printed board/placard – Page 14 – Paddy Duffy Collection

Breaking The Siege

2025-05-072025-05-27Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

English forces under Kirke came to the aid of the besieged Protestants in Derry, “breaking the boom” across the Foyle and ending the siege at the end of July, 1689. The next wave of forces sailed for Belfast Lough, and together with the troops from Derry, set siege on August 20th to a garrison of Jacobite forces stationed in Carrickfergus castle, who soon began to run low on gunpowder, and surrendered. (WP | NIWorld)

This new board in Davy’s Street, Carrickfergus, focuses mostly on the siege of Derry, though gives the dates of the Carrickfergus siege at the top. Schomberg appears in the top-left quadrant of the board – he would go on to die on at the Boyne in 1690; in the top-right is the Carrickfergus castle and the Mountjoy; in the bottom-left are Walker’s statue and the canon ‘Roaring Meg’; bottom-right is a painting of the Derry inhabitants celebrating the end of the siege; top-centre is the coat of arms of William and Mary; and bottom-centre is the Londonderry coat of arms.

Replaces a trio of small UVF boards.

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The Royal Landings

2025-05-072025-05-27Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“The Royal Landing, Carrickfergus, Saturday 14th June 2025. The pageant, re-enactment, and parade.”

William III, statholder of Holland, landed at Torbay, England, in November, 1688 with 250+ ships and 30,000 men in order to overthrow the Catholic convert James II who had become king in 1685. As king of England, William was automatically made king of Ireland, but he and his forces had to go to Ireland to win the island from James and the forces loyal to him. Schomberg had already successfully besieged Carrickfergus in 1689, allowing William to land on June 14th, 1690. The image used as a background is Pocock’s oil painting of the landing, which is held by the National Maritime Museum.

The Royal Landing event involves a parade – involving the Carrickfergus Defenders flute band (Fb) and the Ulster Grenadiers flute band (Fb) – from Woodburn fields to the marina, where King Billy’s landing will be recreated (Fb).

See also: June 14th, 1690 in Newtownabbey

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From D-Day To VE Day

2025-05-062025-05-16Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

39 Allied divisions – 12 of them British – participated in the Normandy Landings – officially “Operation Neptune” – that took place on June 6th, 1944; in planning for the operation, the original “D-Day” was June 5th, but bad weather postponed it until the following day, when 160,000 troops stormed the beaches of the Bay Of The Seine. By the end of August, Paris had been liberated, and by the following May, victory in Europe had been achieved. 2024 was the eightieth anniversary of D-Day and 2025 the eightieth anniversary of VE Day, on May 8th.

This D-Day board and VE Day mural are in Edlingham Street, Tiger’s Bay, north Belfast. Also included below is a WWI memorial electrical box in Mervue Street, though as can be seen from the board (immediately below) the ‘graveside mourner’ silhouette is becoming a generic symbol of lost UK forces.

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When The Ranks That Are Thin Shall Be Thinned

2025-05-052025-05-21Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“English Brigade Ulster Volunteer Force.” “England and Ulster – the ties that bind.” “United we stand.”

On the left are the words from William Blake’s poem, which also serve as the lyrics to the hymn Jerusalem.

“Let our flag run out straight in the wind/The old red shall be floated again./When the ranks that are thin shall be thinned/When the names that were twenty are ten.” [from Swinburne’s A Song In Time Of Order which was also used as a socialist song]

The images along the bottom illustrate the connection between Northern Ireland and England. From left to right: Edward Carson in Liverpool in 1912; 10,00 pledges from Liverpool men; Carson addressing 100,000 people in Hyde Park, London; a banner reading “City of London supports loyal Ulster”; “Field Marshall Sir Henry Wilson opens the Ulster Tower in 1921. Sir Henry was killed by the IRA in 1922 at his home in London”; GS Cather, VC winner with the Ulster Division; evacuees to Liverpool in 1973.

Spier’s Place, middle Shankill, west Belfast. For the memorial on the right (in the wide shot) see A Fisherman, An Entertainer, A Shankill Road Man.

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Am D’Aontacht

2025-04-202025-04-29Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

For Sunday’s parade (in Belfast) commemorating the Easter Rising of 1916, Sınn Féın lined the route with placards featuring quotations from republican heroes past and present: the first Dáıl, Wolfe Tone, Robert Emmet, James Fintan Lalor, Roger Casement, the Proclamation of 1916, William Allen, the Declaration Of Independence, James Larkin (as Gaeılge), Máıre Drumm, Rita O’Hare, Martin McGuinness, Mary Lou McDonald, Bobby Sands, O’Donovan Rossa, John O’Mahony, Seán Mac Dıarmada, James Connolly, Liam Lynch, Thomas Clarke, Pádraıg Mac Pıaraıs, Maıréad Farrell, the IRB, Michelle O’Neill, Gerry Adams, Constance Markievicz, Winifred Carney, Na Fíníní.

William Allen was one of the “Manchester Martyrs” – for a link to background and the photograph used on the placard see the Peter Moloney Collection.

