Operation Motorman and The Runner – two of the murals in The People’s Gallery by the Bogside Artists, at the junction of Rossville Street and Fahan Street in the Bogside, Derry.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T02079
The Petrol Bomber was first painted by the Bogside Artists in 1994 and modified a number of times in the first few years, to change the badge to “No RUC” and to a green ribbon.
Part of The People’s Gallery (Visual History) along Lecky Road and Rossville Street in Derry’s Bogside.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T02085
Signage for the Museum Of Free Derry (web), which employs the outline of Free Derry Corner (Visual History), in front of The Rioter – one of the murals in The People’s Gallery (Visual History) in the Bogside, Derry.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T02063
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.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T02117 T020118
This is a blue-backgrounded version of the formerly grey UFF mural in Lincoln Court, Londonderry, seen previously in 2015.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T02047
“South East Antrim UDA UYM. In proud memory of Brig John Gregg, CO Gerry Evans, Andrew Gillespie, Billy Graham, Jamie Penny, Ken Thursby, T. Daly, J. McClure, B. Hobbs, B. Smyth”. Graham replaces William Hutchings, and Thursby is a new addition. The original version of the mural, dating back to 2004, included J. Kelly, W. Gordon, G. Fittis, A. Helm (M05230) – these are perhaps below the fence-line.
Gregg was a hero to loyalists for seriously injuring Gerry Adams in 1984; he was killed in the Adair feud in 2003 (Guardian). Evans was killed by the INLA on April 27th, 1994, shot at his shop in the Northcott centre. (Lost Lives 3472. Sutton describes Evans as a “civilian”.) He was remembered first/long ago (1996) in a Cloughfern mural – see T00217.
Compare to the similar SEA UDA murals in Ballymena and (formerly) Glengormley.
Kilgreel Road, Parkhall, Antrim
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T01983 [T01984]
UVF volunteer Denver Smith was killed in the early morning of January 1st, 2000 by a gang of six men with machetes and pikes; the incident was perhaps drugs-related (Guardian | BBC-NI | Irish Times). The iconography, however, is all related to WWI, with soldiers moving across the fields of Flanders in the mural, above, and mourning by a graveside in the memorial garden, below.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T01976 T01975 T01980
“Welcome to Muckamore, loyalist heartland – lead the way.” “In defence of our heritage and culture.”
In the Muckamore/Ballycraigy areas of Antrim the insignia of the LVF are still in place. “Lead the way” was the slogan of the LVF (see e.g. D01246 for a prominent instance in Ballycraigy). The organisation called a ceasefire and decommissioned some weapons in the years after the Agreement but persists in some form in Antrim (WP).
The Sons Of Ulster also used to use the slogan “Lead the way” (as described in J1947) but it is not present in the board shown in the recent (2022) Old Ulster’s Battle Cry.
The two boards below are on gables above Woodgreen, which is the site of the bonfire (ig) featured in the third image. They used to claim that it was the biggest bonfire (see C06695) but Craigyhill (in Larne) is more recently the tallest – see Commonwealth Handling Equipment.
There is also a memorial garden to Billy Wright in Ballycraigy – see M05203.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T01994 [T03725] T01985 T01986 Hollowburn Rd, Limetree Ave, Antrim
On the front of the wall, soldiers from the 36th (Ulster) Division stop at a grave as they march through Flanders Fields; just around the corner (second image) is a memorial to a (modern) UVF member “Vol. D[avid] Langley, 1969-2018”.
For the previous Somme mural in this spot, see Steeple Defenders.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T01973 T01974
Tommy Herron was kidnapped and executed in September 1973, probably by members of his own East Belfast UDA brigade in a dispute over money from a robbery (Irish Times | Lost Lives 938 | Holland | BelTel) though others allege it was by the security forces (BelTel), perhaps the SAS or MI5. These BBC News videos (one | two) give a sense of the perplexity of the case; a HET inquiry years later was inconclusive (Irish Times). His 18-year-old brother-in-law, Michael Wilson, had been killed by the UDA at their shared house in June, perhaps in a case of mistaken identity, perhaps as an informer (WP | Lost Lives 877).
Despite the internal conflict over Herron’s position and profiteering, 25,000 people attended his funeral and hearkened to the words of the Reverend Ian Paisley (AP video | Patterson images). The AP video shows ranks of UDA volunteers marching in the procession; the mural was launched with (two) masked UDA volunteers flanking speaker Dee Stitt (BelTel).
Orlock Gardens, Kilcooley, Bangor
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T01944 [T01945]
Paddy Duffy Collection 