These two fake newspapers allude to the fact that the river Farset, after which Belfast is named, still runs below the city, invisible since it was covered over in 1804. (You can read George Benn’s A History Of The Town Of Belfast at archive.org.)
Wilson’s Court; presumably by Leo Boyd (compare with New Weird Order).
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“For your tomorrow, we gave our today.” On either side of the central text are “8th battalion RIR” and the emblem of the 36th Division. The East Belfast regiment of the (1912) Ulster Volunteers became the 8th battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles and joined the 107th brigade in the 36th Division.
In the corners of the tarp above is the emblem of the Sons Of The Somme flute band, Johnstone (west of Glasgow) (Fb). The tarp is on the (closed) Belvoir Bar on the Newtownards Road. For the “property of East Belfast UVF” stencil and the plaque at the bottom, see Not For Sale.
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Copyright © 2023 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The “Pilgrims” mural on the Newtownards Road has been replaced with an almost-identical representation on boards. As far as we know, this is the fourth instance of this design. Other instances of this mural are: Mersey St c. 1997-2007 (T00240); Tamar St (c. 2002-2005) (M02337); a small version above Cheepers c . 2006 (M02920); and the previous version in this spot on Newtownards Road, 2011-2022 (X00905). The existing mural was significantly faded; the companion “Elementary Right” mural on the other side of the Newtownards Road is less faded but (as can be seen in the final image, below) the paint is peeling away in places.
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Here is a gallery of images from the now locked-up and boarded-up (and over-grown) Vault building, formerly the Belfast Met, awaiting demolition and redevelopment as housing. The images below move from left to right beginning with a piece that has not been featured before (outlines of human figures, with hearts on their chests); for the others, see Vault Guard Cat | Show Some Love | Build Communities | Vaulty Towers | In Bloom | Bizarre Bazaar.
See also: The Vault Is Empty | Do You Own A Giant Building?
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Here are two of Ruth Crothers’s (“Ruth Prints” on ig) pieces on the theme of the Belfast entries in years gone by, teeming with life.
They were produced for the first wave of the Belfast Entries project – see the project’s Visual History page.
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The last major weekend of marching season occurs this weekend with marches by the Royal Black (web) lodges. These signs from earlier in the season — “Single drumbeat only beyond this point”, “Single drumbeat ends” — were posted along Shore Road at the stretch in front ot St Mary’s Star Of The Sea Catholic church. “Respect – Heritage – Culture” signs are then posted down as far as the Whitehouse Workingmen’s Club. You can check the Parades Commission for times and routes of parades.
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Like “You’re never too old to set another goal or dream another dream” in east Belfast, “We are what we believe we are” appears to be another of those inspirational quotes attributed to – but not actually by – CS Lewis. The quote appears alongside Belfast landmarks the Titanic centre, Aslan, the Big Fish/Salmon of Knowledge, an unidentified cupola.
Part of a piece by Faigy (ig) in Wilson’s Entry, Belfast.
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Here is a small piece of repbulican graffiti in the Elmfield area of Glengormley – a hammer and sickle.
See previously: Glengormley Republican Youth | Gleann Ghormlaithe Poblachtacht
Church Crescent, Glengormley, Newtownabbey.
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This is the Titanic Quarter version of Terry Bradley’s (ig) painting Dockers’ Rest, realised in mural form by Friz (ig) at the Titanic museum’s “destination bar” Hickson’s Point (Titanic Belfast) which is named after the (pre-H&W) yard of Robert Hickson (Belfast Titanic Society).
Since this piece was created, in 2019, another version has been created in 2022 by DMC on Lanark Way – see Sailortown Dockers.
For a Sailortown pub still in operation, see McMahon’s.
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The Gladstone Bar — seen on the right of the image above – was in Gilford Street at the junction with Divis Street, which stretches towards the city on the left. The other street image is perhaps also Divis St/Falls Rd though there are no easily-identifiable landmarks. In between them is a scene from the 1930 Laurel and Hardy film, Night Owls (WP).
To the left of these three is a mural of an island paradise, and to its left (in the final image) we find Muhammad Ali, based on the famous photo of Ali standing over Sonny Liston in their second encounter.
The murals are in a courtyard off Ross Road and were probably painted at the request of a local resident. The Ali-Liston fight – in 1965 – perhaps gives a date for the consciousness that groups all of these items together – the Gladstone was still standing in the 60s and Laurel and Hardy played on UK televisions into the 1970s. The source for the palm trees is unknown.
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