“Saoırse go deo.” INLA volunteer Kevin Lynch went on hunger strike on May 23rd, 1981. He would die 71 days later, on August 1st. His funeral is depicted in the top part of this IRSP/IRSM board commemorating the 40th anniversary of the 1981 hunger-strikes. The Tricolour (for the IRA) and Starry Plough (for the INLA) are used as blankets on the prison beds.
Here is a gallery of UVF stencils and boards in the Westwinds estate. Despite being in Newtownards, the UVF here is allied with the East Belfast brigade, rather than the North Down brigade – see Belfast Live for background.
“A free Ireland will control its own destiny from the plough to the stars.” So James Connolly is said to have explained the significance of “the plough in the stars” (Ursa Major) as a symbol of Irish revolutionary socialism. (Though no source is given for the remark. See From The Plough To The Stars for more.)
Connolly and Seamus Costello, heroes of the IRSP (web) are painted on James Connolly house in Chamberlain Street, Derry, which is also home to Teach Na Fáılte, the Republican Socialist Ex-Prisoners group.
The plaque to the left reads, “This mural is dedicated to all those who tragically died on the streets of Derry during the hunger strike era. Suaımhneas Dé da nanamacha. 3rd October 2006.” The mural referred to is in fact the ‘crumbling cell’ mural (see M03350); the ‘Spirit Of Freedom’ mural was first painted in 2011 for the 30th anniversary (see X00999) – the 30th anniversary plaque remains, on the right of the mural but for the 40th anniversary of the 1981 hunger strike “40” replaced the “30” in the bottom border.
The mural features both the lark and the dove (Visual History).
On the side wall, two new panels remember members of the IRA’s Derry brigade, replacing the single board seen in M07635.
Here are both the new and the old pieces from French artist (now based in London) Nerone (ig | web). The new piece is a wide arrangement of flowers in Upper Arthur Street. The older piece (shown in the final image, below) is from 2021’s Hit The North, “Life Won’t Wait” above the night-club (currently Club Lux) in Dunbar Road.
On February 21st, 1988, 23 year-old Aidan McAnespie was shot in the back by 18 year-old Grenadier Guardsman David Holden at a British Army checkpoint in Aughnacloy, Co. Tyrone as he (McAnespie) walked to the nearby GAA club. In November (2022), Holden was convicted of manslaughter by gross negligence (BBC | Belfast Live) and he was sentenced yesterday to three years, suspended for three years, thus avoiding jail unless he is sentenced for some additional crime (BBC | BelTel | UTv | Irish Times). He is the first British soldier convicted since the Agreement of a Northern Ireland killing; he might be the only one, as legislation is pending in Westminster that would end prosecutions (RTÉ video | Sky New video). The legacy legislation was discussed previously in Was This Lawful? | Soldier A-Z | Come For One, Come For All | Paras Fight Back | Stop The Witch Hunt.
The banner shown above was hanging on the railings at Laganside Courts, Oxford Street: “Operation Banner supporters group, Belafst and Scottish branch. Our veterans are heroes, not criminals. Leave our Operation Banner veterans alone and stop appeasing Sinn Fein/IRA terrorists.” “Operation Banner” is the name given by British forces to their operations in Northern Ireland from 1969 to 2007; since then, the deployment of British forces in Northern Ireland has been known as “Operation Helvetica” (Irish News).
Here is a gallery of many of the pieces in the courtyard of the Dark Horse bar in Belfast city centre, presented in clockwise order from the entrance on Commercial Court.
Above and immediately below: the scene in the Klondyke Bar. Links to additional pieces can be found at their appropriate places in the “rotation”, below.
Martin McGuinness and Ian Paisley in the clouds
Belfast Stripped Bare – a view into people’s houses by Ciaran Gallagher (web); many of the painted pieces in the yard are by Gallagher.
A variety of vintage advertisements from the late 1800s and early 1900s: Lloyd & Yorath’s stout (Newport, Wales), Hall’s paints (Hull), Guinness, Gold Flake tobacco (in both English and Irish: Sásuíonn sıad!), Batey’s ginger beer (London), Gilbey’s wines, Mew’s brewery (Isle of Wight).
“Ourma says if you stick t’herown diet of land-an-dairy prod you’ll be firmanna an’trim down” – a saying in which the names of all six Northern Irish counties are (phonetically) included.
August 2019 was the 50th anniversary of what are euphemistically called “The Troubles”. The Battle Of The Bogside (Derry) began on August 12th; in Belfast, fighting began on the night of August 14th and before dawn three people in the Divis Street area were dead: Protestant Herbert Roy and Catholics Patrick Rooney and Hugh McCabe, both shot in the Divis flats complex by the RUC’s Shorland armoured cars. (Two other Catholics were killed in rioting in Ardoyne.) This board is on Divis tower, next to the plaque commemorating Rooney and McCabe.
Four paintings by Michael O’Neill were added in 2008 to Warehouse Lane with the redevelopment of the Four Corners buildings (BBC) (at the junction of Waring Street and Donegall Street) depicting scenes from the history of the United Irishmen: Wolfe Tone and the Muddlers; Henry Joy McCracken goes to the gallows; Russell, Bunting, and Mary Ann McCracken; Russell with the first edition of the Northern Star.
Paddy Duffy Collection 