Belfast east – Page 2 – Paddy Duffy Collection

Loyal Orders Arch

2025-06-292025-07-22Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The News Letter reports that the new arch at the junction of Templemore Avenue and Beechfield Street is the first new arch in east Belfast for fifty years (News Letter). There was long ago an arch in Dee Street (Fb).

On the northern side are the emblems of local lodges – Ballymacarrett Junior District LOL No. 3, Royal Arch Purple District Chapter No. 6, Ballymacarrett District No. 2 Women’s LOL, Ballymacarrett District LOL No. 6, Royal Black District Chapter No. 4 Ballymacarrett, Apprentice Boys Of Derry Belfast Browning Club – as well as “Marching Bands of east Belfast”.

On the southern side, we see (l-r) “Faith & Loyalty”, the Relief Of Derry, the Battle Of The Boyne, JP Beadle’s painting of the 36th Division going over the top at the Battle Of The Somme, King Charles III, the stained-glass window in Schomberg House in memoriam (not: “in memorium”) murdered OO members.

The arch was officially dedicated on June 30th. Ballymacarrett Orange Hall is a bit further down Templemore Avenue, on Albertbridge Road.

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Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
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Our Special Absent Friends

2025-06-292025-07-04Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

These are images of the scene in the run-up to the Twelfth in Beechfield Court (near “Ulster” Tower Street in east Belfast), including a small memorial to a local man who died in 2022, Bobby Morrow (Funeral Times).

“The time has come to say goodnight, for every road must end, to the ones who care and they are always there, our special absent friends.”

“In loving memory of our dear friend & neighbour Bobby Morrow 11/07/1960 – 30/10/2022. Our Bobby will always be on his bench/Watching us come & go/We may not hear him sing & shout/But his song will forever grow/”One for the Road””

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Property Of East Belfast UVF

2025-06-292025-07-07Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This notice is on the outside of the Belvoir Bar in east Belfast: “Property of east Belfast Ulster Volunteer Force – Not for sale” alongside a plaque to “fallen comrades” Robert Bennett, Roy Walker, Joseph Long, James Cordner, and Robert Seymour. It seems that the bar has been shuttered since 2011 (Belfast Telegraph | Irish Times).

Newtownards Road, east Belfast, next to the WWI VCs memorial.

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Their Amazing Attack

2025-06-222025-07-11Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This is a printed version Wilfrid Spender’s report of the first day of the Battle Of The Somme, replacing a previously painted instance that was in the same style as the adjacent mural.

“‘I am not an Ulsterman but yesterday the First of July, as I followed their amazing attack, I felt that I would rather be an Ulsterman than anything else in the world. My pen cannot describe adequately the hundreds of heroic acts I witnessed, the Ulster Volunteer Force, from which the Division was made, has won a name that equals any in history. Their devotion deserves the gratitude of The British Empire’ – Captain Wilfrid [not “Wilfred”] Spender, The Somme 1916″

Spender’s words are superimposed upon JC Beadle’s Attack Of the 36th Division (see Over The Top).

Carlingford Street, east Belfast

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Flora

2025-06-202025-07-02Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

CS Lewis’s mother was Florence “Flora” Augusta Lewis. She studied arts, logic, and mathematics at Queen’s College (which became the Royal University during her studies, and is now Queen’s University) and taught Clive and his older brother Warnie Latin and French at home. She developed cancer when Clive was nine years old and died at age 46 on August 23rd, 1908, at the family home in Strandtown, east Belfast (Christian History Institute | Lifelong Learner | CS Lewis Institute | WP). Her grave is in Belfast City Cemetery (FindAGrave).

The Lewis family previously lived in the Dundela Villas (now the site of Dundela Flats) a few streets away from this new work by emic (web) along Belmont Avenue, which draws inspiration from Flora for its subject, and the local shops (The Secret Day Spa | Murphy & Bailey) for its palette.

The image above is from June 15th; the image immediately below, of the full, completed piece, is from June 20th. Two in-progress images are also included.

Ferguson Street, east Belfast

June 8th:

June 3rd:

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We Like Them Must Never Yield

2025-06-152025-06-15Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The image above shows a unified and wider view of the two pieces seen previously in Bloomfield House and In All Theatres Of Conflict: on the left, a board marking the centenary of the Ulster Volunteers’ ‘Larne Gun-Running’; on the right, a board commemorating the casualties from the 36th (Ulster) Division in WWI; above them both are small boards from the ‘Poppy Trail’ collection of deceased locals.

A close-up of the circular plaque above ‘Gunrunners’ can be seen in the Peter Moloney collection.

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Hang In There

2025-06-152025-09-23Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Here are only three of many painted utility boxes that have been recently painted as part of the on-going Belfast Canvas project, begun in 2020.

These three pieces are …
‘Hang In There’ by CG Chimp (Chaingun on ig) on the Holywood Road in east Belfast,
‘I (Heart) Pool!’ by PaperSleeve/Niamh McWilliams (web) on Donegall Road in south Belfast,
and an abstract piece by Bláthnaıd Ní hAogáın (ig) in University Square, Belfast city centre.

For about 140 painted boxes, from the Belfast Canvas project and otherwise, see the Visual History page for the boxes.

In Memory Of Ian Ogle

2025-06-082025-06-21Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This is (at least) the third different tarp at the entrance to Cluan Place in memory of Ian Ogle, who was killed on the evening of January 27th, 2019. Five people have been found guilty of the murder and officially received their sentences in March; four others have been convicted of lesser charges (BBC | ITv | Belfast Media | Judiciary NI).

The small board “In memory of Ian Ogle” (immediately below) is also a recent addition.

For the previous tarps and background on Ogle’s death, see 2022 (burned), 2022 (unmolested), and 2020.

Be Your Own Kind Of Beautiful

2025-06-032025-06-14Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Roses on the shutters of Norah Mitchell flowers (web) on the Holywood Road, east Belfast.