Strabane – Paddy Duffy Collection

The Western Front

2026-03-082026-03-18Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Cuımhníonn an Srath Bán orthu go deo [Strabane remembers them forever]”. The names of the ten deceased 1981 hunger strikers appear on ten white crosses that are set in a “H” formation in front of a tarp bearing their portraits.

The image on the tarp was originally on Divis Street in west Belfast – see the Peter Moloney Collection and the wall’s Visual History page. And in that mural, the protesters on the left date back to a 1981 poster which was reproduced for the very first mural – see I’ll Wear No Convict’s Uniform.

Townsend Street, Strabane

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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Strabane Wildlife

2026-03-082026-03-15Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Here are a tiger from Jam2 (ig), a pair of toucans from Junk Graff (both from June 2025) and (on the other side of the street) seals and ?a largemouth bass? from HMC (web) in November 2025. None of the animals are native to the Strabane rivers or countryside, though there are sometimes seals in Lough Foyle.

Painted for Love Strabane (web) in Castle Place, Strabane.

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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Remember The Hunger Strikers

2025-02-092025-03-15Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

In a classic image from the period, a blanketman/hunger striker looks down over the towers of Long Kesh. The image has appeared in a number of murals, going back at least to the mid-1980s in Ardoyne (Belfast); see also New Lodge (Belfast) in 1993 | Letterkenny in 1996 | Derry in 1998 | Springfield (Belfast) in 2004 | Divis St (Belfast) in 2006 | a portable board in Bellaghy in 2010 | this same spot in 2012.

Melvin Road, Strabane, close to the giant Proclamation.

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Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
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Poblacht Na hÉıreann

2025-02-092025-03-10Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

On April 24th, 1916, Patrick Pearse stood on the steps of Dublin’s General Post Office and read out a proclamation declaring an Irish republic; the proclamation had been prepared by the military council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood – Thomas Clarke, Seán Mac Dıarmada, Patrick Pearse, James Connolly, Thomas MacDonagh, Eamonn Ceannt, Joseph Plunkett – and their (printed) signatures were included at its end.

Copies of the proclamation were handed out on O’Connell Street and perhaps as many as 2,500 were printed in total (NMI) but now only about fifty copies remain (Irish Central). This giant copy of the proclamation was mounted in Melvin Road, Strabane, for the centenary of the Rising, reproducing (as the note at the bottom says) “a reproduction of the poster”. (For a discussion of attempts to recreate the Proclamation, as well as images of originals, see Type Foundry.)

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Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
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The Rainbow Fish

2025-02-092025-04-12Extramural Activity1 Comment

This colourful fish replaces graffiti reading “Don’t Listen 2 SF Traiters” (in the Peter Moloney collection) in Fountain Street, Strabane.

The cause or sponsoring group is unknown – please comment/get in touch if you have any information.

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Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
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Inár gCroí Go Deo

2025-02-092025-03-10Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“West Tyrone Brigade, Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann. Vol. Charles Breslin, Vol, David Devine, Vol. Michael Devine”. The three were killed on February 23rd, 1985, in a hail of 100-200 SAS bullets, as they returned arms for an aborted mission to a dump near the Fountain area of Strabane; their families were later (2002) awarded compensation. (An Phoblacht | WP | UTv)

The board shown above is in the Fountain Street memorial garden, which centrally features a stone-wall enclosure to the trio. Individual stones have also been added to the garden, to Danny McCauley (TPQ | An Phoblacht), Tobias Molloy (An Phoblacht), and Eugene Devlin (An Phoblacht) (shown below). The local SF cumann is named after Molloy/Devlin/McCauley (Fb).

For the gravestones of many of the volunteers, see Strabane’s Republican Graves.

Fountain Street, Strabane

Revolutionaries

2025-02-092025-03-01Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Bobby Sands and Ernesto “Che” Guevara, together in Fountain Street, Strabane. The image of Che is Jim Fitzpatrick’s iconic interpretation of Alberto Korda’s “Guerrillero Heroico” photograph of Che – see the Visual History page on The Influence Of Jim Fitzpatrick.

This mural has been in place since (at least) 2008 – see Bobby & Che in the Peter Moloney Collection.

Stop The Slaughter

2025-02-092025-03-08Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Free Gaza” in the Ballycolman estate, Strabane. This piece is not from the current conflict (that started with the Hamas attack in October 2023) but from the 2014 war, in which roughly 2,300 Palestinians and 73 Israelis were killed (WP) – numbers that now seem small in comparison.

In Belfast: Stad An Slad/Stop The Slaughter