“They live with us/in memory still/not just today/ but always still.” Mural and memorial in Queen Street, Glengormley, to South East Antrim UFF/UDA/UYM volunteers A. Helm, G[erald] Evans, W. Gordan, J. Woods, and T. McDonald.
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01673 UFF 2nd Batt. A. Coy dedicated to all our fallen comrades of south east antrim brigade
“Our youth, out culture, our community, our future”. Above is a new Ross Road mural celebrating gaelic games (football, hurling, and handball) and in particular Michael Davitt’s (green, white, and gold strip) and Sean MacDermott’s (yellow with green stripe) GAA/CLG clubs. The banner on the low wall is bookended by images of St. Peter’s cathedral and the fountain in Dunville Park, which are detailed below.
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01669 X01665 X01666 óıge na bhfal Falls youth est. 1932 aontroım
A seven-year old Setanta become Cú Chulaınn (Culann’s Hound) after killing the beast by driving a sliotar (the ball used in hurling) down its throat. Detail from a mural in Roumania Rise, off Ross Road. Wide shot of the whole below. The lettering reads “Mol na nóıge agus tıocfaıdh sí [sic]” [as written: praise the young and it [sic] will flourish; usually the phrase is “Mol an óıge …” “praise youth …”]
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X01668 X01667 gaelic games hurling
Geordie Bell was caretaker at the Short Strand community centre, on the other side of this mural, as well as a trade unionist and republican. A piece of art in the Skainos centre is dedicated to his memory (East Belfast Mission).
On the same wall: Tree-Teapot-Street
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01658
The area known as the Pound Loney is featured in a long mural in Durham Street. The Pound Loney is Divis or the lower part of Divis on either side of Cullingtree Road; a “loney” is a lane and originally a natural path, in this case next to a stream beside the sheep-pound that existed before the area was developed for housing (Old Belfast Districts).
The mural features many of the place-names, landmarks, and personalities of yesteryear, including the Arcadian cinema on Albert Street – left of centre in the full shot below; see also the two images below of the Arcadian in happier days and in 1969, at the start of the troubles (images from Cinema Treasures and the Belfast Forum). Also featured are the Divis tower block, the Blessed Virgin mural, Barney’s mill, McGahan’s pub, Saint Peter’s. The streets include Barrack St, Galway St, Cullingtree Rd, Scotch St, Christian Place, Derby St, Castle St, Pound St, Nail St, Currie St, Albert St, Brook St, Jude St, Hamill St, Divis St, Milford St and Massereene (Row or Path or Walk) in Divis flats. If you can identify any of the characters in the mural, please leave a comment.
Previously: Lampost swinging | Mickey Marley’s Roundabout | Saint Peter’s
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01660 X01659
Here are two of the three painted side of a large electrical box in the Highfield estate, adjacent to a new memorial garden. Above is a board commemorating British army service personnel from WWI to the recent/current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. On the other side of the box, and pictured below, the ‘thumbs up’ soldier is painted. For background on the ‘thumbs up’ image below, see the entry Help For Heroes.
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01637 [X01588] X01591 X01640 [X01592] [X01593] in support of help for heroes aa veterans army benevolent fund the best royal british legion thiepval tower cenotaph
Two poems are featured prominently and another two alluded to in this Newtownards mural and memorial garden to WWI soldiers. The main panel features part of an anti-war work by Owen Griffith, Lest We Forget. Robert Laurence Binyon’s For The Fallen is featured on the stone, above a line of Latin from Horace’s Odes (III.2) – On Virtue (which most famously re-appears in Owen’s Dulce Et Decorum Est). On the left and right (see the wide shot at the very bottom) there appear the mottos of the Royal Irish Rifles – ‘Quis separabit’, which comes from Romans 8:35 – and the Royal Artillery – ‘Ubique – Quo Fas Et Gloria Ducunt’, which comes from Kipling’s Ubique.
For the (WWI) 13th battalion RIR, see Regimental List and similarly for the 16th (rather than the 17th) “Pioneers”. For the (WWII) 5th Anti-Aircraft battery, see Newtownards History.
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01628 X01627 X01629 X01630 13th batt. and 17th (Pioneers) batt. royal irish rifles 5th light anti-aircraft royal artillary artillery (S.R.) at the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them dulce et decorum est pro patria mori
A message from the local UVF in the Westwinds estate: “Our only crime was to serve you the COMMUNITY and protest ‘OUR COUNTRY.’ Now times have changed. As FORCE our belief is not only FOR GOD AND ULSTER but to you the COMMUNITY, HELP US TO HELP YOU.”
A close-up of the flags and emblem on the right hand side can be found below. There’s a flag of the 1912 UVF and YCV, and a rose and thistles and shamrock in the background, in addition to a poppy.
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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01618 X01619 1912 ycv rose thistle shamrock
Armed masked men, shotgun, automatic weapon, sledgehammer, hand grenade and two pistols, with the flags of Northern Ireland, the UK and the UVF in the background. The plaque reads, “Dedicated to the memory of our lost volunteers who made the supreme sacrifice. Gone but not forgotten”. “Lest we forget” at the bottom. The full mural (below) shows (clockwise from top left) YCV, PAF (Protestant Action Force), UVF (on an Ulster shield), and 36th (Ulster) Division insignia.
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01620 X01621 shackleton walk west winds east belfast 1912 2012 newtownards for god and ulster
Besties Barbers stands in the centre of Newtownards and the mural above is on the side wall (in Gibson Lane). It features footballer George Best in Northern Ireland strip and sponsorship by local taxi company, Kare Kabs. The interior of the shop is decorated with more Northern Ireland football heroes.
Elsewhere: Squinter critiques the mural.
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Seosamh Mac Coille Collection 