City/Town – Page 78 – Seosamh Mac Coille Collection

The Red Hand And The Winning Hand

2022-05-172026-08-24Extramural Activity2 Comments

Three images of Home Rule vintage are resurrected on Village lamp-posts to fit the situation of the current moment:

“The red hand and the winning hand” is an anti-Home Rule postcard (NMNI) featuring Craig, Bonar Law, Wallace, and Carson as the four aces, in addition to the red hand itself as joker or wild card. Carson and Craig need no introduction; Andrew Bonar Law was the leader of the (opposition) Conservative Party at the time of the third Home Rule bill (WP), while Colonel Robert Hugh Wallace was grand master of the Belfast Orange Order and as such the main organiser of protests against the bill (DIB).

“It’s our flag – fight for it, work for it” is an Australian recruitment poster from WWI (NMNI).

“Against home rule – hand up!” shows a nine-county Ulster, including Donegal, Cavan, Monaghan (and “Derry”) with the red hand emanating from Tyrone, the Red Hand County, symbol of the O’Neills (WP).

For the Northern Ireland coat of arms, see The Lion And The Elk and (on a much earlier mural in the Shankill) Quis Separabit.

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¡No Pasarán!

2022-05-072026-08-24Extramural Activity1 Comment

More than 35,000 from more than 80 countries people – see the jigsaw pieces on the left of this mural – joined the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War, including 2,300 from Britain and Ireland (Guardian). The slogan “¡No pasarán!” [They shall not pass] comes from a speech by Dolores Ibárruri (“La Pasionaria”) in July 1936: “The Communist Party calls you to arms. We especially call upon you, workers, farmers, intellectuals to assume your positions in the fight to finally smash the enemies of the Republic and of the popular liberties. Long live the Popular Front! Long live the union of all anti-fascists! Long live the Republic of the people! The Fascists shall not pass! They shall not pass!” (WP)

It would also be used in October that year at the Battle Of Cable Street in London’s East End, when approximately 100,000 anti-fascists clashed with police protecting a British Union Of Fascists (“blackshirts”) march (WP).

The artist is unknown; the knotwork at the bottom of the mural resembles some from St James’s, Belfast.

Chastilian Rd in Crayford/Dartford, England

It’s On!

2022-04-282026-08-24Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Voters go to the polls today for the NI Assembly elections, with the potential for significant changes compared to previous years: a CNR party – Sinn Féin – is predicted to win the most seats and votes for the first time in the 100-year history of Northern Ireland (LucidTalk). Here is a third and final batch of electoral hoardings and placards (previously: What Did You Do In The Election? | Had Enough?). Above: SDLP hoping to “deliver” a Tiny Life “miracle baby”; second: UUP‘s “Northern Ireland deserves better” and Alliance‘s “Together we can”; third, (Lucozade,) SDLP “working” for west Belfast, IRSP “Demand better”, and Aontú “Life, unity, economic justice”. in CNR west Belfast; fourth, TUV‘s “Principle, integrity, strength”; fifth, the Socialist Party’s “We can’t live with capitalism” along with independent Elly Odhiambo (occasional columnist in Belfast Media publications) in south Belfast. Not included here are Sinn Féin, People Before Profit, the Green Party, the PUP and the DUP.

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Christmas In Prison

2022-04-282026-08-24Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

A crude engraving about the size of your hand found on the wall of the B-wing yard in Crumlin Road Gaol (now a tourist attraction and conference centre): a Celtic cross with knot-work and “Jim Keenan – Xmas 1942”.

Below is a picture of the gaol from September 15th, 1942, thirteen days after Tom Williams was hanged (see the plaque to his memory in Bombay Street).

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The Cobwebs Of The Past

2022-04-252026-08-24Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

In his statement in response to the news of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement (11 April, 1998), John Hume said, “This process is not about the victory or defeat of nationalism or unionism. It is about something much greater. Today, as Fergal Keane said in relation to South Africa, we can take collective breath and begin to blow away the cobwebs of the past. We can begin to break the bondage of fear which has so damaged our people and our country, difficult and demanding though this will be in the coming days and weeks.” (CAIN)

Commissioned by the Grand Central bar (Derry Journal) in Great James Street (whose side-wall the mural is on) and painted by Peaball (ig) an art group (including Donal O’Doherty, formerly of UVArts – Belfast Live).

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Copyright © 2022 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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An Attitude Of Revolt

2022-04-252026-08-24Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The Tommy Roberts mural at the top of Westland Street, Derry, has been expanded, with a new central image – which now includes a portrait of Stevie Mallon alongside Roberts, against a background of Free Derry Corner – and three additional plaques.

Both quotes (“Life springs from death, and from the graves of dead patriot men and women spring living nations.” and “As long as Ireland is unfree the only honourable attitude for Irishmen and Irishwomen is an attitude of revolt.” are from Patrick Pearse. The first quote was also used on a Gibraltar 3 mural in Belfast and an INLA mural in Strabane in 1990; the latter was used in a Belfast in the 1980s.

“In proud and loving memory of Tommy Roberts, former IRA volunteer, former POW blanketman, died 8th June 2017 aged 78. His courage and dedication will never be forgotten. As long as Ireland is unfree the only honourable attitude for Irishmen and Irishwomen is an attitude of revolt.”

“In proud and loving memory of Stevie Mellon, former IRA volunteer, former internee, former GAA referee, died 1st August 2018, aged 65 years. His courage and dedication will never be forgotten. Lay him away on the hillside with the brave and the bold.”

“In proud and loving memory of Veronica Taylor, a proud socialist republican. Born11th June 1943, died 16th December 2019, aged 76 years. Her tireless dedication to the republican struggle will never be forgotten. “The only people worthy of freedom are those who are prepared to go out and fight for it every day and die if necessary.””

“In proud and loving memory of Ruaırí (Roddy) Carlin, former IRA volunteer, former POW, died 23rd March 2021. A brave son of Ireland who fought for his country against continued British oppression and injustice, an uncompromised republican committed to the reunification of Ireland.”

Mighty Oaks From Little Acorns Grow

2022-04-252026-08-24Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The city of (London)Derry takes its named from the Irish word “doire” meaning “oak wood” (and generically a “grove”) and the oak leaf is often used as a symbol of the city (here are 11 murals with oak leaves from the Peter Moloney Collection – Murals). In the mural above, in addition to the three leaves on the right-hand side, we also have some acorns.

The moniker “maiden city” is derived from the city’s resistance to sieges throughout its history, most famously in 1689 (again – a variety of images from Peter Moloney). The walls of the old city are shown above the river Foyle, with landmark buildings such as the Peace Bridge (see Waterside, Cityside, Quayside) behind them.

Mural by Inkie (ig) in Carlisle Road.

Was This Lawful?

2022-04-242026-08-24Extramural Activity1 Comment

A 2021 command paper that proposed a statue of limitations and amnesty for so-called “legacy” killings included the claim that ‘the vast majority of security force killings were lawful’ (BelTel) and the comment has been attributed to NI Secretary Brandon Lewis (Pat Finucane Centre). (For background see e.g. this eamonnmallie.com piece.) The claim is used against him in this tarp commemorating Stephen McConomy was hit by a plastic bullet forty years ago this month, on April 16th, and died three days later: “Stephen McConomy (11) shot dead by Lanc. Corp. from Royal Anglian Regiment – April 1982. Was this ‘lawful’, Brandon Lewis?” Speaking at the memorial service, surviving family-members vowed to continue resisting the proposed limitations (Derry Journal).

There is also a plaque to McConomy in Fahan Street where he was shot (this one has since been replaced) and long ago there was a mural on Rossville Street.

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