Lıú Lúnasa is an Irish language festival. The board above shows rocks taken from the wall separating Palestine and Israel being used to build a gaelscoıl (an Irish-language school). The mural was painted by Jımí Mac Fhlannchadha.
Nansen Street, west Belfast
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These two plaques are on the “gateposts” at the entrance to Alton Street in Carrick Hill. Neill (above) is on the right; Scullion (below) is on the left.
Neill: “Óglach Michael Patrick Neill. On Monday the 24th of October 1977 Michael was shot by undercover soldiers while on IRA active service on Cliftonville Road. Michael died from his wounds, aged 16. At the time of Michael’s death he lived at the Neill family home 26 Stanhope Street, Carrickhill.”
Scullion: “Óglach Louis Scullion. At 1:45 a.m. on the 14th of July 1972 Louis was shot four times by the British Army as he walked to his home in Unity flats. Louis was unarmed and died as a result of his injuries. 5th June 1945 – 14th July 1972. Louis lived at 51H Unity Walk.”
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Domestic abuse reports to PSNI in the second quarter of 2020 (during the first Covid lockdown) increased 4% to 8,302 (BelTel). Women’s Aid NI (web | tw) provides refuge and support to victims of domestic violence. The stencil by Laura Nelson & Leo Boyd from VaultNI is on Carrick Hill. The title of today’s post comes from Women’s Aid CEO Sarah Mason (tw).
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The collection of images showing “Carrick Hill in the old days” now includes a mural, of two women talking in the street.
In addition to the mural, there are four boards, two on either side: Carrick Hill playground; Regent Street party; Pepper Hill steps, 1894; Carrick Hill 1940s.
There are eleven more boards in Regent Street. (Later increased to fifteen with the addition of 1976 Mandiville dart team; Mary McCusker & Kitty Spotwoods; Maggie Jane Largey & Mary Ann Largey; Richard & Alan Crean – see The Tea Bar for all fifteen.)
The board in the image below (from Stanhope Street) shows Pepper Hill Steps before the turn of the twentieth century. The steps used to lead from Mustard Street (which was what Library Street used to be) towards Upper Library Street (now Carrick Hill, the street).
Stanhope Street, Belfast
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On the left of this memorial board in Carrickfergus are five portraits from the later life of the child who began life in Greece as Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark. The family was exiled during the Greco-Turkish War. He ended up in Britain where he later joined the navy and stopped using his titles when he became the British subject, Philip Mountbatten. When he married Elizabeth he became Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. His life-time matches that of the Northern Irish state (see in the second image): he was born a month after its creation and died in 2021 at the age of 99, a month shy of its centenary.
These boards and banners are in Albert Road and Thomas Street, Carrickfergus, near the Orange lodge, (for which see On Foreign Fields). They are perhaps all sponsored by the Ulster Grenadiers flute band. “Carrickfergus says “No” to Irish Sea border”
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“Sgt. Thomas George Wortley , “D Coy” 14th Btn. Royal Irish Rifles, Service No. 14/17063, Died Messines 07-06-1917, Spanbroekmolen British Cemetary Grave C10″. Wortley was born in Carrickfergus, lived in Belfast, died on the first day of the battle at Messines (findagrave), buried in a small cemetery of British soldiers, many from the 36th (Ulster) Division, in Spanbroekmolen on the Ypres Salient in Flanders (WP) – shown in the mural – and is remembered in Carrickfergus with a parade each year on the date of his death (carrickfergusrollofhonour).
Maple Gardens, Carrickfergus
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“This we will always maintain.” The Northern Ireland government’s coat of arms was approved for use in 1924, three years after the government was established. Its “supporters” – the red lion of Scotland and an Irish elk, carrying (respectively) Irish harp and De Burgh flags, and standing on a grassy mound with flax plants – were added later.
This mural celebrating the centenary of Northern Ireland’s creation, in the Woodburn estate, Carrickfergus, accurately shows the Tudor crown on the arms, as was used at the time of creation and prior to the Edwardian crown (WP).
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The new panels shown here re-re-image the side-wall of the mural on the left (see For Valour), which was dedicated to the Royal Irish Rifles of the Great War. We now see hooded UVF gunmen from the 1st East Antrim battalion, and an interesting quote from Edward Carson.
In September, 1914, six weeks after the Great War had begun, Edward Carson wrote to the Ulster Volunteers entreating “those who have not already responded” to “my call for Defenders of the Empire” to “enlist at once for the Ulster Division in Lord Kitchener’s Army”, fighting alongside “our fellow Britishers”: “Quit yourselves like men and comply with your country’s demand”. The impulse for the display of force shown here is the other, original, motivation for the paramilitary force, which Carson describes as “to defend our citizenship in the United Kingdom” (Strachan & Nally).
The Larches, Carrickfergus
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“Loyalist Woodburn celebrates 100th anniversary Northern Ireland”. Maintain the union of (left to right) England (St George’s Cross), Wales (The Red Dragon), Northern Ireland (Ulster Banner), Scotland (St Andrew’s Saltire). Along the fence we have the NI coat of arms and Captain Sir Tom Moore.
Sandes Ct, Carrickfergus
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“Greenisland 3rd Battalion, South-East Antrim Brigade [UDA]. This memorial is dedicated to the memory of the officers and members of our organisation who were murdered by the enemies of Ulster and to those who paid the extreme sacrifice whilst on active service during the present conflict. Quis separabit. UFF. UDA, LPA”
At the shops in Glassillan Court, Greenisland.
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Paddy Duffy Collection 