Paddy Duffy Collection

Causeway Protestant Boys

2023-09-162025-06-25Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

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.

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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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Feıs Na nGleann

2023-09-162025-06-25Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Feıs Na nGleann is an annual festival of Irish language, arts, and crafts, begun in Glenariffe in 1904. The website has not been updated since 2019, presumably due to COVID putting a stop to activity.

The “F” makes reference to the local “Irish (Peasant) Home Industries“, while the “E” shows the harebell (bluebell) in flower. The “I” might be St Brigid as an oak or a reference to Princess Taisie/Taobhgheal of Rathlin.

Laura Nelson of Szu Szu Signs (ig).

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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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Portstewart Street Art

2023-09-162024-08-27Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Here is a small collection of street art from Portstewart. Above, is Dan Leo’s osprey in Strand Road. Below, a boy playing hide-and-seek by an unknown stencil artist; and finally, a number of images of JMK’s ‘A Tribute To Henry’ on The Crescent — “Henry” denotes Henry McCullough, Portstewart native and guitarist for Joe Cocker and Wings, who died in 2016 (WP).

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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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Quicker Than The Human Eye

2023-09-162025-06-25Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

A blur of a hurler (or camóg) by Dublin artist Aches (web | tw) in Ballycastle, where the local GAA club is Mac Uilín/MacQuillan’s (web).

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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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Dulse And Yellowman

2023-09-162025-06-25Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Here are two takes on the distinctively Antrim-coast foods dulse (a seaweed) and yellowman (a honeycomb confection) on Castle Street, Ballycastle. Above, Rob Hilken’s (web); below, Shane O’Driscoll’s (ig).

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The Storyteller

2023-09-162025-06-25Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Local storyteller Hugh Dillon in Castle Street, Ballycastle, by JMK (Jonny McKerr). The original photograph, of Dillon in Leyland Road, Ballycastle, in 1956 and is available at Dúchas.

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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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Steinbeck

2023-09-162024-08-27Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Today (December 20th) is the fifty-firth anniversary of John Steinbeck’s death in 1968. In 1952 he visited Northern Ireland to trace his Hamilton ancestors in Mulkeeragh, Ballykelly, Co. Derry (Irish Times) and wrote about it in Collier’s magazine.

The mural is on the side of (what was) the Hamely Gallery in Bushmills.

Limavady has been the home to an occasional Steinbeck literary festival since 2016 (Steinbeck Now).

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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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Fair Head

2023-09-162025-06-25Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Glentaisie Drive – site of this mural by Friz (web) – is named for Glentaisie, the glen – one of the nine Glens Of Antrim, at the foot of which lies Ballycastle – and Glentaisie is named for Taise Taobhgheal (Taise the bright-cheeked), daughter of King Donn of Rathlin island, renowned for her beauty, and who lived in the glen with her husband Congal, who had to kill the Norwegian king Nabghdon to prevent her being carried off (Archaeology Ireland). Or so they say. She also inspired the name “Fair Head” for the local cliffs. Or so they say.

In later years (1565), Sorley Boy MacDonnell was taken prisoner by the O’Neill’s after a battle in Glentaisie (WP).

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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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Footsteps Through Our History

2023-09-152024-08-27Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

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”).

These boards replaced a UDA mural in March, 2014 (see Loyalist Ballysally).

Daneshill Road, Coleraine.

Voyage Of Discovery

2023-09-152024-08-27Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

All of the pieces shown here were produced in the summer of 2023 for Coleraine’s ‘Revitalise’ programme, co-ordinated by Michelle McGarvey (ig) for Causeway Coast & Glens borough council with funding by the Department Of Communities. They are on utility boxes and planters all over the town centre.

For some of the large pieces of street art in the town, including many produced for ‘Revitalise’, see Nook Of The Ferns. More information and images can be obtained from Causeway Coast & Glens borough council (press release | map).

The first four are from Marc Holmes’s (ig) Voyage Of Discovery series.