Seosamh Mac Coille Collection

Ronnie Adams

2015-11-122026-08-19Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Ronnie Adams was born in Belfast in 1916. He began driving at age 11 and rallying at age 18. He is shown above in a Jaguar Mk. VII, en route to winning the Monte Carlo Rally in 1956, which was also around the time that he took over the family textile business from his deceased father — Adams remained an amateur driver his whole life.

For more on Adams, see Adams’s Telegraph obituary and this article by Steve McKelvie. For information on the Jaguars of the 1950s (and an image of Adams with the five trophies he received for winning the Monte Carlo), see the Irish Jaguar & Daimler club.

Donegall Road, Village, south Belfast

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03183 adelaide street prince rainier cup

RIC At Celtic Park

2015-11-122026-08-19Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The image above shows three members of the Royal Irish Constabulary outside Belfast’s Celtic Park in 1912. The event is perhaps a visit by Lord Pirrie, Winston Churchill, and John Redmond to speak in favour of the Home Rule bill at a meeting of the Ulster Liberal Association on February 8th. (You can see at ticket for the event at Decade Of Centenaries.) The meeting was originally to be held in the Ulster Hall, but this was blockaded by Unionist protesters (Irish History). According to one site, Churchill was “nearly lynched” by angry Protestants outside the grounds.

Donegall Road, Village, south Belfast

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03185 donegall rd

Taigs Will Be Dealt With

2015-11-122026-08-18Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Back in July (2015) “Taigs will be crucified” graffiti appeared on an box next to the Broadway roundabout but was removed after a few days. “Taigs will be dealt with” then appeared — see the image below.

The graffiti above is not far away on the Donegall Road, when it appeared in July it was joined by a wooden crucifix (for which see this BelTel article); the crucifix has gone but the graffiti was still in place in November. “VTOT” stands for “Village Team On Tour” – referring to the loyalist “Village” area of south Belfast.

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03180 X03187 KAT

Nearer My God To Thee

2015-11-122026-08-18Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Thomas Andrews was head of the drafting department at Harland & Wolff shipbuilders during the construction of RMS Titanic and was one of the 1,523 people who died when it hit an iceberg in the Atlantic ocean (WP). His portrait has been added to the recently repainted Titanic mural at the corner of Dee Street and Newtownards Road. According to this Telegraph article, the ‘Our Wee Country’ mural in Carnforth Street might be next for refurbishment.

“This mural is respectfully dedicated to the men, women and children who lost their lives in the waters of the north atlantic on the night of April 14th 1912: to those who survived whose lives from that night on were forever altered and to those who built the Titanic.” “The Titanic mural has been renovated by the original artist, John Stewart 2015.”

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03171 white star line built in belfast 1912 april 14 disaster great loss of life evening news H&W est. 1861 her name is publicly announced in april 1980 designation begins on march 1909 the titanic was launched here in belfast april 10 1912 she left southampton for new york disaster struck in the north atlantic ocean 1523 people died lost their lives in the disaster 705 passengers and crew survived 1873-1912 Thomas Andrews

Row On Row

2015-11-122026-08-18Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Thousands of small wooden crosses, with names and a poppy, were placed in Pitt Park, east Belfast, between November 1st and 11th to commemorate those who fell during WWI. The Last Post was sounded each night at 8. We present here four images of the scene. The event and a similar one on the Shankill (both going by the name Row By Row) were organised by the Dr. Pitt Park Centenary Committee and the Royal British Legion. (City Council minutes)

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03175 X03174 X03176 X03173 armistice day

Welcome To Lord Street

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Saturday (November 28th) saw the official launch of the repainted Lord Street. All of the murals and side-walls (such as in the final image, below) have been painted over or painted out as part of a project sponsored by the Housing Executive and CharterNI. Also included in the work was a repainting of the Ledley Hall/Queen’s Jubilee mural at the junction with Kingswood Street. The new mural shows the hall past and present and features local figures Bob Yarr (OBE), Eddie Witherspoon, John Cross (BEM), John Currans, Sam Rainey, and Reggie Morrow.

For information about the hall itself, see the entry on Ledley Hall. See also Workers & Warriors for the new Somme mural across the street.

Update 2016-04: (part of) the info board. NIHE article on the re-imaging of nine murals in Lord St.

X08267 2021-07-08 LordSt Reimaging info+

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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03169 X03170 X03168 X03114 Blaze FX X03369 X08267 [X08268] [X08269] before after the old mural being removed and wall prepared in association with the diamond project charter NI housing executive lord street residents series of workshops

In The Land Of The Giants

2015-11-112026-08-18Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Here are three shots of the new Blaze Fx (web | Fb) “Belfast Giants” mural in east Belfast’s Lord Street. The Giants have been Belfast’s ice-hockey team for the last fifteen years, beginning in 2000. The detail above shows mascot Finn MacCool and the image of the full mural, below, includes the team motto, the (a)politically-motivated “In the land of the giants, everyone is equal.” The mural takes the place of a UDA mural (featured previously, Feriens Tego; see also the second info board, below, on “the re-imaging of Lord Street 2012-2015”) and is one of three large murals and various small murals to be replaced or painted out. (This News Letter article puts the total at nine.)

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Copyright © 2015/2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03112 X03164 X03162 ice hockey stick jersey mobile phone go foam finger cheering taking picture skates X03370 junior and senior teams local media likes mark morrison nathan clements bradley scott kaitlyn morrison X04481

Workers & Warriors

2015-11-112026-08-18Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

For Armistice Day commemorations 2015 an old mural (below) depicting east Belfast mill workers in cloth caps going to work beneath the H&W cranes was replaced with an image of a single soldier standing over a WWI burial cross with head bowed. In front are the same kind of small wooded crosses and poppies featured in Row On Row from Pitt Park. By Glenn Black and Ken Maze of Blaze FX (web).

03167 2015-11-11 Lord St Remembers close+

Lookout

2015-11-102026-08-18Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

There are eyes everywhere in west Belfast.

The Belle Of Belfast

2015-11-062026-09-02Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This Lesley Cherry mural in the Village area of Donegall Road shows a female figure sitting on a drum and holding one of the Harland & Wolff cranes in her hand.

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