Extramural Activity

Women Through The Ages

2012-07-292026-08-28Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

A good part of this board is in fact dedicated to Edward Carson – in the top left are “Sir Edward Carson’s family”, “Sir Edward Carson’s wife”, and “Sir Edward Carson’s mother” and below them is a photograph of Carson presenting colours to the South Belfast Volunteers (see We Won’t Have Home Rule) and another (to the middle) of “Sir Edward Carson being introduced to woman nurses”. In the centre are “Local women preparaing food during UWC strike 1974”. Other images include English monarchs Victoria (Queen Of Ireland, Empress Of India) and Elizabeth, Ulster 1914, and the signing of the Ulster Covenant by women.

“This project is part of Belfast City Council’s Cultural Networks programme. It is funded by the EU Programme For Peace & Reconciliation In Northern Ireland And The Border Region Of Ireland (Peace III).”

Enfield Street, Woodvale, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2012 Paddy Duffy
T00696 [T00697]

Civil And Religious Liberty For All

2012-07-282026-08-04Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Take pride in your history and culture”, namely: the Siege Of Derry and the Battle Of The Boyne (from the Jackson Mural in the Fountain); flute bands (Shankill Protestant Boys, Shankill Star, Pride Of The Shankill, Ulster Girls, Young Conway Volunteers, Pride Of Ardoyne, Warkworth Purple Star, Hillview, Shankill Road Defenders, Pride Of The West, West Belfast Volunteers, Sons Of Ulster, Pink Ladies (Ulster), Whiterock, Shankill Fusiliers, Britannia); Royal Black and Orange Order parades (marching past the Guildhall in Londonderry and the Clifton Street lodge in Belfast), 11th night bonfires, supporting the Northern Ireland soccer team, lambeg drumming, playing the pipes, accordion playing – with Union flags and bunting throughout.

Cambrai Street, Woodvale, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2012 Paddy Duffy
T00699 [T00698]

Charge From Thiepval Wood

2012-07-272026-08-04Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The nameplate on the lower corner of Northland Street now reads “Thiepval Street” and the Thiepval board above adorns the end wall (replacing an earlier mural to UVF A Company 5th platoon). On the other side of Conway Street is/was North Howard Walk where a plate now reads “Passchendaele Court“. The names are unofficial (as of November 15th, 2012). (See also “Somme Street”.)

The memorial stone is dedicated to the UVF company (and not to the WWI soldiers from the 36th (Ulster) Division who died in the charge from Thiepval Wood, July 1st, 1916): “This stone is dedicated to the memory of the fallen volunteers of No. 5 platoon A company 1st Belfast battalion Ulster Volunteer Force. ‘As poppy petals gently fall/Remember us who gave our all/Not in the mud of foreign lands/Nor buried in the desert sands//In Ulster field and farm and town/Fermanagh’s lanes and Drumlin’d Down/We died that violent death should cease/And Ulstermen might live in peace’ Lest we forget.”

The Conway Walk mural was produced by the “Shankill 1st Somme [Association]” with support from the “Govan Somme Association, Grapes Bar, Glasgow”.

Northland Street and Conway Walk, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2012 Paddy Duffy
T00702 T00700 [T00701]

Our Brave Defenders

2012-07-262026-08-04Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The four main panels of the mural (above) show
the men of the 36th going over the top on the first day of the Somme (1st July 1916),
the “angel of Mons” (WP),
Ulster Tower (“This tower was dedicated to the glory of God. In grateful memory of the officers, non commissioned officers and men of the 36th (Ulster) Division, and of the sons of Ulster in other forces who laid down their lives in the great war, and of all their comrades in arms who, by divine grace, were spared to testify to their glorious deeds. ‘Throughout the long years of struggle …. the men of Ulster have proved how nobly they fight and die’ – 16th November 1918 King George V”),
and
Thiepval Memorial (“Dear men and brothers, going out/to fight for Ulster’s need/we hail you with a mighty shout/brave friends, and true in deed.//Your country holds you in renown/your names will never be dead/and some sweet angel has a crown/for each dear, manly head.”)

The memorial garden features the Victoria Cross winners from the 36th (Ulster) Division. For close-ups, see the Peter Moloney Collection.

