Three memorials to “Hutchy 1985-2017” in Belfast city centre. The first in North Street replacing the recent Young Peacebuilders mural, the second and third in Garfield Street, as part of an ANOC tag (over the other Gonzales piece, FEEL) and over MarcaMix’s CNB15 piece.
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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04115 X04128 X04116 TMN rest in peace cisto anco nota neuf bore blf mash casp reck
Famous faces and landmarks from east Belfast, including, in the foreground, guitarists Gary Moore and Eric Bell (from Thin Lizzy). Included in the bottom right is the artist himself, Dee Craig. For a complete list, see the info board, below.
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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04102 X04103 connswater st urban village NI executive communities belfast mural arts van morrison CS lewis george best david holmes danny blanchflower lucy caldwell marie jones james ellis
A perhaps-unfinished mural of abstract ideas: on the left and right, a scenic view and clouds overlaid with black lattice; in the central portions slate grey rocks and a silhouetted figure with disjoint arm resting on plains of white.
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Copyright © 2017 Extramural Activity
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“We have slain him but we fear him/As we stand in silence now/For the hero light still lingers/Like a lantern on his brow. And the wiles of witchcraft jeer him/With the phantoms of our dead/As they moil like may mosquitoes/Round his torn and bleeding head.” Cuchulainn is invoked as a “defender of Ulster” on the UDA memorial stone in the Kilcooley estate. The Red Hand Commando and UVF stones are shown below. The three paramilitary stones were added independently of the WWI garden (BelTel).
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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04095 X04093 X04096 owernroe drive the death call of cuchulainn champion of ulster the sons of ulster’s best who have stood the test? would you take the oath with hand held high are you prepared to die to keep our ulster free it is up to you and me god save ulster is our cry would you weep if i should die remember me when poppies fall for our ulster i gave all tell me i have lived my life well and it has not all been in vain
Here are images of the WWI iconography from the memorial garden in Kilcooley. It seems that the combination of WWI imagery and paramilitary memorials (seen in To Keep Our Ulster Free) was not the plan approved by the Department Of Social Development, which contributed funds to the project (Belfast Telegraph). A wide shot of the whole is included below.
According to an article in the Tele last Friday (2017-04-21), the Housing Executive has a list of over 100 memorials on Executive-owned land that it considers illegal. The list itself does not seem to be available and so it is not not known if the Kilcooley garden is one of these. (Update: here is a 2023 list of murals and memorials on Executive property (pdf); the Kilcooley garden is included.)
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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Amateur World and European champion Michael Conlan fought – and won – his first professional fight on St. Patrick’s Day, 2017 in New York. Glen Molloy (Fb | Inst) brings his distinctive style to the pugilist’s portrait.
For the mural celebrating Conlan’s 2012 Olympic medal, see Green, White And Bronze.
Previously by Molloy: Jack Nicholson | Billy Casper | Shaun of the Dead/Leo DiCaprio/Bowie | Walken/Adam Ant/Harrison Ford | Prince/George Michael | Homeless … No Less | Blackjack Tattoo
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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Here are two wide shots of a long wall from the Bangor Protestant Boys Flute Band (Fb). Many of the panels are related to WWI. For the Somme panel on the left, see Ulster Volunteers; for three of the flags on the right, see North Down Battalion. Right of centre is an emblem for the band itself: the lion and the unicorn on either side of cross rifles and the red hand of Ulster on an oval.
For the previous (mural) version, see Bangor Protestant Boys.
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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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This is another part of a long ‘Bangor Protestant Boys Flute Band’ wall in Kilcooley: the shield of the 36th (Ulster) Division – the Union flag and Irish harp above a red hand on a field of shamrocks – on a garland of orange poppies and WWI battlefields on a purple ribbon – orange and purple being the colours of the Ulster Volunteers.
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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Recruiting for the Ulster Volunteers in Down was so successful that it was divided into four areas (North, South, East, and West), each with a battalion, and the North down battalion comprised 15 companies (History Ireland). The Down battalions became the 13th battalion of the (108th Brigade) Royal Irish Rifles in WWI. The YCV (Young Citizen Volunteers) was formed separately (in 1912) but joined the Volunteers in May 1914, before becoming the (109th Brigade) 14th battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles when the war broke out (WP). Both began their campaigns at Boulogne-Sur-Mer in October, 1915 (WP).
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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04089 owenroe dr somme thiepval beaumont hamel st quentin ypres messines arras passchendaele cambrai
Here is a small board in Bangor from the North Down Defenders flute band (Fb), unusual due to the modified Ulster banner with clenched red hand in the centre. Surrounding it are the flags of the LPA, UDA, UFF, and UYM.
Kearney Gardens, Kilcooley, Bangor
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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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