“In proud [and] loving memory: Vol William Campbell, a true Ulsterman who paid the supreme price for the love of his country. William Campbell, who lost his life on active service 3rd January 2002. Quis separabit. 2nd Batt Coleraine.”
This is the third memorial board to Campbell – who died at the age of 19 when a pipe-bomb exploded prematurely – replacing others seen in 2013 and in 2007.
Local children painted portraits of four “Great Communicators” for the BT building at the corner of Main Street and Dundarave Road in Bushmills (NALIL). The set of less colourful boards, which also contain quotes, might be by adults.
Alexander Bell, 1847-1922: “Ideas do not reach perfection in a day, no matter how much study is put upon them.” “Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.”
Michael Faraday, 1791-1867: “All this is a dream, still examine it by a few experiments.” “Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistant [sic] with the laws of Nature.”
Samuel Morse, 1791-1872: “To God be all the glory. Not what hath man, but what hath God wrought.” “God has permitted me to do something for the help and comfort of my fellows.”
Guglielmo Marconi, 1874-1937: “Every day sees humanity more victorious in the struggle with space and time.” “Have I done the world good, or have I added a menance.” Marconi is well-known in Ballycastle for an 1898 transmission between the town and Rathlin.
Local landscape and landmarks of Bushmills on the exterior walls of BREF (Fb) at the end of Dundarave Drive, Bushmills, close to the Finn Mac Cool board and Bushmills Remembers.
The more familiar mythological figure in Northern Irish muraling — both CNR and PUL — is Cú Chulaınn (Visual History) but this Bushmills board features another larger-than-life figure, from slightly later mythology, Fıonn Mac Cumhaıll/Finn MacCool. In legend, Fionn ate the salmon of knowledge and became leader of the Fianna. His connection to the north Antrim coast is that he is the supposed creator of the “Giant’s Causeway”, the basalt columns that stretch out into the Atlantic Ocean, seemingly towards Scotland.
The Causeway and Finn are both used in the board shown above as symbols of the UDA North Antrim & Londonderry brigade’s 5th battalion/Giant’s Causeway Protestant Boys flute band (Fb) in Dundarave Road, Bushmills, which is about three miles from the Causeway. The board is also notable for its use of the flag of the proposed ‘independent Northern Ireland’, for which see (e.g.) We Must Share The Responsibility | One Island, Two Nations | Freedom Corner which features Cú Chulaınn.
The second image is a UDA/UYM emblem at the entrance to the estate. The third is further along. The last is not from Dundarave but from the exterior of a pub on Main Street.
Footsteps through the history of Coleraine, from top to bottom: Martin Luther (c. 1521); John Knox, who led the reformation in Scotland (c. 1560); the plan of Coleraine (c. 1611); the relief of Derry (1689); the Williamite campaign (1690); (and then a jump to) WWI (“Christmas truce, western front”); WWII (“War on the home front”).
Here is a survey of the UDA boards in Carnany estate, Ballymoney. Many of these have been seen before (in Ulster’s Past Defenders, Ulster’s Present Defenders, The Terror, Threats, And Dread, and Ballymoney UDA). The anti-drugs board in the final image is new (see previously the one in Londonderry: Peace Impact Programme) and the one shown above and immediately below is an updated version of the board shown in Past, Present, For All Time. The dates given in the earlier version were 1972 and 2016; in this one, for “50 years of service”, they are 1971 and 2021. 1971 is the typical date given for the formation (in Belfast) of the the UDA; the 1972 date might have been a specific reference to the North Antrim And Londonderry brigade or the beginning of the Londonderry UDA’s actions, with bomb attacks on a factory and a pub in Donegal in October and November, 1972 (WP).
For their “50th anniversary 1973-2023” the Cloughfern Young Conquerors (Fb) mounted a new board on the wall of the Eastway social club in Rathcoole; a parade and fun day took place on August 19th (Fb).
Back in June, a mural was painted on the long wall at the entrance to Cloughfern; see 50 Years Unbroken.
“Queen Elizabeth II, her sovereign majesty, 1926-2022. ‘I believe that, young or old, we have to look forward to with confidence and hope as we have to look back [on] with pride.'”
This is the mural that controversially replaced the infamous ‘Rathcoole towers’ UDA mural that had stood for more than 20 years in Bencrom Park (see South East Antrim UFF). Apparently, some people thought Queen Elizabeth was not hard-line enough (BelTel).
Carson, Crawford, and Craig are lionised as resisters of devolvement of Ireland to Dublin in the early twentieth century. Despite calling Home Rule “the most nefarious conspiracy that has ever been hatched against a free people” and vowing to fight it by “all means necessary”, including the Ulster Volunteers armed by Crawford’s “guns for Ulster”, Edward Carson “warned Ulster Unionist leaders not to alienate norther Catholics, as he foresaw this would make Northern Ireland unstable.”
“With voice, pen or hand we will defend our land.” David (Davy) Patterson (12-10-1955 – 03-01-2019) was a member of the 1st East Belfast Rangers Supporters Club (Fb) and Albertbridge Glentoran Supporters Club (Funeral Times). This memorial board is the side-wall to the Somme Society mural (see Their Name Liveth Forevermore) and the Red Hand Commando memorial garden in Hunt Street, east Belfast.
Paddy Duffy Collection 