Side by side in Erskine Park, Ballyclare: a memorial to the 36th (Ulster) Division of the World War of 1914-1918 and “Thank you NHS and all key workers” of the global pandemic, 2020-2023.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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This is a UVF/YCV mural in Grange Drive, Ballyclare, celebrating and commemorating soldiers from the Ulster Volunteers who went on to serve in the 36th (Ulster) Division in WWI and in particular at the Somme. The central panel shows soldiers bearing the Division’s standard (painted in colour in an otherwise black-and-white mural and in the style of the (US) Marines ‘Iwo Jima’ Memorial (WP)) which comprises the Union flag, harp insignia of the Royal Irish Rifles, and the red hand of Ulster on a field of shamrocks.
The other panels show uniforms of the Ulster Volunteers, a Protestant woman defending the fields, soldiers going over the top, and soldiers bowed at a UVF memorial.
Also included, below, is an ‘over the top’ image from a substation at the very top of the estate.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T01801 [T01802] T01804 Henry V shakespeare
This is an update to the WWI ‘Ballyclare & District’ mural in Charles Drive. Originally, in 2016 there was ‘South East Antrim’ lettering on the side-wall to the right; in 2019 the orange board with words from Binyon’s For The Fallen (shown last below) was added to the left; on the right now is the board shown above: “The blood of our comrades shed/Shall not have been in vain/We honour Ulster’s dead/And staunch we will remain.” The same lines were used in Ballymoney and in Cloughfern.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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An explicitly UDA mural returns to the Grange estate (Ballyclare); the previous Young Guns board fell down. Two men were imprisoned in October (2022) (Belfast Live) and November (4NI), the former from the estate, in connection with investigations into the Ballyclare UDA in February, 2021. Two others were arrested in Larne and Ballyclare in September (BelTel).
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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Sir Edward Carson, 1854-1935, was born and raised in Dublin, and practiced law there for many years, but he is most famously associated with the Unionist campaign against Home Rule and the creation of “a Protestant province of Ulster” and eventually the six-county state of Northern Ireland.
This mural is by Dee Craig (Fb) in Ballyclare’s Grange Drive. It was originally painted in 2017 but was repaired in 2020.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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In the Great War, the men from Ballyclare generally joined the 12th (Central Antrim) battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles (the emblem of which is on the left), and were assigned to the 108th brigade along with others from south Antrim and County Down.
The wear on this mural suggests that it might have been painted (by Dee Craig – Fb) at the same time as Ballyclare Remembers, for the centenary of the Somme; there is no record of it in any of the usual sources or Dee’s page.
Rashee Court, Ballyclare
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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The Pride Of Ballybeen is a flute band formed in 2014. Their band mural features the Union Flag and Ulster Banner flanking the red hand of Ulster on a six-pointed star against an orange field, surrounded by a crown and a garland pinned by a rose; the titular banner, below, is supported by shamrock and thistle.
Video of the band in action on youtube.
Craigleith Drive, Ballybeen, Dundonald.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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The emblem of the UFF is flanked by Ulster Banner and Union Flag.
Strone Park, Ballybeen, Dundonald.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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This anti-drugs mural in Granton Park, Tullycarnet — “Build a better future for our children – teach them to say No” — replaces a UDA mural – see Release The Political Hostages.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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“Make drugs history – cleaner communities now.” This is an anti-drugs board in the Tullycarnet estate. In both its title and various elements, the board references the television show Shameless, which was set on a Manchester housing estate and ended on May 28, 2013, after eleven seasons (WP). Black-and-white images from the estate, and other Belfast landmarks, are featured at the top.
The plaque below reads: “Shameful mural. This mural was officially unveiled on 15th June 2009 by First Minister Peter Robinson. This mural was created by young people from Tullycarnet to highlight that drug and alcohol use should not be normalized by communities.”
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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Paddy Duffy Collection 