The town of Eden, on the outskirts of Carrickfergus, is defended by the walls of Carrickfergus castle and the arms of the UDA. For the previous version of this board, see Loyalist Eden.
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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02480 ulster freedom fighters defence association saltire quis separabit terrae filius
This new roadside memorial to the 36th (Ulster) Division in WWI, of wooden crosses on white stone along with a board on the wall above, has appeared on the Shore Road, across from Seaview, home of Crusaders FC, the Hatchet Men.
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Above, “End forced strip search, controlled movement” RNU/Cogús (web) stencil (“End forced strip search, controlled movement”) in front of a gallery of RNU/Cogús boards (see Until All Are Free We Are All Imprisoned).
Below, stencil of the iconic Che over his father’s words: “[In my son’s veins flowed the] Blood of an Irish rebel”. (See previously: Che Guevara Lynch.)
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02362 X02265 oglaıgh na heıreann rnu network unity cogus teach oısín
Above is an RNU board from Lenadoon, protesting against the police system and an alleged identity of the PSNI, the Orange Order and loyal paramilitaries. (See previously: Trinity)
“No political policing. No special powers. No daily armed raids. No daily harassment. No PSNI in our schools. No MI5. No £10 tours. No interment [sic].”
The board dates from 2012 (eleven years after the PSNI’s creation and five years after Sınn Féın’s acceptance of the PSNI) but is no longer present.
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Copyright © 2012 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X00730 name change, no change republican network.ie
At the same time that the new David Ervine board was put in place, the existing board next to it, which dates to 2008, was spruced up. The image above is a wide shot of both boards, while the image below shows the commemorative casting in front. For the original board, see David Ervine; for explanations of the sculpture, including its pipe, prayer-book, ticket, and boots, see Memory Chair.
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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“He had the courage to climb out of the traditional trenches, meet the enemy in no man’s land and play ball with him.” David Ervine was a UVF member, arrested in 1974 and served six years in the Maze before turning to politics. He first ran for office in 1985 and represented East Belfast in the NI Assembly from 1998 until his death in 2007. The new board, above, shows Ervine’s silhouette in a wreath of poppies along with pictures of and information about his life; the image below of the lower left-hand side includes a photograph of Ervine with Gusty Spence.
Video of the launch (on 2014-11-01) is available at U.tv
The info plaque on the right describes the Memory Chair sculpture in front of the first Ervine board.
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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21st july 1953 8th january 2007 red hand comrades association progressive unionist party of northern ireland
“David Ervine was born in nearby Chamberlain Street, the youngest of five children. A lifelong supporter of Glentoran Football Club he was a true son of East Belfast. David attended Avoniel Primary School and Orangefield Boys High School. Leaving school before his fifteenth birthday he began his working life in an atmosphere of tension and violent confrontation. At nineteen he joined the UF. He was arrested in 1974 and served five years in Long Kesh, a wasteland that he and other prisoners transformed into a place of personal and political growth and development. A founding member of the Progressive Unionist Party and its most articulate spokesperson, he was elected to the Northern Ireland Forum, Belfast City Council and the Northern Ireland Assembly. David Ervine was a truly inspirational leader. With vision and courage he led his community from violence to peace, winning the respect of friend and foe alike. He gave voice to the common man and woman acting always in the interest of peace and his beloved Ulster.”
26 volunteers and 14 others from the Ardoyne, Bone, and Ligoniel areas are commemorated in a new (2014-10-05) mural. The images below show artist Mickey Doherty, himself an ex-prisoner, at the start of the process – with the grid-work visible – and shooting an “action” shot for VICE TV.
The previous mural also commemorated local volunteers (34 painted portraits rather than a printed board), but this mural adds a Celtic cross, funeral volley, and images of Armagh women’s prison, the cages at Long Kesh, and the H-blocks, as well as (an inverted image of) blanketman Hugh Rooney – detailed images can be seen in Prison Walls.
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02304 X02284 X02305 X02306 gerard mcdade david mcauley james reid joseph mccomiskey pat mccabe marley alan lundy john copeland terry toolan stephen scullion terry clarke declan mccluskey patrick markey peter hamilton thomas begley jim saunders martin meehan
Three wraiths of dead WWI soldiers – one with its head wrapped in a bandage – rise from the grave to issue a final edict: Take up our quarrel with the foe; to you from failing hands we throw the torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die, we shall not sleep though poppies grow in Flanders’ fields.
For another WWI memorial in Shankill Graveyard see The Great War.
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02303 ghost spectre
The Bawnmore area lies just beyond the border of Belfast, north of the city council along the Shore Road. While the area has seen many large retail chains erect stores over the last few decades, the local businesses have closed. Above, the Boundary Bar, which was burnt out in 2007, now with fake window dressing; below, Paul’s newsagents around the corner in Mount Street.
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02268 X02272 fake front
Three different campaigns for inquiries into deaths at the hands of British paratroopers are brought together into a single board on the site of the former Andersonstown RUC station: the Ballymurphy Massacre of August, 1971, in which 11 were killed; the Springhill Massacre of July 1972, in which 5 were killed, and the killing of IRA volunteer Pearse Jordan, who, like the others, lived in the greater Ballymurphy area.
Pearse Jordan is commemorated by a plaque in Hugo Street and a mural in Ballymurphy. For recent (2014-12) news about the Ballymurphy inquest, see The Guardian. See also Uncovering The Past | Our Truth | #TimeForTruth (which contains a picture of Rısteard Ó’Murchú’s painted board at the Springfield/Whiterock shops).
Here is a video of the launch, 2014-09-24, produced by Sınn Féın:
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02251 time for justice 9th july 1972 murdered by the ruc 25 november 1992 new barnesly months before bloody sunday we have another striking example of the brutality with which the paras acted and how the british system connived in a cover-up gerry adams Father Hugh Mullan, Noel Phillips, Joan Connolly, Eddie Doherty, Joseph Corr, Frank Quinn, John McKerr, Joseph Murphy, John Laverty and Danny Teggart. paddy mccarthy, margaret gargan aged 13 john dougal 16 david mccafferty 15 patrick butler 39 father noel fitzpatrick 40
Seosamh Mac Coille Collection 