painted wall – Paddy Duffy Collection

We Can Turn This Place Around

2026-09-112026-09-21Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Here is a small gallery of images from the Redmanville and Corcrain estates in Portadown, specifically Westland Road and the bonfire site. To the trio of boards at the site (seen previously in January, 2026) has been added the board shown above: “In loving memory – from the fathers that shaped it to the son’s [sic] who continue it. It’s our year, every year.” The bonfire, which is lit on the 10th (of July) has its own Facebook page.

Elsewhere in the estates: An elderly woman is drawn spraying graffiti that reads “They’re ashamed of our youth … and that’s the truth” along with “Never give up, never back down. We can turn this place around!”, and an anti-immigrant placard, the same as the one recorded in January.

Westland Road, Corcrain/Redmanville, Portadown

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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Portadown District

2026-09-112026-09-20Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

On the near side of this long mural of Portadown landmarks and history is the collarette of “LOL No. 1” and a silhouette of King William III on his horse. The Orange Order’s first district lodge was formed in 1796 in Portadown (LOLNo1), the same year that the first parades took place on the Twelfth, in Portadown, Lurgan, and Warrenpoint. (The first individual lodge was founded in Dyan, Co Tyrone. (Lurgan Ancestry))

Also included in the mural is the “Portadown” spitfire – one of 17 spitfires purchased by a Belfast Telegraph fund-raising drive. See also the mural of the “Ballymena” spitfire.

The grand building on the far left is the former Portadown Railway station, in Watson Street – see FamilyPedia for a photograph.

Atkinson Avenue/Ranfurley Road, Brownstown, Portadown, recently joined by three True Blues flute band boards.

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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Always On Our Minds Throughout The Year

2026-09-102026-09-17Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Loyalist culture – unbowed, unbroken.” The Sydenham Bonfire is constructed annually on the Inverary playing field and there is now a mural announcing the group who build it, to go along with the bonfire’s Facebook page. The phrase “unbowed, unbroken” has been frequently seen in CNR muraling, beginning with a 1996 mural in Lenadoon.

There is a memorial plaque in the top left: “Dedicated to Reece (Leeper) Leeman. To our friend that we hold dear, hard to believe that your [sic] not here. Thankful our memories won’t disappear. Always on our minds throughout the year.” Leeman, aged 21, was stabbed to death in 2019 (BBC) when he and a friend attempted to raid cannabis from the Kyle Street house of an aquaintance (ITv | News Letter).

Inverary pitches and bowling green, Sydenham, east Belfast

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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I Only Have Eyes For You

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Here are two pieces on the legal wall in Little Patrick Street, Belfast city centre, by MUL (web) and Féoıl (ig).

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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The Influencer

2026-08-312026-09-13Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Seamus Heaney 1929-2013.” Seamus Heaney was raised in Bellaghy and is buried in Bellaghy. Between these bookends, he attended boarding school in Derry and Queen’s in Belfast, and held academic positions in Belfast, California, Dublin, and Massachusetts. His poetry won him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995 and made him a household name. Although he largely pre-dates the social-media era, this new mural in Derry suggests that he is – or could be – an influencer.

“Beneath Irish Skies (Inspired by Seamus Heaney) The grass is green when I step outside the door. The air is fresh like mint. The sun shines off the water like your eyes. The wind whistling like a flute. – by Jude Shiels, aged 12″

“Féile brought together young people from Bishop Street and Newbuildings youth clubs to work creatively alongside one another as part of a cross-community project. The young people worked with artists from Peaball [web] street art collective, helping to shape and influence the design of this mural. Through creative workshops and discussions the group explored the life of Seamus Heaney and how the landscape and the people within it influenced his work. What role in society does the modern influencer play … This project has been sponsored by PeacePlus, a programme managed by the Special EU Programmes body.”

Westland Street, Bogside, Derry

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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Life Hack

2026-08-312026-09-08Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This street-art is by/for Life Hack (Fb) and Peaball (web) near the Rath Mór offices of the former, on Bligh’s Lane, Derry.

You Have No Power To Make Me A Criminal

2026-08-312026-09-05Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“”You have the power to send me to gaol but you have no power to make me a criminal” – Seán Milroy, IRB” The words were reportedly (ig) spoken by Milroy in June, 1915, as he was being sentenced to three months hard labour for an inflammatory speech. He fought in the Easter Rising (see p. 27 ff of his testimony in the Military Archives) but voted in favour of the Treaty, believing that Northern Ireland could not survive politically or economically (DIB | RTÉ).

This is the latest work by Saoradh (web) and Éıstıgí Dhoıre on the wall of the Lecky Road flyover, adding on to the pieces seen in Our Present Fight.

Things Can Only Get Better

2026-08-312026-09-04Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Peter Cunnah was the singer of D:Ream, who had a number-one hit in 1994 with “Things Can Only Get Better” (youtube). He was born in Belfast but adopted by parents in Derry (BBC). This new mural was painted (by Karl Porter of UV Arts (web)) at the junction of Northland and Clarendon streets (in the Clarendon Conservation Area (pdf)), next to Cunnah’s home at 46 Clarendon Street, where he formed his first band, Tie The Boy (Derry Journal).