Belfast west

Those Born Of The Spirit

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Work on the “New Life” (New Life City church – Fb) concrete relief on the Cupar Way “peace” line (war wall) at the North Howard Street gates has been completed – with brightly coloured paints and a pair of plaques below the cross that read “The first 3D cement peace fresco on a Belfast dividing wall. Created by local artist Debbie Hutchings ‘Irish Angel’. The for the amazing help of ECC Builders. Created on behalf of New Life City Church. Dedicated by Pastor Johnny McKee with young people & others from New Life City Church from both sides of the wall. Thursday 14th August 2025. ‘He is our peace who has destroyed the dividing wall between us’ Eph. 2.14.”

There are in-progress images below from August 3rd and July 6th. For images from May 11th and May 1st, see The Wind Blows As It Chooses.

August 3rd:

July 6th:

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Better Way To Live

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Kneecap were back in town opening for the Fontaines DC at Belfast Vital at the Boucher Road playing fields on Friday (BBC) (and an after-party at the Beehive) before zipping down to the Electric Picnic festival in Laois. At both concerts they were outspoken in their support for Palestinians in Gaza, as well as criticising the DUP, Alliance (Belfast Live), McDonald’s and Kemi Badenoch (Irish Examiner). In each of the past three years, the band has added to the wall at the corner of Hawthorn Street and Cavendish Street (see in order: Incendiary Device, England Get Out Of Ireland, and Kneecap’s Fine Art) and it is now full with the addition of “Free Palestine – Israel is committing a genocide against the Palestinian people” below the chimneys.

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Crash Blossom

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In 2008 thick metal walls were added to both sides of the Finaghy railway bridge in order to prevent the possibility of a car falling onto the tracks (BelTel | BBC | Belfast Media), as had happened in Yorkshire, England, in 2001, causing ten deaths (WP). The result was a “brutalist eyesore” (Belfast Live) that was often covered in tags (there is a good picture at the top of this Belfast Media article from 2024).

The bridge been given a floral facelift by Visual Waste (web) but not everyone has the same interpretation of the new art: one local resident complained that the background was “Sınn Féın green” and that the “graffiti” would lower property values (Belfast Live).

Finaghy Road North. Also included below are painted electrical boxes by Danni Simpson (web) from 2023 at the nearby junction of the Finaghy roads and the Upper Lisburn Road.

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Dying For Justice

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These are just four out of the scores of placards that lined the Falls Road on August 24th for the National Hunger-Strike Commemoration march to Milltown Cemetery, where Sınn Féın president Mary Lou McDonald gave the address (available at Belfast Media | video of the march is available on youtube).

Many of the placards show front pages from Republican News and An Phoblacht/Republican News, perhaps thanks to the Irish Republican Digital Archive (web), which has lately added scans of the newspapers from 1970 to 1984.

Seventy-six images are available on the gallery page for 2025 West Belfast CNR.

See previously: the board announcing the commemoration.

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Bobby Sands MP

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The Bobby Sands mural in Sevastopol Street, on the side of the Sınn Féın offices, is perhaps Belfast’s most famous mural and in general second only to Free Derry Corner in Derry. The main wall of the mural has just been touched up, in time for the march that took place in Belfast on August 24th as part of the national hunger-strike commemoration.

The first mural of Sands was painted on the wall in 1989 and the most recent re-painting prior to this one was in 2015 – see the wall’s Visual History page.

August 23rd:

August 20th:

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Seasaımıd Le Lıam Óg

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“We stand with Lıam Óg”, that is Lıam Óg Ó hAnnaıdh (on the left of the image above), a.k.a. Mo Chara, a member of the rap group Kneecap who appeared in court (in London) on Wednesday August 20th on “terrorism” charges and was bailed for a further month while the judge rules on a technical issue about whether the trial can go forward (BBC). (See previously The Magic Within and Seasaımıd Le Kneecap.)

The night before (the 19th) this board featuring images of the band-members and the band in its early days was unveiled on the Whiterock Road. (Video of the launch can be found on the Glór Na Móna instagram account.)

In the background is a Palestinian flag and “Saoırse don Phalaıstín” [Freedom for Palestine] is written along the bottom.

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12 Men Dead

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Michael Gaughan and Frank Stagg are presented along with the ten deceased 1981 hunger strikers on the cross-beam of a large wooden “H” at the top of Turf Lodge.

IRA volunteer Michael Gaughan died in Parkhurst prison in 1974 after 64 days on hunger strike. Gaughan’s coffin was draped with the Tricolour used to bury Terence McSwiney in 1920. He was force-fed seventeen times during the strike and his family alleged that he died from food stuck in a punctured lung. The practice was ended after Gaughan’s death.

Frank Stagg was on the Parkhurst hunger strike with Gaughan, and another in Long Lartin prison, and a third in Wakefield in December 1975. He died after 62 days on February 12th, 1976.

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Do You Care?

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James “Jim” Doherty was six years old when he was shot while playing in the front garden of his Turf Lodge home in 1972. Relatives For Justice and the family launched the board shown above at the entrance to the estate ten years ago – in October 2015 – in order to push for an inquiry into the death due to the insufficiency of the original investigation and the disappearance of the bullet taken from the body. (Belfast Media Group)

Monagh Road, west Belfast

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Local Inspiration

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The emblem in the top left of this board is the original emblem of the Irish Football Association. The Association was formed in 1880 by seven Belfast clubs but after partition a rival Football Association Of Ireland was formed and the original body eventually represented only Northern Ireland. (WP)

All of the players named and pictured post-date 1950, when the IFA stopped selecting southern players for the IFA’s team. They are … Tommy Jackson, Billy Caskey, Phil Gray, Tom Finney, Norman Whiteside, Danny Griffin, George McCartney, Alf McMichael, Tommy Cassidy, Robbie Garrett, Brodie Spencer, Jordan Owens, Billy Ferguson, George O’Boyle.

“AONISC” (bottom left) is the Amalgamation Of Northern Ireland Supporters’ Clubs (web). There are about 60 clubs in the amalgamation, but seven local clubs are named here: Albert Foundry, Woodvale Loyal, Tavern GAWA, Bootle Street, Wheatfield, 1st Shankill, Ligoniel.

In Battenberg Street on the side of the Stadium Bar and off-sales.

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