Belfast east – Page 13 – Paddy Duffy Collection

Our British Identity

2022-12-042026-05-15Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Various changes and additions have been made to the Ulster Volunteers/UVF mural in London Road, east Belfast, compared to the version that replaced a religious mural (Jesus Strong Man) in 2017.

“Our British identity cannot & will not be sacrificed to appease the Irish Republic – East Belfast Battalion [UVF]”. The ‘hooded gunman’ board seen in the images above and immediately below was previously around the corner where the writing (“East Belfast Ulster Volunteer Force”) now is but has now been moved to the main Our Lady’s Road. (It had replaced a Union Flag painted next to smaller writing – see East Belfast Ulster Volunteers.) There is now also a UVF emblem at the end – see the final image.

For close-ups of the WWI portion, painted by Mark Ervine, see Between The Crosses; for a close-up of the four portraits of volunteers Seymour, Long, Cordner, and Bennett, see Ulster’s Brave.

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East Belfast Volunteers

2022-12-032024-08-09Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This mural and its accompanying plaques, at the mouth of Canada Street, commemorate WWI and celebrate the Victoria Crosses won by members of the 36th (Ulster) Division “For valour”: Cather, McFadzean, Bell, Quigg, Emerson, De Wind, Seaman, Knox, and Harvey. The main mural features insignia of more than thirty units of types ranging from machine gunners to vets.

Canada Street; repainted version of East Belfast Volunteers.

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The Untold Story

2022-12-032024-08-09Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This mural depicts Protestant women and children on-board a steamer, the Ulster Queen, leaving Belfast because of rioting, and headed for Liverpool, where they were to be hosted by local Orange families. On the far left is a laminated letter of thanks to Elsie (Allen) Doyle, one of the organisers in Liverpool.

A very similar mural was in this spot several years ago (though not immediately prior to this one – the wall was blank), featuring three youngsters on the boat, rather than a mother and children. The panel to the right began “In August 1971 many Protestants fled their homes as the IRA launched a bitter sectarian attack on Protestant communities throughout Belfast.” (See M04069.)

Canada Street, east Belfast

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Loyalist Cluan Place

2022-11-202024-08-09Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The mural in Cluan Place goes back to (at least) 2002. It used to include the words “5 people shot, houses burned, houses bombed” but these have been painted out in this repainted version.

For Ian Ogle, see What Fire Does Not Destroy It Hardens.

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The Dead Cannot Cry Out For Justice

2022-11-202024-08-09Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Photographs of a dozen atrocities are included on the right of this Derwent Street mural, ranging in time from the 1970 gun-battle around the nearby St Matthew’s church in 1970, in which Jimmy McCurrie and Bobby Neill were killed, to the October 1993 IRA bombing of Frizzell’s fish shop on the Shankill Road, in which Leanne Murray (shown on the left) was one of ten people, two of them children, to die. The others incidents portrayed are Bloody Friday, Darkley, Coleraine, Abercorn, Balmoral, Claudy, La Mon, Kingsmill, and Teebane.

This new computer-generated mural replaces the painted East Belfast Remembers, which had peeled away to a great extent.

“The slaughter of the innocent by the blood soaked hands of Sinn Fein/IRA never to be forgotten. The dead cannot cry out for justice. It is a duty of the living to do so for them. Is this the equality Sinn Fein/IRA asks for? No economic targets, no legitimate targets, no enquiries, no truth, no justice. Hold dear the memory of all the innocents murdered in our country in support of the Sinn Fein electorate. This memory extends to those not mentioned here who were murdered going about their daily lives at work, at prayer and in remembrance. Nothing was sacred in the futile question for a united Ireland.”

Derwent Street, east Belfast

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David Ervine MLA

2022-11-202025-06-07Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“He had the courage to climb out of the traditional trenches, meet the enemy in no man’s land and play ball with him.” David Ervine was a UVF member, arrested in 1974 and served six years in the Maze before turning to politics: he first ran for office in 1985 and represented East Belfast in the NI Assembly from 1998 until his death in 2007. The board, above, shows Ervine’s silhouette in a wreath of poppies along with pictures of and information about his life; the image below of the lower left-hand side includes a photograph of Ervine with Gusty Spence.

Video of the launch (on 2014-11-01) is available at U.tv

Montrose Street South, east Belfast

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What Fire Does Not Destroy It Hardens

2022-11-202025-06-12Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The memorial tarps to Ian Ogle at the entrance to Cluan Place were photographed on October 5th and appeared – unmolested – in For His Family. On about the 18th of November they were subject to an arson attack. Belfast Live has reaction from the family.

The final image is of a tarp within Cluan Place, which was (perhaps) originally at the entrance.

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Starrett And Cummings

2022-11-202024-08-09Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

These five boards together form a memorial to the UDR and in particular to Privates Fred Starrett and James Cummings, who died in an IRA bombing on Belfast’s Royal Avenue on February 24th, 1988. Both Orangemen, their deaths are commemorated every year by a parade from east Belfast to the city centre.

Thorndyke Street, east Belfast

We Will Take The Matter Into Our Own Hands

2022-10-092024-07-30Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“We in Ulster will tolerate no Sinn Féin but we tell you this – that if, having offered you our help, you are yourselves unable to protect us from the machinations of Sinn Féin, and you won’t take our help; we tell you, we will take the matter into our own hands …. ” A quote from Sir Edward Carson (probably, 12th of July, 1920 rather than 1912 – Treason Felony | RTÉ) replaces the previous “free men” quote (see M03378); the poppies between the emblems in the main panel are also new, as is the plinth the hooded gunmen are standing on, which reads “1912 East Belfast Ulster Volunteer Force” (also, “1981 Gareth Keys 2008″). In other words, the mural has been softened (slightly) by adding historical elements.

Castlereagh Road, opposite Ravensdale Street.

If You Want Peace, Prepare For War

2022-10-092024-07-30Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The Castlereagh (4th battalion) UDA memorial garden behind the Bunch Of Grapes has changed over the years from painted murals (M | X) to spray-painted boards (We Forget Them Not) and now again to tarps, some within red frames.

As far as content is concerned, the UFF, LPA (“We forget them not – past and present”) and UYM (“They shall not grow old etc”) remain but Tim Collins – a product of re-imaging – is out (see On That Journey). The side wall of the pub has also been employed for the first time, with more hooded gunmen (see the final image, below). Two small plaques have been added to the outsides of the memorial wall.