plaque – Page 10 – Paddy Duffy Collection

Here Lies A Soldier

2012-07-312026-08-04Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

There are three murals (each with a plaque) to UVF volunteers from 1st battalion, B company, on three consecutive gables in Disraeli Street, presented here from south to north (i.e. heading towards Ohio Street).

First: “In proud and loving memory of Vol. Samuel Rockett, ‘B’ Coy 1st Belfast battalion, Young Citizen Volunteers. Murdered by cowards 23rd August 2000. ‘At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them.’ ‘Here lies a soldier’”

The “cowards” in this case are the members of the UDA who killed Rockett (born June 21st, 1979) in front of his girlfriend and 18 month old child in an attack on her house in the lower Oldpark, during the feud between the UVF and UDA, sparked by Johnny Adair’s “loyalist day of culture” and removal of the UVF from the lower Shankill. In response to the purge (and attacks on the Rex bar), the UVF killed Bobby Mahood and Mr Jackie Coulter. Rockett was killed by the UDA in retaliation for their deaths; 1,000 people attended Rockett’s funeral (Irish Times). After Rockett died, the UVF killed David Greer, and the UDA then killed PUP member Bertie Rice in Tiger’s Bay on October 31st.

Second: Lt Col Trevor “Kingso” King served time for his part in the Battle At Springmartin in 1972, in which seven people, including a British soldier, died. In 1994, having been shot by the INLA and paralysed from the neck down, King took the decision to remove his own life-support (WP).

The words on the left are from Suicide In The Trenches by WWI poet Siegfried Sassoon:

You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
Who cheer when soldier lads pass by
Sneak home and pray you’ll never know
The hell where youth and laughter go

Third: Brian Robinson was shot by the British Army in 1989 immediately after he had shot and killed a Catholic (Paddy McKenna) walking along Crumlin Road. This is the fifth version of the Brian Robinson mural in Disraeli Street, Belfast.

The plaque reads, “UVF 1st Batt B Coy Vol Brian Robinson killed in action 2nd Sept 1989. For his country and his people he took up the gun, a volunteer to the end and a true Ulster son. Robbed of his life’s blood in Sept ’89 but the name Brian Robinson will live for all time.

The plaque includes “Also his loving mother Margaret Robinson died 3rd September 1989”

Disraeli Street, Woodvale, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2012 Paddy Duffy
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Lay Them Away On The Hill Side

2012-07-032026-08-03Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Lay them away on the hill side/along with the brave and the bold/Inscribe their names on the role [sic] of fame/in letters of purest gold.” The Ulster Tower at Thiepval commemorates the WWI dead of the 36th (Ulster) Division. The words, however, come from a song about James Daly, who was executed by firing squad for taking part in a 1920 mutiny of the Connaught Rangers in India in protest of the activities of the Black and Tans.

Below the board is a roll of honour for the “UVF South Belfast 2nd battalion”: “A salute to the brave/to those men we hold dear/they fought for our freedom/south Belfast volunteers.”

Compare this mural to the previous (Here Lies A Soldier), which does not include any reference to the Great War.

On the side of The Hideout, Pine Street, Donegall Pass, south Belfast

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Copyright © 2011/2012 Paddy Duffy
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Talk Of Us As Though We Were Beside You

2012-01-142026-08-01Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Grieve not nor speak of us with tears but laugh and talk of us as though we were beside you”. Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann, Belfast brigade, 2nd battalion, B company volunteers Kevin Delaney, Patrick Campbell, Michael Clarke, Anne Parker, and Michael Sloan are shown on patrol in Ballymurphy Parade, the street just to the left of this mural. Campbell was 16 when killed by friendly fire; the oldest at time of death was Delaney, at 26.

Also named on the plaque are “republican activists” Esther Valelly, Theresa Campbell, and Maggie Campbell.

Glenalina Road, Ballymurphy, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2012 Paddy Duffy
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McGurk’s Bar

2012-01-042026-08-01Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

For the 40th anniversary, a painted shopfront and plaques to the victims of the McGurk’s Bar Bombing were added last December (2011) to the Celtic Cross and plaque already at the site.

The rectangular plaque at the corner reads, “To the memory of fifteen innocent civilians murdered by a pro-British loyalist gang in a no warning bomb attack on McGurk’s bar, Dec. 4th 1971. Philomena McGurk, Marie McGurk, James Cromie, John Colton, Thomas McLaughlin, David Milligan, James Smyth, Francis Bradley, Thomas Kane, Kathleen Irvine, Philip Garry, Edward Kane, Edward Keenan, Sarah, Keenan, Robert Spotswood.”

