community – Page 7 – Paddy Duffy Collection

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.

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The Sea Walls

2025-06-032025-06-20Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This is new street art by Friz (web) and KVLR (web) and Rob Hilken (web) in Bank Square, presenting a contemporary take on the Belfast coat of arms – the original can be seen in this City Council page.

Belfast became a city in 1888 and from that time onward the sea-horse on the right – both officially and in the new piece – wears around its neck a “mural crown”, a crown that looks like the walls of a city.

The wolf in the official coat of arms is “gorged and chained”. In the new art, the only sign of the wolf’s chain is the metal zipper slider on its tracksuit.

(An 1892 book (archive.org) claims that the chained wolf, while itself a familiar image in heraldry and civic arms, is borrowed specifically from the Chichester coat of arms in tribute to Arthur Chichester, prosecutor of the Nine Years’ War against the O’Neills in Ulster and subsequently Lord Deputy Of Ireland and developer of the village of Belfast into a town (DIB | WP), but we can find no other source to this effect nor any image of the Chichester arms that includes supporters.)

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Welcome To Ballynafeigh

2025-05-272025-06-15Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Ballynafeigh is the neighborhood just across Ormeau bridge, containing Annadale flats and surrounding streets – home to Ormeau Road UDA/UFF and Ballynafeigh Apprentice Boys flute band (Fb). The painted boards shown here was painted by Daniela Balmaverde (web) with help from local volunteers and presents imagery from non-Western cultures along with slogans on tree-trunks: “Cultural dialogue”, “Celebrate identities”, Shared neighbourhood”, “Community development”, “Tolerance”, and “Respect cultural diversity”.

The mural is at the Ormeau Road entrance to Ormeau park opposite Candahar Street. The Brigada Romona Para mural was previously in this spot.

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The Chronicles Of Narnia

2025-05-112025-06-06Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe is by far the most famous of C.S. Lewis’s ‘Chronicles Of Narnia’. It was the first of the seven to be written – in 1950 – but as it is set in 1940, The Magician’s Nephew is often read first, as it is set in 1900 and concerns the creation of Narnia. The others are The Horse And His Boy, Prince Caspian, The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, The Last Battle. Lewis was born in Dundela and raised in Strandtown, in east Belfast (CSLewisInstitute).

Tildarg Street, east Belfast. There are also a long-standing Narnia murals in Pansy Street and in Convention Court.

work-in-progress from April 18th:

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Dead On

2025-04-242025-06-18Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Messages on love hearts on the side of The Bon-Bon sweet shop (web) in Newcastle: “Keep ‘er lit”, “What’s the craic?”, “Catch yourself on”, “Buck eejit”, “Wise up”, “‘Ats us nai”, “Aye, dead on”, “Boys-a-dear”, “Sweet shap”, “Ack, hiya love”. “‘Bout ye?”, “Rite, big lad”, “Here’s me ma”.

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The Holywood Arches

2025-04-132025-05-10Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The area around the junction of the Newtownards Road and the Holywood Road in east Belfast is known as the “Holywood Arches”. The name comes from the fact that – up until 1950 – the old Belfast & County Down railway line from Comber (and beyond that from Newtownards or Newcastle) crossed over both streets on top of two large arches, wide enough to allow traffic in both directions and tall enough to accommodate double-decker buses (see e.g. this image on Pinterest).

This mural is on the shutters of the nearby Arches Café (web); the vintage photograph reproduced can be seen in this pdf from Eastside Partnership.

See also: Step Back In Time about a train crash in 1945 at Ballymacarrett station (on the Bangor line) that killed 22.

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Shore Life

2025-04-042025-04-19Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Here is a survey of some street art in Donaghadee, Co Down (along with Donaghadee Harbour).

The owls, puffins, and bee painted on the electrical boxes on the Parade are by Sharon Regan (ig) who also did a series of windows in Bangor.

Grace Neill’s (web) which claims to be the oldest licensed bar in Ireland, dating back to 1611.

“S McC” and the artist(s) of the other pieces in High Street are unknown, as is the artist of the octopus on the front of The Captain’s Table (Fb).

Ag Croí An Phobaıl

2025-03-142025-03-28Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Gort Na Móna CLG (Fb) has been “at the heart of the [Turf Lodge] community”, inculcating “muıntearas, mısneach, féınluach, bród [friendship, bravery, self-esteem, pride]” in its young people “ó/since 1974”.

The text and emblem appear here against a montage of photographs over-washed in the club colours of maroon, saffron, and blue.

[A small typographic note: different fonts are used for the Irish on the left and the Irish in the middle; the font in the middle (correctly) lacks tittles/dots on the letter “ı”.]

Springfield Road, at the upper entrance to the estate and across the road from the electrical boxes seen in Lóıste Na Móna.

The Faeries

2025-02-282025-04-19Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Up the airy mountain/Down the rushy glen/We daren’t go a-hunting,/For fear of little men.//Wee folk, good folk,/Trooping all together,/Green jacket, red cap,/White owl’s feather! – Wm Allingham”

Customs-officer, magazine editor, and poet William Allingham was born in Ballyshannon, Co Donegal, in 1824, and his ashes – brought back from London – are interred in St Anne’s church in the town (WP). “The Faeries” (poetry.com) was first published in his 1850 collection Poems (UCC) and remains a staple of children’s and mythological collections.

The art shown here is on The Mall/An Mál in Ballyshannon/Béal Átha Seanaıdh.