For Remembrance Sunday, rows of hand-painted wooden medallions were attached to the railings at West Kirk Presbyterian to pay homage to the dead of the British armed forces, including Bernard McQuirt, whose plaque is shown below. McQuirt was a VC winner for actions taken during the Indian Rebellion in 1858. Originally from Donaghcloney, he survived his injuries and died in 1888 at 72 Urney Street (HistoryHub | News Letter | WP) – Urney Street used to be where the plaque and the memorial garden now are, along the side of the West Kirk.
The CIRA (Continuity IRA) is the military wing of Republican Sınn Féın (RSF web), which split from Provisional Sınn Féın in 1986, though the military campaign did not begin until the Provisional IRA ceasefire in 1994. Like all of the various IRAs, the CIRA claims to be continuing the fight for (all-island) Irish freedom begun with the 1916 Easter Rising – the board (above) commemorates the centenary of the Rising.
To the left is a slightly newer RSF board: “Stop the extradition of Liam Campbell now – don’t hand him over, don’t play England’s game”. Campbell was extradited from the Republic to Lithuania in 2022 (BBC) but was returned to Ireland later the same year when a court ruled the statute of limitations has expired (RN).
The CIRA’s armed campaign is represented by the hooded gunman in the ‘warning sign’ below.
Also included (last below) is a small IRSP (web) stencil.
The pieces are in the adjacent Meadowbrook and Drumbeg areas of Lurgan.
“I owe my allegiance [here “allegience”] to the working class” is a phrase associated with Seamus Costello (b. 1939), who fought for the IRA during the Border Campaign and was interned in the Curragh for two years. He stayed with the Officials during the split, but was driven out in 1974 and formed the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) and the INLA. He was shot in 1977 (WP). Nora Connolly, at Costello’s funeral, said, “He was the only one who truly understood what James Connolly meant when he spoke of his vision of the freedom of the Irish people.”
This pair of hand-painted (and stencilled) boards is next to the Mount Inn on North Queen Street. Tiger’s Bay is loyal to the memory of “1690” and the service of the 36th Division in WWI in 1916.
Greenmount Street, Tiger’s Bay, north Belfast
On the other side of the Mount, at the bottom of the old Lewis Street, are two more hand-painted boards from 2024 – see Friends Of The Somme.
Armagh won the All-Ireland Senior football championship in 2024, with a squad that included three players from Crossmaglen: Oısín O’Neill, Cıan McConville, and Rían O’Neill.
In the bottom-left corner, players from Crossmaglen Rangers turn to face the Irish tricolour, flanked by the club flag and the flag of Palestine – the flags fly below the watchtower of a British Army barracks (perhaps based on an image from the 2005 Armagh final – Irish Times).
On the right is an umbrella in pride colours, below which people can pose and take pictures: “Snap & tag us”.
This is a revised version of the mural, which originally bore the Ernesto Cardenal quote, “They tried to bury you/us but they didn’t know you/we were seeds” (ig).
St James’s Community Farm/Feırm Phobaıl Naomh Séamus (web | Fb) started in 2015 with a dozen hens; it is now home to 38 animals, produces vegetables and eggs, and collects cans for recycling.
Belfast Media recently profiled the farm (in print) and is producing a series of short videos about the farm: one | two | three (on youtube).
Féıle An Phobaıl (web) is now headquartered in the renovated (BCC) St Comgall’s on Divis Street in Ionad Eileen Howell, and during this year’s (2025) festival is home to an exhibition called “Vibrant Colours, Violent Past”, the centrepiece of which is a 20-foot-long panoramic history of republicanism, with Wolfe Tone, James Connolly, and Martin McGuinness as pivotal figures.
A leaflet distributed at the launch (on August 1st) explained the genesis of the project, as follows:
“A few years ago I met a great friend of Ireland and art collector Darius Anderson from California who was here on a trip with his wife Wendy and hoping to see some new work by Irish artists, not only work destined for gallery walls but having been fortunate to be included on one of local guide Dee Morgan’s tours he developed a love for and focus on our world-recognised mural art tradition.
“Then last year on another trip here I was able to introduce Darius to my life-long friends and probably the most prolific contributors to our local landscape.
“From a casual meeting alongside Marty and Micky at work repainting the Vol. Kieran Doherty mural in Andersonstown came an inspired suggestion that we accept a challenge from him to tell our story graphically on a canvas rather than the usual brick wall, not just on canvas to hang on a wall in his gallery in L.A. but a canvas to cover the entire wall 20ft x 7ft!
“Excited by our positive response Darius wondered could we invite some loyalist artist/activist to contribute a similar large canvas celebrating the history of the British, Unionist, Loyalist community here.
“That was last July. This exhibition is a result of that meeting but also a chance for the public to remind themselves of our often colourful and unfortunately violent past. – Danny D, Muralist/Activist”
“History is like a rearview mirror! You must always check back but you must keep focused on the road ahead, otherwise you are going to crash!” (Similar wording was used in a piece – Painting From The Same Palette – painted by Danny D and Mark Ervine in 2008.)
The exhibition was launched on August 1st and also included four display boards featuring murals by Danny D (CNR) and Dee Craig (PUL) (Fb).
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.
Paddy Duffy Collection 