“In the love of our country, some have give[n] something, some have give[n] everything, others have yet to give. Quis separabit. UDA/UFF.” UYM mural with a crudely drawn hooded-gunman. There is “RIRA” graffiti in three places.
Albion Street, Sandy Row, south Belfast
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 1998 Paddy Duffy
T00264
“Red Hand Commando A Company Shankill”. The plaque unfortunately cannot be read.
There was previously a board above the flag-pole holder, showing the same emblem but with “Scottish Brigade” instead of “Red Hand Commando”, against a St Andrew’s Saltire (D00029).
Glenwood Street, west Belfast
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 1998 Paddy Duffy
T00261
“Springfield residents say … No bigots on our road! 27 June re-route sectarian marches.” The lambeg drummer is from the “Kill All Taigs LVF flute band”. The march went ahead, with a large RUC presence and a silent protest from locals (RN | Jarman).
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 1998 Paddy Duffy
T00318
“Mıse Éıre” [I Am Ireland]. These two murals were both in the courtyard of Millview Court, off Mountainhill Road in Ligoniel and together present the fighting spirit and the loss entailed by the Irish struggle for freedom.
The plaque at the centre of the Celtic Cross reads “I ndıl chuımhne [in fond memory]. This plaque is dedicated to the memory of all those from Ligoniel who lost their lives as a result of the conflict in our country. A Mhuıre banríon na nGael guıgh orthu [Mary, queen of the Gael, pray for them]”
The second shows a Maid Of Erin harp – symbol of the United Irishmen – on top of a Tricolour attached to a pike, and a banner reading “Bás nó bua” [death or victory].
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 1998 Paddy Duffy
T00312 T00314
The plaque to the left reads “I ndıl chuımhne – In proud and loving memory of Volunteers Dan McCann, Maıréad Farrell, Sean Savage, Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann who were executed by British Crown forces in Gibraltar 6th March, 1988.” (For a close-up of the plaque, see M04470.) The trio are shown here floating over the rock of Gibraltar, while being honoured by a gunman giving a “final salute” and an ancient Celtic warrior who stand among a circle of standing stones.
Hawthorn Street, west Belfast
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 1998 Paddy Duffy
T00309
A funeral volley is fired in honour three IRA volunteers, Joseph Downey, Brendan Davison, and Tony Nolan. All three were from the Markets area.
Downey’s death is variously attributed to either side in a gun-battle between the British Army and IRA, but the most detailed account (by PaperTrail) says Downey was shot by a loyalist (UVF) gang on the night of Bloody Friday.
Davison was shot by the UVF at his Friendly Way home in 1988 (RTÉ video).
Nolan was accidentally shot in 1971 when a gun being loaded by a colleague went off (Lost Lives 208).
Friendly Way, Markets, south Belfast
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 1998 Paddy Duffy
T00291
“Britain’s genocide by starvation”, “Ireland’s holocaust 1845-1849”, “Over 1,500,000 deaths”. The great hunger is depicted using images from Illustrated London Newses of the time (see the Visual History page on an gorta mór).
The mural was begun in 1995 and was still in development in 1997. Whiterock Road, west Belfast
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 1998 Paddy Duffy
T00290
“Remember the ten H-Block martyrs. 1981-1998. Unbowed – unbroken.” With a pair of fists in barbed wire, a funeral volley fired over a coffin covered with Tricolour and beret, and a line-drawing of Bobby Sands. Signed “Republican Youth”
Berwick Road/Paráıd An Ardghleanna, Ardoyne,Ard Eoın, north Belfast/tuaısceart Bhéal Feırste
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 1998 Paddy Duffy
T00289
This painting of James Connolly in ICA uniform is perhaps based on Harry Kernoff’s woodcut, though with a wider head and background changed to show two flag-bearers standing on a high wall.
Berwick Road/Paráıd An Ardghleanna, Ardoyne,Ard Eoın, north Belfast/tuaısceart Bhéal Feırste
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 1998 Paddy Duffy
T00288
The main panels commemorate 25 years of “unbowed, unbroken” resistance in east Belfast (probably dating to the Battle Of St Matthew’s (WP) in 1970) with portraits of 16 deceased locals (“I measc laochra na nGael go raıbh a naınmeacha”) and two verses from Bobby Sands’s poem Weeping Winds (see below), on either side of Érıu the mythological queen of Ireland/Éıre as designed by Richard J King/Rísteard Ó Cíonga.
On the right (in the second image) is a copy of the 1916 Proclamation.
Oh, whistling winds why do you weep/When roaming free you are,
Oh! Is it that your poor heart’s broke/And scattered off afar?
Or is it that you bear the cries/Of people born unfree,
Who like your way have no control/Or sovereign destiny?
Oh! Lonely winds that walk the night/To haunt the sinner’s soul/
Pray pity me a wretched lad/Who never will grow old.
Pray pity those who lie in pain/The bondsman and the slave
And whisper sweet the breath of God/Upon my humble grave.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 1998 Paddy Duffy
T00287 T00304
Paddy Duffy Collection 