An explicitly UDA mural returns to the Grange estate (Ballyclare); the previous Young Guns board fell down. Two men were imprisoned in October (2022) (Belfast Live) and November (4NI), the former from the estate, in connection with investigations into the Ballyclare UDA in February, 2021. Two others were arrested in Larne and Ballyclare in September (BelTel).
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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Sir Edward Carson, 1854-1935, was born and raised in Dublin, and practiced law there for many years, but he is most famously associated with the Unionist campaign against Home Rule and the creation of “a Protestant province of Ulster” and eventually the six-county state of Northern Ireland.
This mural is by Dee Craig (Fb) in Ballyclare’s Grange Drive. It was originally painted in 2017 but was repaired in 2020.
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In the Great War, the men from Ballyclare generally joined the 12th (Central Antrim) battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles (the emblem of which is on the left), and were assigned to the 108th brigade along with others from south Antrim and County Down.
The wear on this mural suggests that it might have been painted (by Dee Craig – Fb) at the same time as Ballyclare Remembers, for the centenary of the Somme; there is no record of it in any of the usual sources or Dee’s page.
Rashee Court, Ballyclare
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The Pride Of Ballybeen is a flute band formed in 2014. Their band mural features the Union Flag and Ulster Banner flanking the red hand of Ulster on a six-pointed star against an orange field, surrounded by a crown and a garland pinned by a rose; the titular banner, below, is supported by shamrock and thistle.
Video of the band in action on youtube.
Craigleith Drive, Ballybeen, Dundonald.
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The emblem of the UFF is flanked by Ulster Banner and Union Flag.
Strone Park, Ballybeen, Dundonald.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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This anti-drugs mural in Granton Park, Tullycarnet — “Build a better future for our children – teach them to say No” — replaces a UDA mural – see Release The Political Hostages.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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This is a three-stone memorial to army soldiers from both World Wars in Tullycarnet, featuring a line from the gospel of John (“Greater love has no-one than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” 15:13) and a song by Randall Wallace for the 2002 movie We Were Soldiers called ‘The Mansions of the Lord’: To fallen soldiers let us sing, where no rockets fly nor bullets wing, our broken brothers let us bring, to the mansions of the Lord. No more weeping, no more fight, no prayers pleading through the night, just divine embrace, eternal light, in the mansions of the Lord. Where no mothers cry and no children weep, we will stand and guard though the angels sleep, Oh through the ages safely keep, the mansions of the Lord.”
By Ross Wilson with support from the International Fund For Ireland (IFI)
Behind the memorial is a mural reading “Time for peace – invest in kids …… not war!”
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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UFF, UDA, and UYM mural in Tullycarnet: Tullycarnet 5th Battalion, East Belfast Brigade. The mural dates back to 2006 at least. Also included (below) is a large Tullycarnet flute band tarp on the railings.
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The Tullycarnet flute band (Fb) murals on the hill were repainted for Remembrance Sunday in November 2021 but vandalised shortly thereafter (Belfast Live) with graffiti naming an alleged paedophile which was then whited out. One year on and the mural has not been repaired.
(For the previous murals, see Fighting For The Crown and Absent Friends)
Melfort Drive/Lochinver Drive, Dundonald. The tarp is on the main King’s Road.
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Victoria Cross recipient James Magennis was the only person from Northern Ireland awarded the VC for action during WWII (WP). Although the mural is in loyalist Tullycarnet, Magennis was a Catholic, born in west Belfast, though he later lived in Castlereagh. He was given a reception in 1945 at Belfast city hall.
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