physical force – Page 46 – Paddy Duffy Collection

Rev Robert Bradford

1990-07-012025-09-15Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

South Belfast MP Robert Bradford was assassinated by the Provisional IRA in Finaghy at a meeting with constituents; the caretaker of the community centre, Ken Campbell, was also killed by the fleeing attackers. In late 1981, with the hunger strikes having ended only a month before, the killing was noted around the world and raised fears of broad civil unrest (BBC | NYTimes).

“Vita, veritas, Victoria” [life, truth, victory] is the motto of Londonderry. Here we have “vita, veritas, victa” [life, truth, conquered; perhaps the intended meaning was “conquering” rather than the passive]. The crest is also not quite the crest of the Apprentice Boys, with a ship in the bottom right rather than a skeleton. Get in touch if you can resolve either discrepancy.

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Copyright © 1990 Paddy Duffy
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King Billy At The Boyne

1990-07-012025-09-15Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

King Billy, in red, white, and blue, crossing the Boyne and trampling on a Jacobite soldier in green, white, and orange. This mural was painted in 1989 by a “H. Gibson” (according to the 2015 repainting). The original version of this mural was on the other side of the Pass, at the junction of Apsley Street and Howard Street South, next to a mural of the Lindsay Street arch dedicated to Robert Bradford. (See Cemented With Love for both of these.) 1989 was the 25th anniversary of the erection of the arch in nearby Lindsay Street, but the arch was not painted into this mural until 2002.

Oak Street, Donegall Pass, south Belfast

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Copyright © 1990 Paddy Duffy
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Battle Of The Boyne

1990-07-012025-09-13Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

King William III is flanked by foot soldiers from 1690 and 1990. A small painted sign to the right reads, “We the people of Sandy Row remember with pride the 300th anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne. No surrender. Signed, UFF.”

The modern-day gunman on the right would later be replaced by another period soldier – see the Peter Moloney Collection.

Blythe Street, Sandy Row, south Belfast

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Copyright © 1990 Paddy Duffy
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Village RHC

1990-07-012025-09-13Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“YCV/Red Hand Commando/PAF – 4th battalion, south Belfast brigade, Village”

Hooded gunmen fire over a modified UVF emblem, with four quadrants of flowers, which appear to be (top left) a poppy (or rose?) with one shamrock leaf and some thistle leaves, (top right) three shamrock leaves and a thistle, (bottom right and left) thistles.

Broadway, in the Village. There was also a side-wall, to the left, dedicated to Stevie McCrea – see the Peter Moloney Collection.

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Copyright © 1990 Paddy Duffy
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UDA A Battalion South Belfast

1990-07-012025-08-30Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The mural at the corner of Roden Street and Donegall Road was repainted annually in 1989, 1990, and 1991. The first (see the image from 1988) lacked the McMichael memorial seen here and the white background only went half-way up the wall; the second completed the background, added LPA and UDF emblems and “In memory of John McMichael” in text (see C00525). This third iteration places the McMichael memorial and the attendant graveside mourners on a bed of grass.

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Copyright © 1990 Paddy Duffy
T00120

Freedom’s Sons

1990-07-012025-08-31Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The writing – D coy, 2nd batt, Belfast Brigade [IRA] – has been added where the volunteer’s legs used to be – see the Peter Moloney Collection for the original. A small plaque has been added at the top. Otherwise, the mural remains as before, with a hooded volunteer raising an assault rifle in front of a sunburst and Tricolour, with a row of barbed wire and the four provinces named in Irish.

Falls Road, west Belfast, now the site of the Garden Of Remembrance

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Copyright © 1990 Paddy Duffy
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Liberty

1990-07-012026-01-20Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Both of these murals by Mo Chara Kelly in the old Linden Street remained unfinished. “I was doing one about the Falls Curfew [for the 20th anniversary march – shown above]. … It never got finished because we had to start Women Against Oppression. When you’re available, people just came up to you, “Mo Chara, we need a mural on this. Could you stop that one? We need to do this one. There’s a Nelson Mandela one needs doing, could you do that?” Everything was chopped and changed all the time, and I never got back to it.” (Painting My Community/An Pobal A Phéınteáıl – English-language version available for free)

The second shows a barefoot woman carrying a large Tricolour and a lark overhead. It is based on the Women’s Day (“Frauen Tag”) poster from 1914. “Heraus mit dem Frauenwahlrecht” – “Forward with women’s suffrage”. German women were given the right to vote in 1918. This mural was replaced by Women Against Oppression.

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Copyright © 1990 Paddy Duffy
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Free Ireland

1990-07-012025-08-30Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Manacles “Made in Britain” constrain the republican desire for a united Ireland, contrary to the burning GPO and rising phoenix.

“Numerous foreign groups and delegations visited Ballymurphy and west Belfast during the troubles. I remember one meeting I was at in Conway Mill, I picked up a pamphlet with a drawing of a manacled fist. The caption read “Made in the USA.” So I just took the image and changed the slogan to “Made in Britain”.” (Painting My Community/An Pobal A Phéınteáıl – English-language version available for free)

The plaque – which pre-dates this mural – is to local (A Company 2nd Battalion) IRA volunteers Stan Carberry, Frankie Dodds, Paul Fox, Sean Bailey, Paul Marlowe, and Tony Campbell. “Fuaır sıad bás ar son na hÉıreann”, “Ireland unfree will never be at peace”. (See the Peter Moloney Collection.)

Painted by Mo Chara Kelly in Beechmount Avenue/RPG Avenue.

Beıdh An Bua Agaınn

1990-07-012025-08-30Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Beıdh an bua agaınn” [victory will be ours] is a slogan that Mo Chara Kelly saw inside a cell in the H-Blocks. A circle of four hands – perhaps intended to be in the colours of humankind – releases three doves: “freedom, justice, peace”. “We will be free.”

Painted by Mo Chara Kelly at the top of the Whiterock Road, west Belfast.

Ireland First, Ireland Last, And Ireland Over All

1990-07-012025-08-30Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

A revolutionary soldier raises the Irish Tricolour while trampling on a Union Flag on a broken mast that was perhaps attached to the poorly drawn GPO in the background. The card on which the image is based can be seen below.

On the right hand side are the Easter lily and halberds/pikes and an assault rifle, indicating the historical roots and present-day inheritors of the 1916 revolt.