painted wall

Shankill Eddie

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A Visual History page details the various appearances of Eddie The Head in his guise as a Red Coat soldier-cum-UDA volunteers. In this Shankill Eddie, he carries an assault rifle and an Ulster Banner as he marches over the graves of “E[ddie] Copeland”, “S[ean] Kelly”, and “S[tephen] Larkin”. The three are IRA volunteers: Kelly, along with Thomas Begley, bombed Frizzell’s fish shop on the Shankill Road in 1993 – Kelly survived; Copeland was injured during an attack on Begley’s wake; Larkin made an attempt on the life of Johnny Adair in 1993.

There is also a Visual History page for the murals painted in the era of Johnny Adair’s C company, of which this is one.

Hopewell Crescent, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2000 Paddy Duffy (no date given)
T01178

King Rat

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“Loyalist martyr King Rat 1960-1997”. Billy Wright broke with the UVF over the ceasefire in 1994 and after being expelled (and the Mid-Ulster brigade disbanded) in the summer of 1996, formed the LVF (WP). Wright was killed in the Maze in December 1987 by members of the INLA (neither the INLA or LVF were on ceasefire). Johnny Adair of the UDA’s west Belfast C company was an admirer and supported of Wright and this is one of the murals he had painted in the lower Shankill estate.

Hopewell Crescent, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2000 Paddy Duffy (no date given)
T01179

Sandy Row Parade

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Here (in three parts) is a wide community mural replacing the POW mural in Linfield Road, in the Sandy Row area of south Belfast, depicting a parade marching along Sandy Row past a lot of landmarks (not all in appearing as they actually do along the road).

From left to right, the buildings shown are: the Carnegie Library on Donegall Road, Weaver’s Court (which is at the end of the road that the mural is on), the Royal Bar (Hamilton’s), Gilpin’s shoe shop, Orange Hall, Murray’s tobacco factory, the Belfast & Ulster Brewery building (the courtyard of which was used as a drilling ground by the Ulster Volunteers), Sandy Row District No 5 (Fb) arch.

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Copyright © 2000 Paddy Duffy (no date given)
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Spike Chases Adams

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Spike (the dog from Tom & Jerry) wears a Union Flag t-shirt and brandishes an assault rifle as he chases Sınn Féın’s Gerry Adams, wearing a Celtic top, out of Belfast and towards Dublin, in front of the UDA murals at (D00971) and behind (D00969) the KFC.

This is one of the murals painted in the era of Johnny Adair’s C company.

Hopewell Crescent, lower Shankill, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2000 Paddy Duffy (no date given)
T01190

Free Our Prisoners

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“Free our prisoners o[f] w[ar]”, specifically prisoners from the South Belfast UFF/UDA. This pair of smaller murals is in the garden next to St Alban’s, and the gable mural is across the road.

Blythe Street, south Belfast

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Copyright © 2000 Paddy Duffy (no date given)
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William & Schomberg

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King Billy crossing the Boyne, with Schomberg dying in the foreground, making this a crude reproduction of Benjamin West’s 1780 painting ‘Battle Of The Boyne’. Second-in-command Schomberg had crossed the Boyne first and met his fate at the hands of Jacobite cavalry. Schomberg’s helper is perhaps George Walker, governor of Derry during the siege, who was shot and killed (reportedly) while attending to Schomberg – see George Walker.

Shankill Parade, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2000 Paddy Duffy (no date given)
T01183

Shankill Rd Supports Drumcree

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“We demand the right to march”, “Portadown District LOL No 1 [Fb]”, “Here we stand – we can do no other”.

This mural in the lower Shankill estate is about the disputed Orange Order parade (WP entry, including a map of the route) to Drumcree Church (in Portadown, shown in the mural) part of which goes along the Catholic Garvaghy Road. After many contentious years (beginning in 1995), the re-routing of the marches in 2000 led to some rioting, but was the last year of notable conflict over the parade (CAIN).

N Boundary Street, lower Shankill, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2000 Paddy Duffy
T00452

Diana, Queen Of Hearts

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Diana Spencer (“1961-1997”) became Princess Of Wales upon marrying Prince Charles in 1981 but they divorced in 1996, a year before she died in a Paris car-crash. She is presented has an English rose in front of a large Union Flag in the shape of a heart.

This is one of the murals painted in the lower Shankill estate under Johnny Adair.

Hopewell Crescent, lower Shankill, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2000 Paddy Duffy (no date given)
T01182