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Crash Blossom

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In 2008 thick metal walls were added to both sides of the Finaghy railway bridge in order to prevent the possibility of a car falling onto the tracks (BelTel | BBC | Belfast Media), as had happened in Yorkshire, England, in 2001, causing ten deaths (WP). The result was a “brutalist eyesore” (Belfast Live) that was often covered in tags (there is a good picture at the top of this Belfast Media article from 2024).

The bridge been given a floral facelift by Visual Waste (web) but not everyone has the same interpretation of the new art: one local resident complained that the background was “Sınn Féın green” and that the “graffiti” would lower property values (Belfast Live).

Finaghy Road North. Also included below are painted electrical boxes by Danni Simpson (web) from 2023 at the nearby junction of the Finaghy roads and the Upper Lisburn Road.

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Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
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In The Wind

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Ballycopeland windmill, about a mile from Millisle, was built around 1790 (Geograph) and has been restored and expanded with an interpretative centre; the centre and first floor of the mill are open to the public (Discover NI).

These paintings of the windmill and of a robin and bee are by Alexandra (ig) on two derelict buildings on Main Street, Millisle.

Millisle was the birthplace of Amy Carmichael – see Come In Your Working Clothes.

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Paste No Paste-Ups

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Above and immediately below are two new paste-ups by Leo Boyd which attempt – by example and by reverse-psychology – to turn the hoarding around the War Memorial building in Waring Street into a paste-up gallery (similar to the new “legal wall” for graffiti and street-art in Little Patrick Street – see First!).

The third image is of a Boyd paste-up already on the wall, mixing the police land-rover (see Off The Ledge for an index) with the cat looming over city hall (see Belfast Kitty Hall). The final stencil is by French artist MDLF (ig).

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