Remembered With Pride

“Remembered with pride – Stevie McCrea, Village, south Belfast”. A plaque has been added below the large board describing Stevie McCrea’s life in Kilburn Street (seen in 2022’s Here Lies A Soldier, which includes the text on the board).

Also included below are close-ups of the plaques to McCrea and Sammy Mehaffy in Tavanagh Street, (seen together in Village UVF).

Village, south Belfast

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
T08839 T08840 T08841 T08842 T08843

We Lead Across Time And Space

“We don’t just inherit, we lead across time and space.”

Here is the second half of the Ulster-Scots (Visual History) mural painted in North Howard Street and Fifth Street, continuing the work seen in Echoes Of The Ulster Scots, which took the Scotch-Irish from Ulster to the Appalachians.

The new panels bring us from the founding of the United States in 1776 to the space age. The panel above is a rendition of John Trumbull’s painting ‘Declaration Of Independence’ (image at WP) along with (below the “250”) the signature of “Cha[rles] Thomson”, who was born in Maghera, served as Secretary of the Continental Congress, designed the Great Seal Of The United States (which appears next to the right), and signed the Declaration (Ulster Scots Agency pdf).

The person third from the left is Robert R. Livingston, one of the Committee Of Five that prepared the Declaration; he also negotiated the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 (Discover Ulster Scots).

The flag is a combination of a proposed Ulster Scots flag and the Stars And Stripes of the United States.

North Howard Street/Fifth Street, west Belfast

April 19th: Artist DMC at work on the second half of the mural.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
T08846 [T08848] T08847 T08823 T08834 T08835 T08844
T08845 T08838
[T08836] [T08837]
T08823 T08821 [T08822] [T08824] [T08825]

In Memory Of The Lost

“In memory of the lost, 15 April, 1912.” The majority lifeboats on the RMS (not “SS”) Titanic were made of wood, constructed at Harland & Wolff at the same time that Titanic was built. Of the 2,209 people on board the ship at the time of her collision with an iceberg late in the evening of April 14th, 706 people survived in lifeboats that could have carried 1,178 people. (WP)

This tribute to those who died in on a short section of pedestrian railings on the Cupar Way “peace” line (Visual History). In the background are the specially designated spots for tourists to sign the wall (see Collecting Signatures).

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
T08828 [T08827] T008829

Liberation

Saoradh describes itself as an all-Ireland, revolutionary, socialist, republican party (web) with the IRPWA (web) as its “prisoners’ welfare” department and Éıstıgí as its youth wing. The “revolutionary” is perhaps in reference to its (alleged) association with the New IRA.

Brompton Park/Havana Way, Ardoyne, north Belfast

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
T08813

Rough Guide To Belfast

The “peace wall” that divides west Belfast into Protestant and Catholic areas is mentioned in various places in the Rough Guide To Belfast. It doesn’t feature in the Discover NI or Visit Britain lists of ‘top attractions’ but is #4 on TripAdvisor’s list of things to do in Belfast.

The wall is notable for the wild-style writing and other art painted on the Shankill side – including this paste-up by Leo Boyd (web) – but the wall itself, at 30+ feet tall, is the main draw, and tourists sign their names (and patronising slogans) on top of the art.

For a history of the wall and the art on it, see its Visual History page.

Cupar Way, west Belfast

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
T08803 T08802
T08805 T08804

Echoes Of The Ulster-Scots

“Echoes of the Ulster-Scots across the United States Of America”, “The Ulster-Scots … their footprints and songs graced the Appalachian Trails.”

These four panels are the first stage of a longer “pioneers to presidents”-style mural (Visual History) on Ulster-Scots (or, Scotch-Irish) emigration in the 1700s to the British colonies that in time became the United States.

Upon arrival at eastern sea-ports, many of the Scotch-Irish headed west across the Allegheny mountains and down into the Appalachians. By 1790, it is estimated, almost 200,000 people, or 6% of the population, of the recently-created United States Of America were of Ulster-Scots heritage (WP).

These four panels are in North Howard Street, west Belfast. As can be seen from the wide shot below, the mural will soon be extended around the corner into Fifth Street. (Update: see We Lead Across Time And Space.)

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
T08810 [T08809] T08808 T08807 T08806
T08811

We Didn’t Last

This entry updates 2022’s They Said We’d Never Last, showing the space where previously there were four panels of historical photographs from the Ulster Volunteer Force flute band.

For the John Singer Sargent painting in the bottom-left corner of the wall, see Observe The Sons Of Ulster.

St Leonard’s Crescent/(old) Newcastle Street, east Belfast

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
T08797 T08798

When All That Was Solid Melted Into Air

At its peak, the Harland & Wolff shipyard employed 35,000 people (IndustriAll) and the flat-capped worker became a symbol of east Belfast, along – much later – with Samson and Goliath, the two gantry cranes at the shipyard that were raised in 1974 and 1969 (WP) and which have become the symbol of Belfast.

The title of this entry is the first line of Martin Mooney’s poem ‘Launching The Whaler Juan Peron.

The silhouetted workers and cranes are on a mobile office in Fraser Pass, Newtownards Road, Belfast, at the end of the Pitt Stop next to the Belfast Bikes racks.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
T08796

The Swifts

St James’s Swifts (web) are a west Belfast club playing intermediate level soccer with Donegal Celtic Park on the Suffolk Road as a home ground.

The three pieces shown here are in St James’s Crescent, at the Park Centre on Donegall Road, and St James’s Road. The mural in progress (shown last) is in St Katherine’s Road

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
T08444 T08443
T08621 T08622
T08792 [T08793]
T07262

Saturday Morning Stop Shop

Here are three banners/posters spotted along the Falls Road during the Easter Rising parade on April 5th:

Above: “Sainsbury’s supports Israel! Don’t shop there. Easter Sat 4th [April, 2026].” For background see the post and reel on the BDS Belfast Fb page.

Below: “U.S. military not welcome in Ireland! Not in Shannon, not in Aldergrove.” For background, see Al-Jazeera | ShannonWatch. April 13th: a person was arrested for taking a hatchet to a C-120 Hercules (Democracy Now).

Last below: “PSNI target Catholics at much higher rate for stop-and-search. Source: PSNI stop-and-search data. Do not join the RUC/PSNI. Same aim, different name. IRSP [web] – the party of Connolly & Costello.” The data in question might be from the 2020-2021 period (PSNI | TheDetail) as the current (2025) data do not appear to report on sectional identification.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
T08789 T08794 T08795