Paddy Duffy Collection

Thai Orchid

The national flower of Thailand is the blossom of the cassia fistula or golden shower tree but the high humidity and high heat also make the country an ideal growing location for more than a thousand species of orchids, making Thailand (one of) the world’s largest exporters of orchids (Nation Thailand | ASEAN Garden). In Thailand itself, they are a mark of respect and are given, for example, to teachers on Teachers’ Day (Thailand Now).

These orchids (perhaps Phalaenopsis Baldan’s Kaleidoscope) are on the shutters of Orchid Thai Massage (web) in Great Victoria Street, Belfast city centre.

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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Maps | Visual Histories | Collections: Peter Moloney | Paddy Duffy | Seosamh Mac Coılle

Thank you visiting the Paddy Duffy Collection!

The galleries below provide a quick way to view the more than 7,000 images added to Paddy’s collection so far. Write-ups with descriptions and background information for many individual images are also available – click on each image in the galleries for individual entries or use the search tools in the side-bar on the right (or simply keep scrolling).

Soho Foundry

2026-05-242026-06-02Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The Townsend Enterprise Park, at the Falls end of Townsend Street, was formerly the site of the Soho Foundry, established by brothers James and Robert Shipboy MacAdam, making (among other things, including scutching machines) large turbines for export across the world – “the largest steam-engine ever made in Ireland” (at 62″ in diameter) went to the Nile in Egypt in 1848 (Grace’s | Grace’s). This new mural on the wall of the Enterprise Park recalls the area’s industrial past.

By Imogen Donegan (ig) with support from Daisy Chain (web).

Kanagawa

2026-05-242026-06-02Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This is a version (without the boats) of Hokusai’s Great Wave on the shutters of Kanagawa Japanese restaurant (Fb) in Donegall Pass.

The full title of Hokusai’s famous picture is called ‘The Great Wave Off Kanagawa, 1831’. Kanagawa is a prefecture in Japan, south-west of Tokyo, with a view of Mount Fuji.

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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Grumpy & Groovy

2026-05-242026-06-02Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

These are two pieces painted for Hit The North 2026 by (left) Imogen Donegan (ig) and (right) David J McMillan (ig).

Great Victoria Street, opposite the Good Vibrations quartet.

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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Remember Them

2026-05-222026-05-31Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Rathcoole remembers 11th November. Lest we forget”, “In remembrance” with some lines from For The Fallen, and “Remember them, generation to generation”.

This trio of WWI memorial boards is on the fence of the basketball court along Derrycoole Way, Rathcoole, Newtownabbey, next to an installation of gravestones and sandbags – Row On Row.

The sponsors in the corners of the board shown above are RATH Community Group (Fb) and Dalaradia (web); they previously jointly supported a QEII mural “On The Occasion Of Her Platinum Jubilee“. RATH holds a commemorative service annually in November.

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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The Undying Prayer For Absolute Freedom

2026-05-212026-06-03Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Mícheál Mac Daıbhéad ~ Michael Davitt, 1846 ~ 1906 … a true republican, a revolutionary and a visionary. This mural was erected to celebrate and to thank all those members of Davitt’s GAC, past and present, who have fought, struggled and diligently contributed to the foundation, development and maintainment of this club in serving our local community of the greater Falls, down through the years.”

Mícheál Mac Daıbhéad/Michael Davitt is famous for leading the Irish Republican Brotherhood and as “father of the Land League”, and a west Belfast CLG and social club is named in his honor. The board in the courtyard of the social club includes twenty photographs of the lower Falls area from the years of the Troubles.

“To all my friends I leave kind thoughts, to my enemies the fullest possible forgiveness, and to Ireland the undying prayer for the absolute freedom and independence which it was my life’s ambition to try and obtain for her.” These words come from Davitt’s will; he died at age 60 (Mayo Live). The mural referred to in the information board (in the final image) was painted for the centenary of the club, in 2012.

Unleashed

2026-05-212026-05-28Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Here are two new pieces by in the pedestrian tunnel next to the York Street rail station – which was originally painted in the summer of 2024 – by (above) Ana Fish (ig) – featuring her dog Betty (ig) – and by Wee Nuls (ig) (below).