Those Who Can Endure The Most

A tarp has been added to the Ardoyne memorial garden (seen previously in 2008) putting the 12 deceased hunger strikers from the modern Troubles alongside those who were executed for their part in the Easter Rising.

Berwick Road, Ardoyne, north Belfast

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Ard Eoın CLG

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The scene at the top of Bealach Havana/Havana Way in Ard Eoın/Ardoyne. From left to right: a “Free Marian Price – End Internment” board, a “1 Ireland, 1 Vote” board (calling for a 32 county referendum), and a Gaelic games mural featuring hurling, football and handball – seen previously in 2008.

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01045 cumann luthcleas gael, ard eoın kickhams, vote online @ http://www.1916societies.com, free all republican prisoners, martin corey, éıre, founded 1907, o’neill’s

Our Wee Country #3

2013-04-07 Ballysillan1+

Two small pieces side by side on the Ballysillan Road in north Belfast. First a “Mural done by Carly and the boys …” showing the IFA’s crest over a banner reading “our wee country”. (Previously: Our Wee Country 1 | 2 )

Below is a mural the sponsoring program “Alternatives“. (Other Alternatives murals: Belfast Blitz | Welcome To The Shankill)

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X01042 X01043 north belfast victim offender community assisted by n.i.h.e. + scoutlink, irish football association northern ireland

Ulster Says “Tá”

2013-04-05 GlenwoodRight+

A few words of Irish – “Lamh Dearg Abu” – in a loyalist mural in Glenwood Street, just off the Shankill Road, through strictly it should be “Lámh Dhearg Abú”. “Lámh dhearg” means “red hand”, and this is a Red Hand Commando mural.

The same motto was on the mural that this one replaced, which can be seen at M02433.

The title of the post is the headline of a recent article in the Irish Times, giving an account of Irish language classes in (loyalist) east Belfast. “Tá” is Irish for “yes”.

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2013-04-05 GlenwoodBouquet+

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X01037 X01038 X01036 believe we dare not boast not fear we stand to pay the cost in all that men hold dear rudyard kipling ulster 1912 belfast west south east down north england co. down antrim scotland a company shankill road; it is not for glory or riches we fight but for our people; in proud and loving memory of our fallen comrades; they went with songs to the battle they were young straight of limb true of eye steady and aglow they were staunch to the end and against odds uncounted they fell with their faces to the foe they shall not grow old as we that are left grow old age shall not weary them nor the years condemn at the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them; in memory of volunteer stevie mccrea from the commando staff officers & volunteers

Stevie McCrea

Red Hand Commando volunteer Stevie McCrea was sentenced to 16 years for the murder of James Kerr in 1972 (Behind The Mask) and was subsequently “murdered by the enemies of Ulster” on February 18th, 1989 in an IPLO attack on the Orange Cross (see M00560 | WP).

“For he shall not grow old as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary him nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember him.”

McCrea is included on murals in south Belfast’s Frenchpark Street and Broadway (dating back to at least 1993).

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Red Fist

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An Ulster Freedom Fighters mural in Bangor, to the northeast of Belfast. The mural is at the edge of a Loyalist estate which is on high ground; it (and its companion) overlook and dominate a major junction on a network of roads around the town.

Some previous non-palm (and non-UDA) red hands: Proud, Defiant, Welcoming | I Would Give My Right Hand

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X01031 Bangor Young Newtown

Sir Edward Bingham

2013-03-29 BangorBingham+

This is a mural in his home town to rear admiral Sir Edward (“Barry”) Bingham, OBE, born in Bangor and recipient of the Victoria Cross (featured in the apex of the roof) for service in WWI.

“Rear Admiral Edward Bingham VC OBE, son of Lord Clanmorris, was born in Bangor and served in the Royal Navy during the First World War. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions in engaging the German fleet during the battle of Jutland. The Bingham family name adorns various settings in the town where he is remembered with pride. Rear Admiral Bingham’s Victoria Cross was purchased by North Down borough council and is on display at the North Down museum.”

This mural is adjacent to a Red Hand Commando mural.

The context shot, below, shows the two together, as viewed through the uprights of a community monument just across the road, featuring old photographs and documenting the history of the local community.

There is a ‘category’ tracking murals with windows.

2013-03-29 BangorWide+

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X01030 X01032 messines hms nestor for valor born 26th July died 24th Sept 1939

G8 Cover-Up

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The Inıs Ceıthleann/Enniskillen face-lift ahead of the G8 summit in June gets under way with this (quite obviously fake) tarp with a photo of Lough Erne superimposed upon it, along the Irvinestown Road.

In the image below, taken from a railing across the street, you can see what Obama and other world leaders must not!

2013-03-28 EnniskillenCoverUp1+

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Still Alive And Sinnin’

2013-03-24 WilliamBloat+

Here is a close-up of the fourth panel of the five-panel piece in the Dark Horse recorded separately. The four other panels represent the production of rope, ships, whiskey, and tobacco products. The “William Bloat” panel presumably stands for the linen industry, as the star of the tale is the bed sheet that is fashioned into a noose. The words to the song, including an extra verse not shown on the board, can be found below, along with a Tommy Makem performance of the song (from 1973!) in which the blade is Japanese-made.

William Bloat – Raymond Calvert (1926)

In a mean abode on the Shankill Road
Lived a man named William Bloat;
He had a wife, the bane of his life,
Who always got his goat.
And one day at dawn, with her nightdress on
He slit her bloody throat.

[With a razor gash he settled her hash
Never was crime so slick
But the drip drip drip on the pillowslip
Of her lifeblood made him sick.
And the knee-deep gore on the bedroom floor
Grew clotted and cold and thick.]

Now, he was glad he had done what he had
As she lay there stiff and still
‘Til suddenly awe of the angry law
Filled his soul with an icy chill.
And to finish the fun so well begun
He decided himself to kill.

Then he took the sheet from his wife’s cold feet
And he twisted it into a rope
And he hanged himself from the pantry shelf,
‘Twas an easy end, let’s hope.
With his dying breath and he facing death
He solemnly cursed the Pope.

But the strangest turn to the whole concern
Is only just beginning.
He went to Hell but his wife got well
And she’s still alive and sinning,
For the razor blade was German made
But the rope was Belfast linen.

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