painted wall

Moving In Marches Upon The Heavenly Plain

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The stencil is in Mount Vernon, which is also home to a series of metalworks – see They Sleep Beyond Ulster’s Foam. That title, as well as the title of this entry, comes from Binyon’s poem For The Fallen, the fourth stanza of which is often cited in memorial for the dead of the Great War: “They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old; / Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. / At the going down of the sun and in the morning / We will remember them.”

The stencil is perhaps not only a memorial to the dead of WWI – the planes appear to be WWII models such as the Hurricane or Spitfire (as on the box below, and in A Miracle of Deliverance); most WWI planes were biplanes.

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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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Days When The Rains Came

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The Con O’Neill bridge crosses the Knock river just before it meets the Loop river to form the Connswater, which used to be Con’s water, and provided a way for “men, horses and livestock to cross the river” (Con O’Neill).

The mural depicting such a crossing, by Friz (ig), is on a gable wall in the car park next to the bridge; the area is now known as The Hollow, as in “Hey, where did we go?/Days when the rains came/Down in the hollow/Playin’ a new game.” (For an image of bridge partially submerged and impassable in 2012, see Geograph | more images at Google Maps Places.)

Con lived c. 1600 but the bridge might well pre-date that time. It was refurbished as part of the Connswater Greenway project in ?2014?.

Abetta Parade, east Belfast

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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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UDR Checkpoint

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The second mural along Ballee Way, Ballymena (between The Crown and The Lion Wears The Crown), is a tribute to the UDR [Ulster Defence Regiment], established in 1970 to replace the Specials and amalgamated with the Royal Irish Rangers in 1992 to form the Royal Irish Regiment. The mural shows a UDR soldier manning a checkpoint, on top of a free-floating Northern Ireland filled in with a Union Flag.

For the mural when new, see M08022.

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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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The Lion Wears The Crown

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The third of the three murals on Ballee way is a Ballee Flute Band (formerly the Ballee Blues And Royals) mural showing the ‘lion and the unicorn’ from the UK coat of arms. The lion (England) wears a crown but the unicorn (Scotland) does not, since, as the nursery rhyme has it, “the lion beat the unicorn all around the town” (WP).

In place of the Royal Standard, “honi soit qui mal y pense” and “Dieu et mon droit” “, however, we find the Bible. “Drumtara”, and “In God we trust”. Behind are the Union flag and the flags of the Apprentice Boys and the Orange Order.

To the right of frame can be seen part of UDR Checkpoint.

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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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The Dead

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Two poems of WWI in Ballykeel 2, Ballymena: above, “We are the Dead. Short days ago/We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,/Loved and were loved, and now we lie/In Flanders fields.” from ‘In Flanders Fields’ by John McCrae.

Below: “They shall not grow old/As we that are left grow old/Age shall not weary them/Nor the years condemn/At the going down of the sun/And in the morning/We will remember them.” from ‘For The Fallen’ by Laurence Binyon.

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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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Per Ardua Ad Astra

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“Through adversity to the stars” – in WWII the Belfast Telegraph conducted a campaign to raise money for spitfire aircraft. 17 were purchased with the roughly 89 thousand pounds raised, and each of them was named for a city or area of Northern Ireland, including one named for Ballymena, which is the site of this new mural recalling the effort. (BelTel | NIWorld)

The plaques to Jimmy Aberdeen on the right-hand side of the second image date back to the previous mural, which is included last below; previously on the wall were Fight To A Finish and, before that, I Can Stand Alone.

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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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Drumtara Dee Craig

This Is Not The Same As Other Days

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Here are images of street art in the green space off Queen’s Parade, (following on from Sharon Regan’s boards along the street – Nature Is Healing). The works are:

Friz’s (ig) Snow Patrol ‘Wildness’ cover for their “Ward Park 3” festival,
unknown artist “As they reach for the heavens/They forget to be earthly good”.
local artist Carla Hodgson’s (ig) “Rock, Paper, Scissors” octopus,
Codo (ig) x Jimbo Slice (ig),
FGB’s (ig) “Don’t look wack in Bangor”,
HM Constance’s (ig) stag.

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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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