The plaque in the bottom-right corner reads, “Dedicated to Sergeant George Arthur Horner 27/03/1927 Royal Ulster Rifles 14464865 — “Carrickfergus’ Oldest Veteran” and to all other veterans who served in HM Armed Forces.” Horner turned 99 a few days after this mural of D-Day was unveiled (on March 22nd) and he was awarded the freedom of Mid- And East-Antrim Borough (web). He served in the second battalion of the Royal Ulster Rifles, and landed on Sword Beach during the D-Day landings in June 1944 (Fb).
This entry updates a similar entry from 2022 with images and close-ups of the now-faded red and orange paint in the mural on the back wall of the “36th (Ulster) Division Victoria Cross Memorial Garden”.
For close-ups of the board picturing the WWI VC winners, see The Dead We Honour Here. “‘Throughout the long years of struggle … the men of Ulster have proved how nobly they fight and die’ – King George V, 16th November, 1918”
St Leonard’s Crescent/old Newcastle Street, east Belfast
The poppies in this new mural suggest WWI, but the “pants” over the wheels of the planes shown here as they pass Scrabo tower suggest a post-war plane (or a modern light aircraft).
Here is another (see previously: Armagh For Sam) mural supporting Armagh’s senior football team, presumably in connection with its successful 2024 campaign, this time in Newry.
This Ballymoney mural celebrates and commemorates members of the Dunlop family of motorcycle racers. From left to right we see brothers Joey and Robert and then Robert’s sons William and Michael. Joey died in a race in Estonia in 2000; Robert died in 2008 of injuries sustained in a practice session for the North West 200; William died in 2018 in a crash during practice for the Skerries 100. Michael is still alive and currently aged 36; he was Irish Motorcyclist Of The Year in 2025 (BelTel).
This mural was painted by Oliver McParland (web) in Castlecroft Square, Ballymoney.
These two panels were created by Ross Wilson (web) along with children from four local Ballymoney schools (BBC | NI World). They portray two famous poets from Northern Ireland, Seamus Heaney and John Hewitt and include a line from a work of each:
Seamus Heaney’s “Believe that a further shore is reachable from here”, comes from The Cure At Troy (youtube).
The quotation from John Hewitt is the first line of the poem I Write For: “I write for my own kind, I do not pitch my voice that every phrase be heard by those who have no choice.”
The badge or insignia of the 36th (Ulster) Division most frequently seen in murals is the one on the left of this board in Ballyduff, combining a red hand on a field of shamrocks with the Union Flag and the harp of the Royal Irish Rifles. The simpler insignia of the 36th Division on the right is being seen more frequently – it features a left-handed red hand, while the other uses a right-handed red hand, as do the flags of Ulster and of Northern Ireland.
This is a kids/community/mental-health mural on the sub-station in Edgarstown. The art was painted by young people from the area, organised by Edgarstown Residents’ Association in the summer of 2024 (Fb).
This new mural in Carrickfergus draws on local connections to literary figures Louis MacNeice and Jonathan Swift, as well as the more distantly located CS Lewis.
The MacNeices moved from Belfast to Carrickfergus in 1909 when Freddie (later Louis) was an infant and he grew up in the town until he was sent to Sherbourne Prep in Dorset, England, in 1917. In the mural, a book is opened to the page of his poem Carrickfergus, which was written in 1937 and describes the town in geological, historical, industrial, and sectarian terms, and more real than the “puppet world” of Sherbourne.
Jonathan Swift was briefly (1694-1696) a Church Of Ireland cleric in Kilroot, near Carrickfergus. In the mural, Carrick-A-Rede rope-bridge is shown strung between the knees of Gulliver as he wakes in Lilliput. The Swift quote on the extreme (viewer’s) right is from Polite Conversation (p. 154): Miss Notable is toasted by both Mr Neverout – “May you live a thousand years”; “Pray, Sir, don’t stint me”, she replies – and Colonel Atwit – “May you live every day of your life”.
Lewisian figures include Aslan the lion and Reepicheep the mouse. The final (right-most) figures would seem to be Katniss and Peeta from The Hunger Games.
Painted by DMC on North Road, Carrickfergus, at the entrance to the Castlemara estate, as a complement and competitor to the PUL boards.
Gort Na Móna CLG was founded in 1974, developing out of the old Gort Na Móna secondary (before it became part of Corpus Christi). NVTv produced a programme to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary (youtube). These painted junction boxes are on Monagh Road and the Springfield Road.
Paddy Duffy Collection 