PUL

Doubt Thou The Stars Are Fire

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Here is a selection of Shakespearean quotations on the topic of love on the driveway walls of a house on the Ballyclare Road in Glengormley:

“William Shakespeare – 1565-1616 Aged 52 – 38 plays, 154 sonnets”

[Left (image below)]

“Hear my soul speak of the very instant that I saw you, did/My heart fly at your service” [The Tempest 3.1]

“Tell me, for which of my bad parts didst thou first fall in love with me?” [Much Ado About Nothing 5.2]

“Parting is such sweet sorrow” [Romeo & Juliet 2.2]

“I would not wish any companion in the world but you” [The Tempest 3.1]

“So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,/So long lives this, and this gives life to thee” [Sonnet 18]

[Right (image above)]

“Doubt thou the stars are fire/Doubt that the sun doth move/Doubt truth to be a liar/But never doubt I love” [Hamlet Act 2 Scene 2]

“When I saw you/I fell in love./And you smiled/because you knew” [from Arrigo Boito’s libretto to Verdi’s Falstaff. In Italian: “Come ti vidi/M’innamorai./E tu sorridi/Perchè lo sai”]

“See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand/O that I were a glove upon that hand/That I might touch that cheek.” [Romeo & Juliet 2.2]

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The Auld Meetin’-Hoose Green

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The Auld Meetin’-Hoose Green was an 1898 collection of tales from Ballyclare and surroundings as retold by by Archibald McIlroy, who grew up in the area before moving to Belfast, Drumbo, and Canada. McIlroy died travelling on the Lusitania, when it was hit by a German submarine in 1915 (Ulster Biography | Ulster Biography). The stories have been brought to life in a podcast.

This new street art is by Zippy (ig) in Main Street, Ballyclare.

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The Going Is Good

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Hazelbank (House) was blown up by the IRA in the 1970s (The Burn) and Macedon (House) was demolished after being closed in 1981 – their grounds became Hazelbank Park (History Hub Fb). The towers on the promenade by the shore provide a backdrop for this Lidia Cao (ig) street art on the Shore Road.

With Daisy Chain (web) and A&N borough council (web).

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Donegall Road Memorial Garden

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This entry covers two steps in the development of the WWI memorial garden on Donegall Road at Barrington Gardens.

Previously, there were two boards on the gable wall (see The Road To The Somme), of the Covenant signing and soldiers in the trenches of WWI (a copy of a Carol Graham painting).

The images below (from November, 2023) show the latter board absent as the brick walls are being built and a roll of honour to locals who lost their lives being installed.

The images in the top half of the entry (from October 2024) show the gable and side-wall painted blue, with a large board showing the Ulster Memorial Tower in Thiepval, below a red hand, and (on the side-wall) the crests of the YCV, Inniskilling Fusiliers, Royal Irish Fusiliers, and the Royal Irish Rifles.

November, 2023:

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I Here Present Unto You Your Undoubted King

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The tribute to the new UK monarch King Charles III at the northeastern corner of Tiger’s Bay has been completed, with Ulster Banner and Union Flag on either side of a circular board showing a crown with the flowers of the “four nations” – thistle, shamrock, daffodil, and rose – both inside (in blue) and out (in red).

There is another piece using the same central board inside the estate – see I Will Plant Them.

The title of this entry comes from Charles’s coronation service, on May 6th, 2023 (pdf).

For ‘Loyalist Tiger’s Bay’ on the front wall, see the Stop The Boats; for the Orange Order symbols on the side wall (in the final image) – including the crown and Bible in the apex of the main wall – see Your Kingdom Will Endure Forever.

Limestone Road, north Belfast

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Three-By-Four

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Here are three ‘Four Loko’ hand-painted ads in Belfast, specifically Islandbawn Street, west Belfast (above), Little Donegall Street, city centre (immediately below) by Shane Ha (web) in August, and (final image) Legann Street, Ligoniel, north Belfast.

Four Loko was originally contained caffeine, taurine, and guaraná (as well as being 12% alcohol), and was marketed as an energy drink (or, “blackout in a can” (GrubStreet | Campus Times)). Now, it just has the alcohol and the fruit flavour (Four Loko FAQ | WP page on the 2010 ban).

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John And Rab

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Cloughfern Young Conquerors flute band (Fb – warning: copious use of images of Eddie The Trooper) was founded in 1973, the same year as the UDA began using the name “UFF”. “John” and “Rab” on the arms of the emblem above are John “Grugg” Gregg (also known as ‘The Reaper’) and Rab Carson of the UDA’s Southeast Antrim brigade. The pair were killed together in 2003 by the lower Shankill (West Belfast C company) UDA. (See also Gregg & Carson for another local tribute.)

The gentleman in the panel on the right is “The General”; he celebrated a birthday in July of this year (2024) (Fb) and so is perhaps not (as this board might suggest) another of the “absent friends” held in “glorious memory”.

See also: 50 Years Unbroken and CYC 50th– celebrations from 2023 of the band’s fiftieth anniversary.

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They Fought Together As Brothers In Arms

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This is a smallish board in New Mossley, Newtownabbey:

On the left: “11th/12th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles (South and Central Antrim Volunteers) – The Ulster Memorial Tower, Thiepval, France. The Ulster Memorial Tower was unveiled by Field Marshall Sir Henry Wilson in Thiepval, France, on 19 November 1921, in dedication to the contributions of the 36th (Ulster) Division during The Great War 1914-1918. The tower marks the site of the Schwaben redoubt, against which the (Ulster) Division advanced on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.”

Specifically, the Central Antrim regiment (of the Ulster Volunteers) became the 12th battalion RIR, while the South Antrim regiment (of the Ulster Volunteers) became the 11th battalion RIR; both joined the 108th brigade in the 36th division.

The redoubt is also the site of the Thiepval Memorial.

JP Beadle’s painting “Battle of the Somme: Attack of the Ulster Division” hangs in Belfast City Hall (Royal Irish has a history of its purchase).

On the right: “The Great War 1914-1918. 32,186 killed, wounded, missing, 36th (Ulster) Division. They fought together as brothers in arms, they died together and now they sleep side by side. To them we owe a solemn obligation. They died that we might live.”

The sword-in-cross is a common war memorial but the one pictured is probably the Tyne Cot memorial to the Commonwealth dead of WWI (see Great War 100 Reads).

See also: The same boards (at larger size) next to the memorial garden – South And Central Antrim Volunteers. And from the historical record, True Heroes – which includes two small, painted, 36th Division boards from the street in 2009.

Ballyearl Drive, Newtownabbey.

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3rd Battalion New Mossley

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The hooded gunman at the New Mossley playground – seen previously in Welcome To New Mossley Play Area – has been upgraded with a golden UVF emblem (shown last, below), and has been joined by two new pieces: the printed board above and the low wall below. The 3rd battalion also includes Rathcoole, Mount Vernon, and Tiger’s Bay.

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