stencil

The Typist With The Webley

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Winifred Carney was a qualified secretary and typist, and became secretary of the Irish Textile Workers’ Union in 1912, in which position she met James Connolly, who was secretary of the Belfast branch of the ITGWU. She was a member of Cumann Na mBan and participated in the Easter Rising of 1916. Carney was in the GPO when it was taken over and was among those who surrendered at the end; during the occupation she typed up dispatches from the Moore Street headquarters – this is how she was portrayed in the the 1916 Centenary mural.

(DIB | Ulster Biography | A Century Of Women | BBC | WP)

Stencil from Lasaır Dhearg (web) in Glenveagh Drive, Lenadoon, west Belfast, replacing the simple graffiti Ní Saoırse Go Saoırse Na mBan.

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Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
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The Eye Of Providence

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The Society Of United Irishmen – who hoped for French support for a rebellion in Ireland – could not meet openly while France and Britain were at war. In Belfast, meetings were held at Dr [Benjamin] Franklin’s tavern in Sugarhouse Entry, also called “Peggy Barclay’s” after its owner, under the guise of a social group called the Muddlers’ Club.

There is today a restaurant called The Muddlers’ Club, named after the society, in Warehouse Lane. The piece above shows a skull, a scythe, a pair of wings, and the Square & Compasses of the Freemasons (with a “G” for “God” or “geometry”). The second piece includes a skull, an eight-pointed star/compass, and an Eye Of Horus (familiar from Freemasons, the 1 dollar bill in US currency, and the Illuminati).

The piece on the left was painted by Visual Waste (web) in June, 2017; the one on the right was added later.

Two earlier pieces with similar imagery on the other side of the entry disappeared with the wall they were painted on: see God Approves Our Undertakings and The Wider Conspiracy.

See also the Visual History page on the Belfast Entries.

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I Owe My Allegiance To The Working Class

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“I owe my allegiance [here “allegience”] to the working class” is a phrase associated with Seamus Costello (b. 1939), who fought for the IRA during the Border Campaign and was interned in the Curragh for two years. He stayed with the Officials during the split, but was driven out in 1974 and formed the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) and the INLA. He was shot in 1977 (WP). Nora Connolly, at Costello’s funeral, said, “He was the only one who truly understood what James Connolly meant when he spoke of his vision of the freedom of the Irish people.”

Drumbeg, Lurgan

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Lest We Forget

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Here is a gallery of images from the wall behind the Shore Road ‘World Wars’ memorial (see Remembrance Sunday) which has a few new additions and re-ordered boards for this year’s commemorations. The main additions are the “Lest we forget” stencil shown above, and a large number of white crosses in the grass and along the fence bearing the emblem of the UDR. The UDR board has been moved from the slanted wall at the far left to what is now the central position on the wall.

For images from Sunday’s ceremonies at City Hall, see BBC.

Frank Pantridge was featured in September. The

November 4th

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Tiger’s Bay Loyal

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This pair of hand-painted (and stencilled) boards is next to the Mount Inn on North Queen Street. Tiger’s Bay is loyal to the memory of “1690” and the service of the 36th Division in WWI in 1916.

Greenmount Street, Tiger’s Bay, north Belfast

On the other side of the Mount, at the bottom of the old Lewis Street, are two more hand-painted boards from 2024 – see Friends Of The Somme.

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Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
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Ardoyne Generations Bloom

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Etna Drive in Ardoyne has undergone a make-over in the last twelve months. The large board below was mounted in December 2024, the planters added in March 2025, and the boxes along the street were painted in June. The boxes celebrate local groups and initiatives: “Cıceam Ard Eoın [Fb]”, “Ardoyne-Bone Community health & leisure trust [Fb]”, “Community larder. Drop in. Locally sourced food.”, “Ardoyne Association [Fb] Citizens’ Advice Centre”, and the “Lawrenson-Toal academy of Irish dance [ig]”.

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Saoırse Go Deo

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The gallery of socialist heroes at the top of the Rock, first painted in 2006, has been repainted in blue (rather than yellow). The faces remain the same as before: (l-r) Seamus Costello (INLA/IRSP founder), Gino Gallagher (INLA chief of staff), Che (in the Guerillero Heroico pose), Patsy O’Hara, Miriam Daly, James Connolly.

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Death, Death

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Bob Vylan (a punk-rap duo) at June’s Glastonbury Festival led the crowd in chants of “Free, free Palestine” and “Death, death to the IDF” (BBC | Reuters). These have now appeared as stencils, along with Derry oak-leaves from 2024’s Creggan Is my Home, on signal boxes in Central Drive, Creggan, Derry.

Kneecap took the stage immediately after Bob Vylan, and were likewise investigated for their comments supporting Palestinians and criticizing UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer (Reuters).

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Empower Your Community

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Here are IRSP (web) and RNU (Fb) signs side-by-side in Bishop Street, Derry, both employing the idea of ’empowerment’. Above: “Empower your community – Join the IRSP, the party of Connolly and Costello”; below: “RNU for the community – support, empower & prosper”.

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