St Leonard’s Crescent (the old Newcastle Street) in east Belfast

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Copyright © 2011/2012 Paddy Duffy
T00679 T00680

East Belfast Remembers

2012-07-252026-08-04Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

East Belfast remembers both the Great War and the victims of various attacks during the Troubles: in pictures: Kingsmill – Shankill – Enniskillen; in garlands of poppies: La Mon 12 dead 17th Feb 1978, Bloody Friday 21st July 1972 9 dead 130 injured, Omagh 15th Aug 1998 29 dead 300 injured, Darkley 20th Nov 1983 3 dead 7 injured, Teebane 17th Jan 1992 8 dead, Ballygawley 20th Aug 1988 8 dead 28 injured, Tullyvallen 1st Sept 1975 5 dead 6 injured.

On the facing wall is a similar mural about deaths during the Troubles: “”The Troubles” – During the “Troubles” there were several thousand people killed and many thousands injured. In order to justify the carnage and hurt caused republicans through their propaganda machine attempt to make out to the world that they were the victims, but the truth is somewhat different. The simple fact is that it was PIRA who murdered and maimed the vast majority of people[.] [N]umerous Sinn Fein-IRA members have blood on their hands[.] It is they who created many of the victims. Northern Ireland remains British. The democratic wish of the people is for peace. However[,] it is vital that as society moves forward to a new terror[-]free future that those who were murdered or injured are not forgotten. This mural recalls some of the misery inflicted[,] in order that the victims of republican terror are not forgotten. “Lest we forget.”” “We owe it to the future and the victims never to forget the past – the price of peace is eternal vigilence.”

Individual panels recount the deaths at Hyde Park, Claudy, La Mon House, Ballymacarrett, Kingsmills [Kingsmill], and Birmingham.

Sponsored by the East Belfast Historical And Cultural Society – see Visual History 10.

Derwent Street, east Belfast

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Copyright © 2011/2012 Paddy Duffy
T00683 T00681 [T00682]

RMS Titanic

2012-07-242026-08-04Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Her name is publicly announced in April 1908. Designation begins in March 1909. On May 31. 1911, the Titanic was launched here in Belfast, April 10, 1912. She left Southampton for New York. April 14, 1912 disaster struck in the North Atlantic ocean, 1523 people lost their lives in the disaster, 705 passengers and crew survived.” “This mural is respectfully dedicated to the men, women and children who lost their lives in the waters of the North Atlantic on the night of April 14, 1912: to those who survived – whose lives from that night on were forever altered; and to those who built the Titanic [at Harland and Wolff]. We forget them not.”

Pictured in the centre of the mural is Captain Edward John “Ted” Smith.

Dee Street, east Belfast, teplacing an earlier Titanic mural.

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Copyright © 2012 Paddy Duffy
T00704 [T00705]

HMS Belfast

2012-07-232026-08-04Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“HMS Belfast – built in Belfast to protect Britain’s future. Pro tanto quid retribuamus. [What shall we give in return for so much? – the motto of Belfast city]”. The mural shows HMS Belfast being launched on March 17, 1938. After serving in WWI and Korea, the ship is now a tourist attraction in London.

Tower Street, east Belfast

The Elementary Right

2012-07-222026-08-04Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“We seek nothing but the elementary right implanted in every man: the right if you are attacked, to defend yourself.” Hooded gunmen return to east Belfast, replacing a mural for the Glentoran Community Trust.

It’s not clear who the UVF felt attacked by in 2011; it is possible that this mural is also about local muscle-flexing in addition to sectarian politics or attention from the police.

Newtownards Road at the old Bright Street, east Belfast

Ship Of Dreams

2012-07-212026-08-04Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Built in Belfast.” The White Star Line ship Titanic sank in the Atlantic in the early morning of April 15th, 1912, a thousand miles from New York (the co-ordinates are given in the top right), having been launched from Belfast’s Harland & Wolff shipyard, which is near this mural in east Belfast.

The portraits are of Captain Edward Smith, architect Thomas Andrews, Jack Phillips (wireless officer), and paperboy Ned Parfett.

Kenilworth Place, Ballymacarrett, east Belfast

CS Lewis

2012-07-202026-08-04Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

CS Lewis (1898-1963) was born and reared in Belfast until age 9. He was wounded at Arras in WWI and studied at Oxford after the war. He is most noted for work in Christian apologetics and children’s fiction, especially The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe, written in 1950.

Convention Court, Ballymacarrett, east Belfast

Paddy Duffy Collection

Murals From Belfast (And Round-About)

Author: Extramural Activity