Text above: “Sir Edward Carson 1854 – 1935 “Uncrowned King of Ulster” Founding member and leader of the Ulster Volunteers. Carson led Ulster Unionist resistance to the British Government’s attempts to introduce Home Rule for the whole of Ireland.”

The epithet “uncrowned King” seems to be generally used of Carson and not attributable to any one source. Here is a September 1912 newspaper article that calls Carson the “uncrowned King of the North” and relays criticisms of a Carson reception in Portadown as “a parody upon a royal reception” and “an insult to the King”. A May 1914 review of (the book) The Reign Of Edward Carson refers to “King Carson”. (Here is a postcard depicting Carson as a king upon a throne – Postcards Ireland.)

The phrase is an echo of and response to the phrase “uncrowned king of Ireland”, which was used of both O’Connell and Parnell. Here is an 1847 article describing both O’Connell and the Napoleonic Governor-General of Algeria (WP) as “uncrowned monarch[s]”. According to WP, the epithet was first applied to Parnell in 1880, because he was so popular during a tour of the United States and Canada. At the end of James Joyce’s story ‘Ivy Day In The Committee Room’ a character recites a poem about Parnell, beginning “He is dead. Our uncrowned king is dead” (archive.com).

The wording “the British government’s attempts to introduce Home Rule” is more forthright than we are used to. Typically the resistance is simply to “Home Rule”. This wording makes clear that the Ulster Volunteers were a private militia preparing for the possibility of fighting the regular British Army and Navy. By being so explicit, this wording suggests that we are currently living through a time in which loyalists consider the “British government” to be insufficiently British, just as was the case in 1912.

Text below: “Sir Edward Carson being escorted by members of the Ulster Special Service Force on the Newtownards Road passing the Belvoir Bar in the company of Captain James Craig and the Officer Commanding of the Ulster Volunteer Force Sir George Richardson.”

According to a Regimental Band Fb post, “Sir Edward Carson was speaking at the Reform Club in Royal Avenue. There was an opinion that the British Government were going to try and arrest him so he was escorted to the safety of Craigavon House [shown on the right of the mural]. This photo was taken on the 20th March, 1914.” This October 1913 article, in addition to calling Carson “Ulster’s Uncrowned King”, notes that he travelled with a detective and carried a revolver.

By Dee Craig (Fb), presumably, replacing his hooded gunmen mural The Right To Defend Yourself, on the Newtownards Road at (the former) Bright Street.

The other two murals (visible in the wide shot) are We Are The Pilgrims and Nearer My God To Thee. The UVF board next to the taxi office was previously across the street.

April 6th, 2026:

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“Come for the music … stay for the craic.” Alana McDowell (ig) and Ana Fish (web) have been working in the city centre, converting the permanently closed (since 2012) shutters of JJB Sports, as well as the shutters of Jean Millar Bridal, into a tribute to Belfast’s music scene – see the ‘Music Matters’ plan in the entry on the UNESCO City Of Music mural – and the upcoming Fleadh Cheoıl from August 2nd to 9th (web).

Royal Avenue, replacing a number of pieces by Leo Boyd. The in-progress shots are from June 16th.

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“When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less!” In Through The Looking Glass, Humpty Dumpty explains that un-birthday presents are better than birthday presents because there are 364 days in a year to receive them. “There’s glory for you”, he says, by which he means “a knock-down argument”, as he is a master of words, even prideful verbs (archive.org).

This is a new mural by DMC with children from Sunnylands Nursery School and support from the Communities In Transition project. The characters portrayed are (from left to right) the Red Queen, the White Rabbit, the Hatter, the Caterpillar, Humpty Dumpty, Alice, the Cheshire Cat.

Sunningdale Crescent, Sunnylands, Carrickfergus

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Riddel’s warehouse in Ann Street is the site of a new installation by Nerve Centre (web) called Outpouring, which features the large piece (shown here) by Joe Caslin (ig) in the atrium of the building, with a cinema space and a gallery of art and poetry by young people (Belfast Media). The four-storey building is a former iron warehouse, originally built in 1867 and currently being restored (Plan Belfast). Belfast Live has a gallery of images | Tom McClean took a tour of the building in 2025 on European Heritage day (youtube).

The installation is open from 11 to 4, Thursday to Sunday, until July 5th.

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“”Islam is heathen, Islam is satanic”, “Islam is a doctrine spawned in hell”, “A new evil has arisen”. Churchill was right in 1899, Enoch Powell was right in 1968, Pastor McConnell was right in 2014.”

The quotations above the AI-generated image come from a sermon by Pastor James McConnell in May, 2014, at the Whitewell Metropolitan Tabernacle on the Shore Road. The sermon was alleged to be “grossly offensive” and McConnell was charged. The key portion of the sermon read, “Today we see powerful evidence that more and more Moslems are putting the Koran’s hatred of Christians and Jews alike into practice. Now, people say there are good Moslems in Britain; that may be so but I don’t trust them, Enoch Powell was right and he lost his career because of it; Enoch Powell was a prophet and he told us that blood would flow in the streets and it has happened. … Islam’s ideas about God about humanity, about salvation, are vastly different from the teaching of the Holy Scriptures. Islam is heathen, Islam is satanic, Islam is a doctrine spawned in hell.”

In the penultimate paragraph of the ruling (pdf), Judge McNally concluded, “Having considered all these matters and the particular facts of this case I have come to the conclusion that the words upon which the charges are based, whilst offensive, do not reach the high threshold required of being “grossly offensive”. I find myself in agreement with Lord Justice Laws in the “Chambers” case when he said that the courts need to be very careful not to criminalise speech which, however contemptible, is no more than offensive. It is not the task of the criminal law to censor offensive utterances. Accordingly I find Pastor McConnell not guilty of both charges.” (In the ultimate paragraph, the judge cited the poet Rumi: “Silence is the language of God; all else is poor translation”.) A small board has been added to the fence below which presenting this judgment.

The reference to “Churchill in 1899” is probably to volume 2 of The River War, in which Churchill wrote, “Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen – all know how to die – but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.

The reference to “Powell in 1968” is to Powell’s infamous “Rivers of blood” speech (pdf) against immigration to the UK from the Commonwealth. As McConnell notes, Powell was dismissed from Ted Heath’s shadow cabinet the following day.

The PSNI is investigating the display as a “hate incident” rather than a “hate crime”, as there is no underlying crime if the home-owner agrees to the board being mounted. The relevant statute deems it a crime “to use, or to display in writing, words that are threatening, abusive or insulting, where the intention or likely effect is to stir up hatred or arouse fear”. (Slugger) 

The piece is at the highly-visible junction of O’Neill Road and Knocknenagh Avenue, Rathfern, Newtownabbey, and part of the fence has been cut away in order to afford a better view.

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These are two pieces painted for Hit The North 2026 by (left) Imogen Donegan (ig) and (right) David J McMillan (ig).

Great Victoria Street, opposite the Good Vibrations quartet.

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