Author: Extramural Activity

The Eye Of Providence

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The Society Of United Irishmen – who hoped for French support for a rebellion in Ireland – could not meet openly while France and Britain were at war. In Belfast, meetings were held at Dr [Benjamin] Franklin’s tavern in Sugarhouse Entry, also called “Peggy Barclay’s” after its owner, under the guise of a social group called the Muddlers’ Club.

There is today a restaurant called The Muddlers’ Club, named after the society, in Warehouse Lane. The piece above shows a skull, a scythe, a pair of wings, and the Square & Compasses of the Freemasons (with a “G” for “God” or “geometry”). The second piece includes a skull, an eight-pointed star/compass, and an Eye Of Horus (familiar from Freemasons, the 1 dollar bill in US currency, and the Illuminati).

The piece on the left was painted by Visual Waste (web) in June, 2017; the one on the right was added later.

Two earlier pieces with similar imagery on the other side of the entry disappeared with the wall they were painted on: see God Approves Our Undertakings and The Wider Conspiracy.

See also the Visual History page on the Belfast Entries.

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Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
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The Drumbeg Omniplex

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These are images of the sub-station at the green in the middle of Drumbeg. Above are children bearing messages of “happiness” and peace (a second trio of children on the right-hand side of the image above has been blotted out by a large pink splotch). The plaque in the top right reads, “A Shared Space & Services Re-Imaging Project supported by the European Union’s Peace IV Programme”.

On the other walls are a goal with points for hitting different spots, the “Drumbeg Omniplex” with “movie coming soon”, and two pairs of Irish dancers on either side of a reflective panel that has now disappeared.

Drumbeg, Lurgan

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Clann Éıreann

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“Forward together. 5 steps to wellbeing: Give, take notice, be active, keep learning, connect.” These murals are in the northern stands at Clann Éıreann CLG (web) in Kilwilkie, Lurgan. The club also has handball facilities, a youth club, and a social club on Lake Street.

Deramore Drive, Lurgan

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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Continuity, Not Compromise

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The CIRA (Continuity IRA) is the military wing of Republican Sınn Féın (RSF web), which split from Provisional Sınn Féın in 1986, though the military campaign did not begin until the Provisional IRA ceasefire in 1994. Like all of the various IRAs, the CIRA claims to be continuing the fight for (all-island) Irish freedom begun with the 1916 Easter Rising – the board (above) commemorates the centenary of the Rising.

To the left is a slightly newer RSF board: “Stop the extradition of Liam Campbell now – don’t hand him over, don’t play England’s game”. Campbell was extradited from the Republic to Lithuania in 2022 (BBC) but was returned to Ireland later the same year when a court ruled the statute of limitations has expired (RN).

The CIRA’s armed campaign is represented by the hooded gunman in the ‘warning sign’ below.

Also included (last below) is a small IRSP (web) stencil.

The pieces are in the adjacent Meadowbrook and Drumbeg areas of Lurgan.

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The World Has Abandoned Palestinians

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The QR code included in this display of solidarity with Palestine takes one to a post from December 2024 on the instagram page of the BDS Movement, asking people to boycott various firms “for their complicity in Israel’s occupation, apartheid and genocide”.

North Street, Lurgan

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I Owe My Allegiance To The Working Class

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“I owe my allegiance [here “allegience”] to the working class” is a phrase associated with Seamus Costello (b. 1939), who fought for the IRA during the Border Campaign and was interned in the Curragh for two years. He stayed with the Officials during the split, but was driven out in 1974 and formed the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) and the INLA. He was shot in 1977 (WP). Nora Connolly, at Costello’s funeral, said, “He was the only one who truly understood what James Connolly meant when he spoke of his vision of the freedom of the Irish people.”

Drumbeg, Lurgan

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