The plaque to the left reads, “This mural is dedicated to all those who tragically died on the streets of Derry during the hunger strike era. Suaımhneas Dé da nanamacha. 3rd October 2006.” The mural referred to is in fact the ‘crumbling cell’ mural (see M03350); the ‘Spirit Of Freedom’ mural was first painted in 2011 for the 30th anniversary (see X00999) – the 30th anniversary plaque remains, on the right of the mural but for the 40th anniversary of the 1981 hunger strike “40” replaced the “30” in the bottom border.
The mural features both the lark and the dove (Visual History).
On the side wall, two new panels remember members of the IRA’s Derry brigade, replacing the single board seen in M07635.
These two plaques are on the “gateposts” at the entrance to Alton Street in Carrick Hill. Neill (above) is on the right; Scullion (below) is on the left.
Neill: “Óglach Michael Patrick Neill. On Monday the 24th of October 1977 Michael was shot by undercover soldiers while on IRA active service on Cliftonville Road. Michael died from his wounds, aged 16. At the time of Michael’s death he lived at the Neill family home 26 Stanhope Street, Carrickhill.”
Scullion: “Óglach Louis Scullion. At 1:45 a.m. on the 14th of July 1972 Louis was shot four times by the British Army as he walked to his home in Unity flats. Louis was unarmed and died as a result of his injuries. 5th June 1945 – 14th July 1972. Louis lived at 51H Unity Walk.”
A long series of tit-for-tat shootings of pubs and clubs continued into the summer of 1976, with attacks on the Chlorane (June 5th), Walkers (June 25th), the Ramble (July 2nd), the Whitefort (July 29th), and then, on the 30th, The Stag at Shaws Bridge, Belfast, by the Republican Action Force (PIRA) (Sutton). John McCleave, John McKay, and James “Jimmy” Doherty died on the night of the attack, and Thompson McCreight died of his wounds nine days later. The memorial to them – “erected by the local communities” – is on Milltown Road, next to the Dreamscheme (web) mural.
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.”
“The first blanketman”. IRA prisoner Kieran Nugent is reputed to have said – upon being imprisoned after the removal of Special Category status in 1976 – “I’m not a criminal – the Brits will have to nail prison clothes to my back.”
“Sheas sıad le chéıle” [They stood together] – the New Barnsley memorial garden commemorates (on the large plaque) “Volunteers From The Greater New Barnsley Area” and (on the smaller one) commemorating support from the community.
The wrought-iron gates depict a phoenix and “Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann”.
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.
This is and old (2009) repaint of the mural in the Markets to IRA volunteers: They are: Tony Nolan, Joseph Downey, Frank Fitzsimons, Joey Surgenor, Paul Marlowe, Jim Templeton, and Brendan Davison.
Left: “Murdered for their political beliefs: Tom Berry, Robert Elliman, Robert Millen, John Browne”. All four had a connection Markets or Ormeau area of south Belfast. Millen, from the Ormeau area, was shot in 1973 by the UVF; he played on the same soccer team (Bankmore Star) as Thomas Berry, who was shot in a Short Strand GAA club; Elliman was shot in a Markets pub; John Brown (without the “e”) was shot in his Cooke Street home in front of his family. The first three were all Protestants; the latter three were among 11 people who died in the 1975 feud between the Officials and the Provisionals. (Lost Lives)
“The war they wage is not a war of bigotry or greed, their struggle is a workers one, so everyone may lead a life with rights and liberty, in a land where they can say “Up the Army of the people, the Official IRA”.” “Erected by the Official Republican Movement.”
Centre: Internment (imprisonment without trial) was introduced on August 9th, 1971 by NI Prime Minister Brian Faulkner, with 342 people arrested on the first day. The Bogside was “hysterical with hated”, according to Eamonn McCann (History Ireland) and of Belfast Kevin Myers wrote “Insanity seized the city.” Two dozen people would die in the rioting and gun-battles that followed, leading to the suspension of Stormont rule (WP). In the Markets area, OC Joe McCann and other (Official) IRA volunteers took over the Inglis bakery and reportedly prevented 600 British troops from entering the area – the image to the left of the board above is a Ciaran Donnelly photograph showing McCann during the battle, kneeling beneath a Starry Plough and holding an M1.
Right: After serving in the IRA in the War Of Independence, Liam Mellows was elected to the First Dáil and as a member of the second Dáil voted against the Treaty in January 1922 (his speech is recorded in Oireachtas.ie under the name “Liam Mellowes”). In the Civil War that followed, he served as IRA quartermaster in the force in the Four Courts that surrendered to Free State forces on June 30th, 1922. He was imprisoned in Mountjoy and executed in December, in reprisal for the killing of Seán Hayes (see Executed). (WP | An Phoblacht) His proposals for government were published posthumously as ‘Mellows Testament’ (NLI) and include state ownership of heavy industry, large estates, the transport system, and the banks. The sticker below quotes from that document: “Ireland, if her industries and banks were controlled by foreign capital, would be at the mercy of every breeze that ruffled the surface of the world’s money-markets.”
“I gcuımhne na nÓglach a fuaır bás ar son saoırse [in memory of the volunteers who died for freedom].” The “22” are the familiar 12 deceased Troubles-era hunger-strikers, plus 10 from 1917 to 1946: Thomas Ashe, Terence MacSwiney, Michael Fitzgerald, Joseph Murphy, Joe Witty, Dennis Barry, Andy O’Sullivan, Tony Darcy, Jack McNeela, Sean McCaughey.
“‘A Letter To The 22: You have not gone away. You are in the hearts/and on the lips of your people./The old speak of you with knowing tongue. The middle/aged, as those who walked beside you./The young men and women with a passion not unlike your own./Your names can be heard on the wind taken from the mouths/of men who tend their flocks on Slieve Gullion, Cnoc Phádraıg, Glenshane./They echo in small graveyards in/Cork, Kerry, Galway, Mayo, Tyrone, Antrim, Derry and Armagh./They are heard among your people at the mass gate on/Sunday, in the crowd at the hurling game, around the hearth when/the bottle is cracked and song in sung. Your image can be seen/on the faces of happy smiling children for whose freedom you gave your all./You are in our prayers, you have not gone away, you never will’ – Colum Mac Gıolla Bhéın (youtube)“
