A memorial stone has been added to the fading mural of soldiers of the 15th battalion heading to France in 1915, beginning a list of former members of the Rathcoole Friends Of The Somme (Fb). For the names of the five portraits, and the mural in better condition, see Many Did Not Return.
Iniscarn Drive, Rathcoole
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Highland Fusiliers Joseph McCaig (18), (his brother) John McCaig (17), and Dougald McCaughey (23) were lured by members of the (P)IRA from a city-centre pub to their deaths in the fields above Ligoniel in 1971 (WP). Their deaths contributed to the resignation of Chichester-Clark and the introduction of internment in August. There are monuments to the three men in Ballysillan and at the site of their deaths on White Brae depicted on the right of the mural – for images of the monuments see The Highland. This new Rathcoole mural to their memory replaces one to Queen Elizabeth II.
Owenreagh Drive, Rathcoole, Newtownabbey
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Mark Quail, of the UVF, was “murdered by the enemies of Ulster” – that is, shot by the UDA – at his Rathcoole home on November 1st, 2000. His was the fourth death in four days (after David Greer, Bertie Rice, Tommy English) (Irish Times) as the UVF-UDA feud that began in the Shankill with the infamous “loyalist day of culture” in August 2000 spread to north Belfast and Newtownabbey (though the BBC says they are unrelated). There were also attacks in east Belfast (BelTel) before the feud ended in mid-December (BBC | Guardian).
See also Jackie Coulter (and Bobby Mahood) and Sam Rockett “Murdered By Cowards”.
This is a repainted mural; for the previous version see Marky Quail.
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Ten years after ending its armed campaign, the Red Hand Commando in 2017 applied to be de-proscribed, on the basis that it had given up its arms in 2009 and transformed itself into an ‘old comrades association’ (see the emblem in the bottom left of the wide shot) (BBC | NewsLetter). According to this mural, however, B company is ready to reform in response to those who “play with peace”, fifty years later (or so – the mural claims the group was founded in 1970; other sources give 1972 (WP cites Peter Taylor).
“50 years has passed/We were forced to don our masks/Don’t play with peace/Or attack our land/We await in the shadows/B Coy Red Hand”
Replaces the ‘99.9% need not apply‘ RHC mural.
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Monkstown WWI mural in four quadrants showing the emblem of the 36th (Ulster) Division, a soldier at the cross in the Thiepval Cemetery, soldiers feeding a belt of ammunition into a Vicker’s machine gun, and others loading a Stokes mortar.
Devenish Drive, Monkstown
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“Founded 1973”. Hooded UDA gunmen in Devenish Drive, Monkstown, with “Quisseparabit’ run together.
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The Portrush Flyer is a steam-engine train service operating (since 1973) between Belfast and Portrush on Sundays during the summer months. The mural, in Ards Park, Monkstown, replaces a UFF mural dating back to 2001. Shown is engine ‘No. 85’ (which is just one of the engines that have been used; for images of ‘No. 171’, ‘No. 4’, ‘No. 85’, and ‘No. 131’ dating back to the 1970s, see SteamTrainsIreland) passing under one of the “new” viaducts (for more info, see Geograph). For an image of the mural’s 2019 launch, see Newtownabbey Times.
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“The people of Rathcoole send their sincere and heartfelt congratulations to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on the historic occasion of Her Platinum Jubilee.” The Monday at the end of May is usually a bank holiday in the UK, but this year it is being postponed until the end of the week and combined with an additional one to create a four-day weekend beginning this Thursday in celebration of the 70th (“platinum”) anniversary of the accession of Elizabeth on February 6th, 1952 (the coronation was on June 2nd, 1953).
The mural centrally shows an official portrait from 1992, wearing the orders of George VI and George V; the four medallions show Elizabeth at her birth, her coronation, “trooping the colour” on her birthday, and 70th wedding anniversary in 2017.
With support from RATH (Rathcoole Achieving, Transforming, Helping each other) (Fb) and Dalaradia (web). For another Dalaradia board in Rathcoole, see Dalaradia; for a Cú Chulaınn version of the Dalaradia board, see Defending Ulster From Gaelic Attacks.
Clonmore Drive, Rathcoole
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“Where so ever, how so ever or whenever we are called upon to make our exit, we will do as proud men.” This is quite a different message from the one produced within the Rathcoole estate for the 50th anniversary of the Red Hand Commandos, which stated that despite its venerable age, the four Rathcoole companies of the RHC “Await In The Shadows“. (That mural also depicted the kneeling men with sticks (on the left of today’s mural) and the linked post also contains the original photograph.)
It’s not clear who or what within loyalism might call upon the RHC to stand down; loyalist rhetoric at the moment is full of anger at the protocol and warnings/threats about of a return to violence (e.g. BelTel | BBC).
For the use of “Lamh Dear Abu” as the slogan, see Ulster Says “Tá”.
O’Neill Road, Newtownabbey.
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Paddy Duffy Collection 