“Cogús supports the republican prisoners”. Cogús (Fb) is (was?) the prisoners’ welfare arm of the RNU. The board above — using a vintage illustration going back to 1981’s I’ll Wear No Convict’s Uniform — replaced More Blacks, More Gays, More Irish on Pantridge Road, Dunmurry, joining the “Join RNU” and mental health boards shown below.
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Above, a “Welcome to loyalist Seymour Hill” board with flags and poppies, and a (2021) tarp “Seymour Hill says no to the Irish Sea border”.
Below, Queen Elizabeth II 70th/platinum Jubilee banners remain on either side of the UDA board above the Seymour Hill shops, even after her death in September (previously there were two NI Centenary banners). There are orange lilies at the four corners of the UDA emblem.
Rowan Drive, Dunmurry
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US forces were still segregated racially during WWII; “colored” soldiers (as they were then called) were housed in a camp at Ballybog Road (WW2NI) where Seymour Hill PS now is and just below Seymour Hill House which was used to house evacuees from Belfast after the blitz and which was formerly owned by the Charley family (Lisburn.com | Lord Belmont) – it is now administered by Radius (formerly the BIH Association).
The “framed” portrait on the left is of William “Billy” Harbinson, a member of the Royal Ulster Rifles who was a POW at Colditz (Lisburn.com | WW2NI); the photograph can be seen in the RUR museum.
There used to be a plaque on the wall which read, “This mural was dedicated by Col. Robin Charley on 1st July 2009 to the people from this area who contributed to the to the effort during World War II. Also our American allies who were based here and later contributed to the conflict.”
Painted by Tim McCarthy (“Verz” ig) for the Re-Imaging Programme; it replaced a UDA mural.
Hornbeam Walk, Dunmurry
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Here are two soccer-related images from Gardenmore Road, in Twinbrook. Above, James McClean in his Ireland strip – “Like James McClean we won’t bow down/To a British Army or and English crown.//I wear no poppy upon my breast/Just a three leaf shamrock upon my chest.” (though McClean is shown wearing the 2016-2018 jersey which featured a ball rather than an FAI shamrock).
The other three leaf shamrock familiar from soccer is that of Scottish team Glasgow Celtic, which is widely supported among the CNR community.
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The old C Batt mural further up Hornbeam Road has long been painted over. It used the same line – “They gave their lives that we may live in freedom” – to remember Wesley Nicholl and Brian Morton. A plaque to Morton is now included on top of the new mural. “Brian Morton (Morty) killed in action 07/07/1997, a true Ulster patriot who gave his life in defence of his country. Feriens tego.” As with republican memorials, “active service” means that Morton was killed by a premature bomb exploding.
Previously on this wall: Queensway Flute Band.
Hornbeam Drive, Dunmurry
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In 2019, images of Bobby Sands before his (second and final) arrest and imprisonment were rediscovered in the collection of French photographer Gérard Harlay. Sands was serving as a flag-bearer in an August 1976 march from the Busy Bee to Dunville Park to protest the withdrawal of political status. (For some of Harlay’s images, see Bobby Sands Trust.) This new mural in his home area of Twinbrook copies one of the images (though presents him as carrying a Tricolour rather than a harp) along with protesters protesting for “Public transport for Twinbrook now” and “Social housing for Twinbrook now”.
Twinbrook Road, Dunmurry
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“Were you at the rock?” A red-headed lass with a horn stands watch for others at a mass rock – a stone in a remote location for Catholic worship, made necessary by a Penal law of 1695 which forbade the religious practice of Catholicism and “dissenter” forms of Protestantism (that is, anything other than Anglicism) (source). The harp, with a “cap of liberty” rather than a crown (WP), together the slogan “Equality – It is new strung and it shall be heard” is the emblem of the Society of United Irishmen (WP). On the other side of the mural (seen below) linen lies in the fields bleaching and a farmer and wife plough the land with a team of horses and distribute seed.
Glenbawn Avenue, west Belfast
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“Beware of a risen people” (or “beware the risen people”) comes from Patrick Pearse’s The Rebel: “And I say to my people’s masters: Beware/Beware of the thing that is coming, beware of the risen people/Who shall take what ye would not give.” The slogan dates back to at least 1987 on this wall (see M00511 and M00600 from 1998).
Carol Ann Kelly, aged 12, was hit by a plastic bullet fired by the Royal Fusiliers on May 19th, 1981, in Twinbrook, and died on the 22nd – one of seven people to die in the summer of 1981 (They Kill Children).
There was previously a mural to Carol Ann in Twinbrook: M01630.
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Glencolin estate was built next to Moyard House (which in 1984 became home to the Roddy’s (web)) on the Glen Road in 1979 (Belfast Forums). For the fortieth anniversary of “eastát Ghleann Collaınn” the mural at the entrance to the estate was (belatedly) repainted. The composition of the mural remains as in the previous version, with the Roddy’s and Oliver Plunkett church in the shadow of Dubhaıs and Slıabh Dubh; they are now joined by images of Gaelic games. The Bobby Sands quote has been removed.
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Paddy Duffy Collection 