painted wall

Ulster’s Defenders

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Ulster’s defenders, past and present, from Cuchulainn “Ancient defender of Ulster from Gael attacks”, via the 1893 UDU and WWI soldiers memorialised in the towers at Messines and Thiepval, to the modern UDA/UFF: “In memory of the officers and volunteers of A. Coy. UDA/UFF West Belfast Brigade who unselfishly dedicated their lives in defence of their country.”

There was also a Cuchulainn mural on Newtownards Rd in 1992 (updated in 2005), as well as ‘past defenders’ in the form of B Specials and UDR (1992 | 2005). There is a Visual History page on Cú Chulaınn.

Among the volunteers listed on the stone, 19 year old Alan Simpson was shot in his home in nearby Highfield Drive.

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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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Ghosts Of The Somme

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A memorial stone has been added to the fading mural of soldiers of the 15th battalion heading to France in 1915, beginning a list of former members of the Rathcoole Friends Of The Somme (Fb). For the names of the five portraits, and the mural in better condition, see Many Did Not Return.

Iniscarn Drive, Rathcoole

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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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Three Scottish Soldiers

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Highland Fusiliers Joseph McCaig (18), (his brother) John McCaig (17), and Dougald McCaughey (23) were lured by members of the (P)IRA from a city-centre pub to their deaths in the fields above Ligoniel in 1971 (WP). Their deaths contributed to the resignation of Chichester-Clark and the introduction of internment in August. There are monuments to the three men in Ballysillan and at the site of their deaths on White Brae depicted on the right of the mural – for images of the monuments see The Highland. This new Rathcoole mural to their memory replaces one to Queen Elizabeth II.

Owenreagh Drive, Rathcoole, Newtownabbey

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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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Marky Quail

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Mark Quail, of the UVF, was “murdered by the enemies of Ulster” – that is, shot by the UDA – at his Rathcoole home on November 1st, 2000. His was the fourth death in four days (after David Greer, Bertie Rice, Tommy English) (Irish Times) as the UVF-UDA feud that began in the Shankill with the infamous “loyalist day of culture” in August 2000 spread to north Belfast and Newtownabbey (though the BBC says they are unrelated). There were also attacks in east Belfast (BelTel) before the feud ended in mid-December (BBC | Guardian).

See also Jackie Coulter (and Bobby Mahood) and Sam Rockett “Murdered By Cowards”.

This is a repainted mural; for the previous version see Marky Quail.

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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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Our Community, Our Fleadh, Our People, Ardoyne

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Various of the posters along the bottom of this Ardoyne Fleadh Cheoıl (tw | Fb) mural have themselves been murals: Cú Chulaınn on the 1999 poster to the left was painted in Ardoyne Avenue the same year; Fleadh Érıu on the 1995 poster, under the go-kart’s left wheel) was painted on this wall in 1994; the Ardoyne Fleadh Cheoıl emblem (on the go-karter’s t-shirt) was used in Maıreann An Spıorad.

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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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Danny Barrett

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“A little boy of fifteen years/was chosen thus to die./As a British soldier aimed his gun/And never questioned why!/The shots rang out, the echo[e]s still/Young Danny fell, shoot to kill./They shoot to kill & kill & kill/Oh please God stop them/But no one will.” Danny Barrett was shot and killed on July 9th, 1981 – a day after Joe McDonnell’s death and on evening of the same day as the shooting of Norah McCabe – by a single shot from a British army observation post on top of Ewart’s Mill. The mural in his memory is in Havana Way, close to his Havana Court home, where he had been sitting on a garden wall talking to a friend. For a full account, see Free Ireland or watch video of his sisters in front of the new mural. For the Lawrence/Hammil board in Brompton Road, see Same Story, Same Bigotry.

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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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Stronger Together

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mural featuring (from left to right in the image below) Ardoyne Youth Club, Ard Eoın Kickhams, and the John Paul II Youth Club as alternatives to bullying, racism, homophobia, addiction, and other social ills. This panel shows Irish dancing, soccer, and Gaelic games; there are also images of young people practicing martial arts, DJing, and boxing on a side wall.

Havana Way, Ardoyne

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Prepared For Peace, Ready For War

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For this year’s Twelfth, the famous UVF “Prepared for peace, ready for war” mural that has stood over the entrance to Mount Vernon for twenty years was retouched. The most obvious change is in the apex, as a different UVF symbol – with flags – has been included, along with the words “3rd Battalion” which had been in the much earlier version of this mural on another wall.

For the previous version (and a link to the original wall), see Prepared For Peace, Ready For War.

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