde Valley, then an image of Drumalis House, Larne, which was a training ground for the Ulster Volunteers (see silent film from 1914 at BFI and photo of Carson presenting colours at Drumalis) and the base from which the gunrunning was staged, along with Carson acknowledging the troops at Glencairn (in Belfast). In the third image, the 36th (Ulster) Division goes over the top and sits in trenches. Finally, there is a ‘Local Area Roll of Honour’ listing 60 locals who died in WWI.

The odd-man-out image – of paint peeling to reveal a red hand – shows the re-emergence of a mural from 1999 on the side wall.

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Stop Sign

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The fourth condition (‘Good Relations’) for funding for bonfires under Mid and East Antrim council’s ‘Cultural Celebrations’ grant scheme asks organisers to discourage “the flying of flags or emblems or the burning of election posters at [the] bonfire site” (MidAndEastAntrim.gov.uk). The Sunylands/Woodburn (Carrickfergus) bonfire shown in today’s post – the images are from July 11th – lacked either funding or sufficient discouragement, as there are six Tricolours flying and ten Sinn Féin and SDLP election placards. The Council notice on the lamp-post, below the red hand – see the final image – is more direct, simply stating “No fly tipping, by order”.

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Shaped By Sea And Stone

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Brussels artist iota (ig) painted a mermaid in Larne, inspired by the local myth of Lí Ban (NI World), who was caught in nets in Larne Lough and baptised by Christian monks (WP).

With support from the Recovery Revitalisation Programme for town centres, administered here by Mid And East Antrim Borough Council (web) in consultation with Daisy Chain (tw), Seedhead Arts (ig), and FGB (ig).

Uplit Sunnylands

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“Loyalist Sunnylands & Woodburn celebrates 100th anniversary Northern Ireland”, and the silver jubilee/25th anniversary of the Ulster Grenadiers flute band (Fb), 1996-2021, and salute Captain Sir Tom Moore, hero fundraiser during the Covid lockdown. The Maintain The Union wall in Woodburn was recorded previously; added here are close-ups from the fence and also the same boards in Sunnylands.

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With Heart And Hand

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The Antiville (Larne) bonfire was toppled and set alight on Sunday night after the death of one its builders, John Steele, who fell from it at about 9:30 p.m. the previous evening (Belfast Live video | BelTel | Belfast Live). The Antiville bonfire was perhaps 50 ft in height; the nearby Craigyhill bonfire, at 202 ft, continued to stand until it was lit at midnight on Monday night.

Many floral tributes were left along the fence of the adjacent Presbyterian church, including ones from other bonfire sites (Craigyhill, Old Mossley, Doonbeg), flute bands (Anderson Memorial, Ballycraigy Sons Of Ulster, Ladyhill, Cairncastle, North Down Defenders, Tullycarnet), UVF (Rathcoole RHC), and UDA (Tullycarnet); Steele’s funeral will take place on Thursday (Irish News).

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Commonwealth Handling Equipment

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The Craigyhill (Larne) bonfire was officially measured at 202.3 feet in height, exceeding the existing Guinness World Record for tallest bonfire, a 199-ft pyre in Austria in 2019. More than 40,000 pounds was raised for the effort (Belfast Live). In preparation for lighting, houses around the green were boarded up with sheets of plywood (see below).

The red and blue pallets mostly go at the bottom because they are sturdier pallets; they are also longer lasting and more expensive to produce. The red pallets come from La Palette Rouge while the blue come from CHEP (Commonwealth Handling Equipment Pool) (Belfast Media). They can be legally bought or sold only by their respective companies.

In nearby Antiville, a bonfire builder fell to his death. See With Heart And Hand.

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The Loyalist Executioner

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Here are dozen South East Antrim UDA boards along Shanlea Drive in Ballycraigy (Larne). The first four commemorate the massive bonfire built each year (see Commonwealth Handling Equipment) – “We lead, others follow”.

The middle are the most violent, showing volunteers wearing balaclavas and carrying assault rifles, with a poem about killing “Provos” which here seems to mean simply Catholics, as no IRA members were killed in either Ormeau or Greysteel. “The Provo’s fear the reaper/From the UFF he comes/The loyalist executioner/He brings judgment with his gun//He strikes when no one expects him too/From behind his hood cold eyes/The reaper brings stiff justice/As another Provo dies//He brought revenge for the Bann/ In Ormeau bookies five/And for the Shankill bombing/Greysteel was his reply//Sometimes his lust is chilling/As he goes about his task/The Provo’s fear the reaper/There’s death behind his mask.” There was a poem with the same sentiment in south Belfast (see The Reaper Come To Call) next to a mural of Eddie The Trooper.

Of the final four (the right-hand side) the historical photograph was the basis for a mural in south Belfast.

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Killarney’s World War II Hero

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Hugh O’Flaherty – the Scarlet Pimpernel Of The Vatican – is thought to have helped save 6,425 soldiers and Jews who were at large after the fall of Mussolini but prior to the German occupation of Italy and who made it to Rome to see O’Flaherty or the still-functioning Irish embassy at the Holy See. O”Flaherty was raised in Killarney and died in Cahersiveen; he is remembered in Killarney by this mural – painted by Ursula Meehan (ig) in High Street with support from Killarney Art Gallery (web) – and a statue by Alan Ryan Hall (killarney.ie) in Mission Road.

(HughOFlaherty.com | WP | Irish Central)

The Factory Girls

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Tillie & Henderson’s shirt factory opened in 1856 at the junction of Abercorn Road and Foyle Road, Derry (next to the ‘Hands Across The Divide’ statue) and survived until 2003 when it was demolished after a fire (BBC); an apartment block is currently planned for the site (Derry Journal | BBC). It was the largest such factory in the world and one of 44 shirt factories in the city in 1900, all of which employed women, many starting in their teens.

Derry Of The Past has a gallery of historical images.

The murals are in the courtyard of the Craft Village in Shipquay Street; they were designed by Joe Campbell and painted by UVArts (web).

(BBC | BBC | DEPOT | BelTel)