“No vote, no voice” and “Vote Unionist”. Here are two pieces of loyalist graffiti concerned with (as they see it) under-representation in the political process. The first is at the corner of Springmartin Road and Ballygomartin Road (“Bobby Sands died 4 fuck all” can be seen underneath). The second is on the Forthriver Road at the Glencairn Day Centre.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01639 X01641
“Strength for today, bright hope for tomorrow.” A “Willowfield community” strong man lifts a barbell of “friends” and “family” as he gets in shape. Below, a “Jesus” tag and a wide shot of both pieces, at the top of London Road.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2014 Extramural Activity
X01632 X01633 X01634 Willowfield Parish Community Association, habakkuk, raven
The board above commemorates Caoımhín Mac Brádaıgh (Kevin Brady) who was one of three people killed in Milltown cemetery by Michael Stone in his attack at the burial of the ‘Gibraltar 3’. This board is in the South Link (originally it was on the Andersonstown Road), a short distance from where Corporals Wood and Howes were killed during Mac Brádaıgh’s own funeral, three days later (1998-03-19).
For information about the photograph on which the image is based, see 25 Years – In Progress.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01631 milltown march 88 óglach a fuaır bás agus é ag cosaınt a phobaıl
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.
Click image to enlarge
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
Robert Blair “Paddy” Mayne was a rugby player, boxer, golfer, and solicitor, and in WWII a commando and one of the first members of the SAS (Special Air Service), participating in raids behind enemy lines in Egypt and Libya (depicted in the board above), and later, as SAS commander, in France, Belgium and other countries. His many decorations, including the DSO (four times) and French Croix De Guerre and Legion D’Honneur, are pictured below. (His WP page includes an explanation of the ribbon bars.)
Mayne was born in Newtownards and returned there at the end of the war. His statue stands in the town’s Conway Square and this board can be found in Queen Street.
Previously: From The Boyne To Afghanistan
Produced by muraltec.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01622 X01625 X01624 X01623 X01626 north africa 1942 palm other honours and citations distinguished service order Lieutenant Colonel
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.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01620 X01621 shackleton walk west winds east belfast 1912 2012 newtownards for god and ulster
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.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01618 X01619 1912 ycv rose thistle shamrock
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.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01617
Welcome to Newtownards mural with pro-environment message and flute band drum.
locationunknown. Presumably by Blaze FX.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X05127
King Billy’s On The Wall of John Street, in Newtownards. Full lyrics to the song (which begin with the title of this entry) can be found here.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01615 X01616 remember 1690
