Here is a gallery of street art from a repainting at the end of June of the boarded up shop-fronts along Queen’s Parade, Bangor. The images from top to bottom in this post follow the art east from the Project24 space towards Main Street:
Side-Eye Birds by Strangford (ig) Sup Moon And Sun Save The Tiger Shark by Keyto (ig) Squid by Fox & Bear Swan by Kate Whiteman (ig) Hold Me In This Wild Wild World by Sweat, Tears, And The Sea (ig) Remember To Daydream by Lost Lines (ig) Stars by Cha Cha (ig) (organiser of the jam and tour guide for the Bangor Street Art tour) Koi Pond by Anie Poole (ig) Flowers by Alexandra (ig)
The Millbrook arch has three panels: “36th (Ulster) Division, Battle Of The Somme, 7:30 am 1st July 1916”; the Clyde Valley (Mountjoy II) “The SS Clyde Valley achieved notoriety for its role in the Larne gun-running operation 24th-25th April 1914”; “Sir Edward Carson signing the Ulster Covenant, Belfast City Hall 28th September 1912”.
The grenade at the heart of the ‘Grenadier’ emblem is an old spherical grenade, with a spout of fire; the classic “pin-and-pineapple” design dates to 1915 (WP Mills Bomb). Various regiments then put a symbol on the surface of the grenade (see e.g. East Belfast Volunteers); here, the Ulster Grenadiers flute band (Fb) have added Carrickfergus castle flying a Union Flag to the grenade at the centre of a new board erected on June 7th, 2024 (youtube video of the launch).
The battles listed on either side of the central emblem are battles in which the 36th Division took part, though by that time, grenadiers were not a specialised unit and each infantry platoon (of about 60 men – Schilling) would have both hand-grenade and rifle-grenade sections (Reddit) equipped with 100+ grenades (The World War).
“Welcome to Carrickfergus, a host town of “The Twelfth” 2024. It’s coming back to our home town. Join us on “The Twelfth” to help celebrate the 334th anniversary of The Battle of the Boyne.”
Carrickfergus was one of nineteen host towns for Twelfth “demonstrations” this year (GOLI); the parade went from the top of Sunnylands, through the town, and out to the grounds of the rugby club (GOLI). “It’s coming back” is perhaps in reference to the fact that Carrickfergus is the town where William III landed in 1690 before making his way to Belfast, Lisburn, and the Boyne – see June 14th, 1690.
The image above is of William III landing at Brixham in Devon, England, but the central panel (immediately below) and the fake “blue plaque” celebrate the 1690 landing of William at Carrickfergus. The postcard reproduced in the central panel, as well as an old Londonderry mural which also reproduced it, can be seen in the Peter Moloney collection. For details of the landing, and William’s subsequent travels to Whitehouse, Belfast, Lisburn, and the Boyne, see June 14th, 1690.
“By not voting, these people win. Fight back, vote unionist.” “These people” are: lawyer Pat Finucane, who was assassinated by the UDA in 1989 (far left panel); Shankill bomber Seán Kelly (WP) (second and third panels, with a 2017 BelTel quote about Kelly canvassing for Finucane); John Finucane, the incumbent Sınn Féın MP for Belfast North (fourth panel, with Gerry Kelly, MLA and previously unsuccessful candidate in Belfast North), and Gerry Adams (fifth panel, with Kelly and Finucane).
In the 2019 election, both the UUP and SDLP did not field candidates in Belfast North, and Sınn Féın’s John Finucane won over the DUP’s Nigel Dodds. In this election, the SDLP is fielding a candidate while the UUP is not; however, recent changes in the constituency boundary are predicted to favour nationalists (Bangor Dub | Slugger) and Finucane is generally odds-on favourite to win (OddsChecker).
A very similar tarp was mounted on the Shankill (part of which is in the Belfast North constituency) in 2019 (see Steeped In Blood). See also: Sinn Fein-IRA’s Golden Boy.
The two passages cited here have been cited before on the side wall at the junction of the Limestone Road and N Queen St, with images of Orange symbols and Union Flags, in order to promise that Your Kingdom Will Endure Forever. That theme has now been invoked in upper Tiger’s Bay, to celebrate the latest king (Charles III) of the everlasting kingdom demarcated by the shields of the “four nations” in the corners of the main gable, Northern Ireland included.
The people in question in the second book of Samuel are the people of Israel but as with previous scriptural references on the lower wall (Lamentations | Chronicles | Revelations | Psalms | Genesis), the Protestant people in Ireland and Britain are under discussion (though they might also refer to contemporary Israel).
In the King James version, 2 Samuel 7:10-16 the prophet Nathan is speaking to David: “Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime, and as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies. Also the Lord telleth thee that he will make thee an house. And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.”
In Luke 1:31-33, an angel is speaking to Mary: “And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.”
The scaffolding has been down from this obviously incomplete mural in Kilcooley, Bangor, and work on it seems to have ceased. The reasons for its abandonment are unclear.
A black street sign out of shot to the right (which can be seen in the third image, as well as a UDA emblem at the top) reads “Humber Street” – Humber Street was in east Belfast, at the top of Dee Street. We have not been able to locate this or other photographs of barricades in Humber Street. The period is presumably c. 1972, when the UDA set up no-go areas in Belfast (Pathé video; AP videos: one | two | three).
The other mural, on the left of the wide shots, is to East Belfast UDA brigadier Tommy Herron. As can be seen in the earliest in-progress image, below, the mural replaces the North Down Defenders mural.
The “completed” images, above, are from June 30th; work began at least two months previously.
The large gable at the junction of the Limestone Road and North Queen Street in north Belfast – most recently the site of a celebration of Rangers’ 55th title – see We Are The People – is being repainted, beginning with the low wall in front, as shown above. The side wall on the right of the wide shot below dates back to 2017 (see Your Kingdom Will Endure Forever) and the scriptural references on it also appear in the new installation in Mervue Street – see I Will Plant Them, That They May Dwell In A Place Of Their Own. It’s possible that a King Charles installation is in progress here, too.
The final image is of another Tiger’s Bay territorial marker in Upper Canning Street.
The centenary of Northern Ireland and the Our Story In The Making Project (web) provided an occasion for towns to revisit their pasts. Despite the title of the piece – Northern Ireland 100 Commemoration Mural – much of the mural pre-dates the centenary of the creation of Northern Ireland. Blackhead lighthouse opened in 1902; the Belfast & Northern Counties Railway company was founded in 1860 (web); Berkeley Wise, who helped develop the village of Whitehead into a tourist destination, died in 1909.
“Whitehead: Diverse, Welcoming, Forward Thinking – Northern Ireland 100 Commemoration Mural – Supported by the Northern Ireland Office, as part of the Our Story In The Making project, this mural was commissioned by Mid And East Antrim Borough Council. The mural came about following consultation with groups in the town and has been designed and painted by Dee Craig of Belfast Mural Arts, November 2021. The symbolism of the mural is detailed below … Berkeley Deane Wise … The Trees … The Steam Train … The Spitfire … The Signpost … Blackhead Lighthouse … The Town Of Whitehead … The Colourful Houses …”
At Bentra golf club, Whitehead. Also included (last below) is the emic (ig) piece “Time Waits For No One” at the club after beginning life in Larne (ig).
Paddy Duffy Collection 