PUL

Our Only Crime Is Loyalty

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These are the boards at the chip shop (formerly a Spar and before that a Mace) in the centre of the Mourneview estate, Lurgan.

Above, and in detail below, are the pieces from the front of the shop, in Pollock Drive. Anti-clockwise from bottom-left:

First: “Believe, we dare not boast,/Believe, we do not fear/We stand to pay the cost,/In all that men hold dear.//What answer from the North?/One Law, one Land, one Throne/If England drive us forth,/We shall not fall alone!” Kipling’s poem Ulster.

The first stanza also appears in a Belfast RHC mural, and other lines from the poem have been used elsewhere: We Perish If We Yield | The Terror, Threats, And Dread.

Second: YCV

Next (tall piece): A company, 1st battalion, Mid Ulster brigade UVF – Lurgan as well as Broxburn (outside Edinburgh) and Thornliebank (near Glasgow).

Next: PAF plus (out of frame in the wide shot) “When injustice becomes law resistance becomes duty.” The same panel was seen in Ballyclare, though for the 1st East Antrim battalion rather than the Mid Ulster brigade.

Above: A tribute to the Ulster Volunteers from the area: the 9th battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers joined the 108th brigade in the 36th (Ulster) Division; the 5th battalion joined the 31st brigade and the 10th (Irish) Division. This board goes back to (at least) 2011.

Finally (top left), a UDU/UDA board, to 1 company, D battalion, South Belfast. All of the remaining pieces are UVF/PAF.

Around the corner, in Mourne Road, a gallery of photographs of the Craigavon Protestant Boys (Fb) past and present, with a plaque in memory of Victor Stewart. “Our only crime is loyalty.”

In the adjacent Spelga Park: “Unbowed & unbroken – our only crime is loyalty – Mourneview/Gret estate bonfire” with an unusual combination of shamrock and Orange lily.

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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Have Pride In Our Youth

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These community murals were painted under the auspices of the Edgarstown Residents’ Association (Fb), which hosts a Drop-In, Kids’ Club, Evolve (NI World), Smile (ArmaghI), and PCBDT (Portadown Community-Based Detached Team) (NI World | NIHE). The sub-station was painted in March, 2022 (Fb) – in the early 2000s it bore a UVF mural (see D01333); the low wall reading “Welcome To Edgarstown” is from August of this year (2024).

West Street/Margaret Street and Union Street, Edgarstown, Portadown

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Portadown True Blues

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Two plaques have been added to the Portadown True Blues mural in Edgarstown, Portadown (as compared with the images from 2021). They read “In loving memory of Richard “Dickie” Craven. Fondly remembered by the Portadown True Blues F.B.” and “In loving memory of Mark “E.T.” Elliott. Fondly remembered by the Portadown True Blues F.B.” Craven died in at the end of July, 2021, (Fb) and Elliott also in 2021 (Fb).

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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In Deo Speramus

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“In Deo speramus”. “Edgarstown Remembers” “our forty-two fallen sons who made the ultimate sacrifice by giving their tomorrow for our today in the Great War 1914-1918.” “Dear Lord, I am just a soldier, a protector of our land/A servant called to battle when my country takes a stand./I pray for strength and courage and a heart that will forgive/For peace and understanding in a world for all to live./My family’s prayers are with me, no matter where I roam./Please listen when I’m lonely and return me safely home – Unknown”

Union Street, Edgarstown, Portadown

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Dead, Dissected, And Buried

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These are the UDA boards on Avenue Road, near Lurgan Park, which proved controversial when they were erected (in 2016), mainly because the second piece (below) “celebrat[es] 30 years of South Belfast/Lurgan 1 company D battalion” UDA and shows Troubles-era shows-of-strength (News Letter) and because it turned out the wall was owned by the Housing Executive (NIWorld).

The piece above describes the creation of the UDU in 1893, as a response to the second Home Rule bill, which was passed by the Commons but rejected in the Lords, and which Edward Saunderson celebrated by saying, “Home Rule is dead. It was dissected in the House of Commons, buried in the House of Lords, and even the Irish people would not trouble to give it a wake”. The UDU is as used an origin-story for the UDA, though often in vague terms, such as the verbiage here which reads “[the UDU] would become the birth stone of the Ulster Defence Association, as we looked to the patriotism of our forefathers to defend our communities”. (For more, see UDU-UFF-UDA. For Saunderson, see Union Is Strength.)

This year (2024), UVF lettering a stone’s throw away, on the other side of the entrance to the park, likewise drew criticism (BelTel | ArmaghI), but it has now been removed.

Avenue Road, Lurgan.

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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Elizabeth, Queen Of Orange

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William III is the only member of the (Dutch) House Of Orange to rule the UK, as his marriage to Mary did not produce any offspring, and the crown passed to Mary’s sister Anne after both Mary (1694) and William (1702) had died (WP). Queen Elizabeth II was from the Saxe-Coburg And Gotha ‘house’ (changed during the Great War to “Windsor”) via her great-great-grandfather Prince Albert (of Victoria & Albert) but she symbolises Orangism to Northern Irish Protestants and in the portrait shown here she wears an orange jacket and an orange hat which has a band of orange lilies; the portrait is framed by a Union Flag and two clusters of orange lilies.

The plaque on the right reads “This mural is a tribute to her majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Funded by the loyal people of Portadown. To God be the glory.”

Youtube video of the launch on June 8th.

Brownstown Road, Portadown, replacing the George Best mural that re-imaged the Billy Wright mural c. 2007.

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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Red Hand, Red Lion

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The ‘Lion Rampant’ in the crest of (Glasgow) Rangers FC comes from the Royal Banner Of Scotland (where it has a blue tongue and blue claws) (WP); the national flag of Scotland is the St Andrew’s Saltire, which appears in the centre of the trio at the top of this mural, between the red hand of Northern Ireland and the red lion. The “RFC” crest, including the word “Ready”, appeared on players’ shirts between 1990 and 1995 (WP).

There has been a version of this mural in Edgarstown, Portadown, since (at least) 2002, though previously it gave 1873 as the date of formation – see M04154 from 2008 and X00508 from 2011.

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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Their Amazing Attack

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On July 1st, 1916, the Battle of Albert began, the first of many battles in what is known collectively as the Battle of the Somme. Soldiers from the 36th (Ulster) Brigade went “over the top” at 7:28 a.m. By the end of the day, more than nineteen thousand British soldiers were dead, five thousand from the 36th.

Below the main panel, which shows combat at close quarters, are the words of Wilfrid Spender: “I am not an Ulsterman but yesterday, the 1st. July, as I followed their amazing attack, I felt that I would rather be an Ulsterman than anything else in the world … the Ulster Volunteer Force, from which the Division was made, has won a name that equals any in history.”

The side-wall and the Mid-Ulster Brigade roll-of-honour plaque concern the modern UVF: “When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty“. (Compare to the side-wall in 2016 / 2021.)

Union Street, Edgarstown, Portadown

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