As mentioned in UDU-WDA-UDA-UFF, the end wall of Columbia Street was knocked down, taking with it a former Duke Elliott/UDA mural, which has now been replaced with boards (rather than murals) commemorating the history of the UDA and Elliott. Elliott lived one street over, in Leopold Street (WP). He was killed in 1972, at age 28, in a dispute with other UDA members.
The gable wall at the end of Columbia Street (on Ohio Street) has been rebuilt and the old WDA/Duke Elliott mural has been replaced. Above is the right side of the piece, which describes the transition from the Woodvale Defence Association to the Ulster Defence Association to the Ulster Freedom Fighters, and grounds all three in the Ulster Defence union of 1893.
In the second image, below, Ewart’s mill, on the Ardoyne side of the Crumlin Rd, can be seen in the background. From the WP page on the Crumlin Rd … “The mill was built for William Ewart, a cotton trader and politician who switched his interests to the production of linen, which at the time became the leading industry in the city. During the Second World War the mill was converted from the production of linen to the manufacture of munitions.” There is a statue diagonally across the street (at the corner of Cambrai and Crumlin Roads) of a millworker.
In 1971 in order to combat an increasingly aggressive republican movement, the WDA amalgamated with a number of other defence groups in form the UDA. This ensured a more organised and coherent response to the onslaught faced by the citizens of Northern Ireland.
The UFF was established in 1973 to take the war to republicanism. With tenacity, courage and resilience the members of the UFF distinguished themselves in battle by striking at the very heart of republican movement and ensuring that the attacks faced by their community didn’t go unanswered.
2013: The genesis of these groups can be traced right back to the formation of the UDU in 1893. Formed to resist Home Rule in the late 19th and 20th centuries, the UDU adapted the motto Quis Separabit. This motto was used by ulster defenders throughout the period known as “the troubles”.
Poster from the 1916 Societies (Fb), specifically the West Belfast Joe McKelvey Society, named after the anti-treaty IRA commander (WP). (There is also a society named after McKelvey in his home town of Stewartstown, Co Tyrone. (Fb)) The flag (shown below) is in the Republican Museum, Conway Mill.
Above is an image of one of two surviving religious pictures from the McMahon household on Kinnaird Terrace, off the Antrim Road. The picture was in the house the night five members of the family and one other person were killed, in 1922, by members of the RIC or the Specials (milltowncemetery.com, WP). The holes on the left and at the bottom are thought to be bullet holes, while the article below claims the tear in the upper centre is from the butt of a rifle. The picture is at present on display in the Republican Museum on Conway Street.
A metal plate, previously an advertisement for Calor Gas, now sports republican graffiti and a flyer: Built by robots, flown by dummies, taken out by 2nd Batt. barrack-busters.
The incident in question is a 1994 IRA mortar attack on a British Army helicopter at the Crossmaglen barracks. (CAIN | WP page on the incident). The mortar used a Calor Gas tube, though not the one shown here. (WP page on the mortar)
The shot below includes the board above the wall: Stop Maghaberry strip searches.
The brothers in question are Raymond and Brian McCreesh, from Camlough, Co Armagh. Raymond is third in the list of the ten deceased 1981 hunger strikers. “In memory of the volunteers who died on hunger strike in H-Blocks 1981.” “H-Block is rock that the British monster shall perish upon for we in H-Block stand upon the unconquerable rock of the Irish socialist republic – Bobby Sands”.
The lower stone reads “These men made the supreme sacrifice for their country by dying on hunger strike from 1917 to 1976: 1917 Thomas Ashe; 1920 Michael Fitzgerald, Joseph Murphy, Terence McSwiney; 1923 Joseph Whitty, Denis Barry, Andy Sullivan; 1940 Tony Darcy Sean McNeela; 1946 Sean McCaughey; 1974 Michael Gaughan; 1976 Frank Stagg. “It is not those who can inflict the most but those that can suffer the most who will conquer” – Terence McSwiney.”
The eastern side of the H-Block ‘H’ at the top of Monagh Road as it was in May, 2013, with a board in memory of the Gibraltar three (Dan, Mairead, Sean ) and another volunteer killed a few days later (Kevin) (for background, see both 25 Years In Progress | Completed) and announcing an Easter Sunday rally commemorating the 1916 Rising.
This is an Éırígí (web) stencil in support of their member Stephen Murney, who was arrested in November (2012) and subsequently transferred to Maghaberry on charges of supporting terrorism.
This board to Seán Mac Dıarmada in Ardoyne details his exploits leading up to and including the 1916 uprising and his earlier connection with the local area.
Below, a wide shot showing the end of Butler Walk and the Holy Cross church in the background. Painted by Rısteard Ó Murchú.
“This memorable [sic] plague [sic] is dedicated to the 1st victim of the present troubles, Sammy McLarnon, RIP, who was brutally murdered in his own home at 37 Herbert St by the RUC on 15th Aug., 1969.” For more, see this Irish Times article about a 1999 community inquest.
On the wider wall is the graffito “Cara don’t represent me”.
Seosamh Mac Coille Collection 