The text on the info board to the right is ad follows: “At 8.47 pm on Saturday 4th December 1971, a no-warning bomb, planted by British terrorists, exploded on the doorstep of family-run McGurk’s Bar. Fifteen innocent men, women and children perished. Those who were not crushed or slowly asphyxiated by masonry where [sic] horrifically burned to death when shattered gas mains burst into flames beneath the rubble. Nearly the same again were dragged from the debris alive. In the aftermath of the atrocity, the British and Unionist Governments, RUC police force and British military disseminated disinformation that the bomb was in-transit and that the innocent civilians were guilty by association, if not complicit in this act of terrorism. This is despite a mountain of forensic evidence and a witness who saw the bomb being planted and lit before watching the British terrorists escape into the night. From the moment the bomb exploded, and for 40 years since, the families and friends of those murdered have campaigned constitutionally and with great dignity to clear the names of their loved ones. It is a Campaign for Truth that continues to this day. Join us at www.themcgurksbar.com.”

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Copyright © 2012 Paddy Duffy
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Éırí Amach Na Casca

2010-01-142026-07-28Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The Éırí Amach Na Cásca 1916 [Easter Rising 1916] mural is repainted (by DD and Seany McVeigh) due to the new doorway. Compare to the previous version. (See also the IRA plaque.)

Beechmount Avenue/Ascaıll Ard Na bhFeá/RPG Avenue, Beechmount, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2010 Paddy Duffy
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Stevie McKeag

2008-01-012025-12-12Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“In loving memory of military commander Stevie ‘Top Gun’ McKeag, born 1970, died 2000. Sleeping where no shadows fall.” The plaques and the photograph in the centre are new (see previously 2007).

McKeag was the top assassin in the UDA during the 1990s, claiming at least 12 victims. Both his WP page and this Guardian article describe his career and his – sometimes contentious – preeminent standing within the UDA.

The upper plaque reads “This mural is dedicated to the memory of Stevie (Top Gun) McKeag from the officers & members of C Company 2nd Battalion UFF. Gone but not forgotten. Quis separabit.” The lower plaque reads “In loving memory of our big brother Steven McKeag from Jackie, Mary & Melissa. Simply the best.”

Hopewell Crescent, lower Shankill, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2008 Paddy Duffy
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UVF Platoon No 4

2008-01-012025-12-03Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“This mural is dedicated to the fallen volunteers of No 4 Pltn A Coy, 1st Belfast Battn, Ulster Volunteer Force who dutifully served this community in the years of conflict. It pays tribute to those who died in active engagement and to the many who passed peacefully from service having fulfilled their duties. Their names and deeds are eternally venerated by their comrades in arms who humbly serve in their honour. They remained staunch to the end against odds uncounted, they fell with their faces to the foe, their name liveth forevermore.“

The plaque reads, “In memory of our fallen comrades No 4 platoon, A coy, 1st battalion, Belfast. Lest we forget”.

Glenwood Street, west Belfast

Gibraltar 3

2008-01-012025-11-26Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The IRA’s Sean Savage, Maıréad Farrell, and Dan McCann were “Executed by the British SAS 6th March 1988.”

“Oh! Cold March winds that pierce the dark/You cry in aged tones/For souls of folk you’ve brought to God/But still you bear the moans//Oh! Weeping winds, this lonely night/My mother’s heart is sore/Oh! Lord of all, breathe freedom’s breath/That she may weep no more! – Bobby Sands Weeping Winds“

For a close-up of the plaque, see the Peter Moloney Collection.

Hawthorn Street, west Belfast, replacing the painted board seen in 2001.

Live Free!

2008-01-012025-11-25Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Never will they label our struggle as criminal – Bobby Sands.” [March 6th Diary]

Joe Cahill joined Na Fıanna in 1937 and was involved in the republican movement from then until his death in 2004, including being in Tom Williams’s company in 1942 and later a founder member and Chief of Staff of the Provisional IRA. In the centre of the image he is at the end of the table at the August 13, 1971, press conference to comment on the introduction of internment (CAIN). He is honoured in the mural above alongside his brothers Tom and Frank Cahill. (Pat O’Hare is painted between Tom and Frank.)

In the top left are small boards with portraits of Ned Maguire Snr, Ned Maguire Jnr, Sam Holden, Dal Delaney, Rita McParland, Paddy Meenan, Paddy Corrigan, Sean Wallace, John Petticrew, Alex Crowe.

For a close-up of the plaque, see the Peter Moloney Collection.

Beechview Park, west Belfast

Operation Motorman

2007-01-012025-11-21Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

22,000 British soldiers were involved in retaking the “no-go” areas of Derry and Belfast in Operation Motorman, in July 1972. This is the seventh mural from the Bogside Artists in what would become The People’s Gallery.

The plaque on the left is “dedicated to the memory of Patrick Shiels Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann 1878-1957. Erected by the republican movement 11th April 2007 to mark his 50th anniversary. I measc laochra na nGael go raıbh sé”. Paddy Shiels took part in the Easter Rising and was later Derry OC. See BMH testimony #676 by Liam Brady.

Rossville St, Derry