All of the placards include the emblem of the “Time For Irish Unity/Am Le hAontacht Na hÉıreann” campaign.

The speaker in Belfast was Donegal Sınn Féın TD Pearse Doherty; party leader Mary Lou McDonald spoke in Carrickmore, Co Tyrone; Michelle O’Neill was in Coalisland and Dublin.

See also the new National Graves Association/Cumann Uaıgheann Na Laocradh Gaedheal mural in Beechmount: Cuımhnímıs.

A Saoradh parade takes place in Belfast this afternoon (Easter Monday) in Derry – see Wear Your Easter Lily With Pride.

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Roll Of Honour 1981

2025-04-202025-05-07Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

For Easter 2025, an “Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann roll of honour 1981” board was added to the wall at the top of Bingnian Drive in Andersonstown, with the names of the ten who died in the second hunger strike. “Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann” here obscures the difference between the IRA and the INLA (O’Hara, Lynch, Devine), and between the Provisional IRA and the anti-Agreement IRA factions. It’s not clear to what extent the (2009 onward) ONH is currently operating, after a split in 2024 (BelTel 2024 | BelTel 2025).

For the RNU piece on the left (in the wide shot) see The Rising Of The Moon. Like the piece on the right, it features Kieran Doherty and Joe McDonnell, two of hunger strikers who were local to the area. For background information, see the board formerly on the wall: To Whom Do We Owe Our Allegiance Today?

VE Day

2025-04-132025-05-08Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Thursday, May 8th, marks the eightieth anniversary of VE or “Victory in Europe” day, the end of WWII on the continent. About 380,000 British soldiers died during the war. Commemorative events in Belfast include a walking tour of the city centre (City Council) and a dance on the HMS Belfast (IWM); for events elsewhere in Northern Ireland, see VE-VJDay80. Pubs will be open for an extra two hours (until 1 a.m.) on the day.

This printed flag is in Dee Street, east Belfast, previously home to various WWI commemorations (seen in All together Now | At The Eleventh Hour); for more on the KCIII and QEII boards included in the final image, below, see My God-Given Right To Rule.

Your Promise Maintained

2025-04-112025-06-25Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This board in memory of Queen Elizabeth is on the Orange Hall in Carncullagh Road, which is home to LOL 534 and RBP 401. It was unveiled by Jim Allister at the end of 2022 (Dervock Community Fb).

“Queen Elizabeth II 1926 – 2022. “It’s worth remembering that it is often the small steps, not the giant leaps, that bring about the most lasting change.” Dervock thanks you for your service.” “On her twenty-first birthday, 21 April 1947, Princess Elizabeth pledged “I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong”. “Your Promise Maintained” – Thank You for Your Service Ma’am.”

“Our late Queen’s greatness came from her steadfast faith in Jesus Christ. On Christmas Day 2002 the Queen state, “I rely on my faith to guide me. I know that the only way to live my life is to try to do what is right. To give of my best in all that the day brings, and put my trust in God.” Jesus says in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.”

With the signatures of masters Roland Hill, James McMaster, and reverend Campbell Mulvenny of Dervock Presbyterian Church.

Last below: a tarp celebrating the coronation of King Charles III

Carncullagh Road, Dervock

Memory Without End

2025-04-112025-05-07Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This is a 36th Division memorial board, with special attention to the men from the North Antrim regiment of the Ulster Volunteers (IWM), who in WWI were part of the 12th (Central Antrim) battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles and fought at the Somme (War Time Memories). The 36th Division in total suffered approximately 2,000 deaths and 3,000 casualties on the first day of the Somme offensive, July 1st, the Battle Of Albert (Royal Irish).

“1st July 1916. Somme soldiers killed, wounded, missing, 36th (Ulster) Division: 32,186.” “1-7-1916 7:30 a.m. remember”, “For these things do I weep; my eyes flow with tears – Lamentations 1 Vs. 16“, “Their name liveth for evermore”, “To the memory and sacrifice of the brave young men from North Antrim who gave their lives with countless others at the Somme and other battles during the Great War 1914-18, to restore peace in Europe. To them bravery was without limit, to us memory is without end.”

On the left-hand side is John McCrae’s poem ‘In Flanders Fields‘.

Castlecat Road, Dervock

Kevin McKeeman

2025-04-112025-05-07Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

As can be seen from the photography, Kevin McKeeman was a flute band member, perhaps part of the local Dervock Young Defenders (Fb) though the patch shown is not the current one.

He is named here alongside six “North Antrim, Londonderry, And Tyrone” UDA members – “Benny Redfern, Gary Lynch, Ray Smallwoods, Cecil McKnight, Lyndsay Mooney, William Campbell” – who are named (together) on a number of murals in Londonderry and along the north coast – for background on them, see UDA Memorial.

The memorial board is now accompanied by a poppy wreath and blue background on the substation in McArthur Avenue, Dervock – compare with the images from 2019 in Tony Crowley’s collection.