Paddy Duffy Collection

For What Died The Sons Of Roısín?

2026-03-102026-03-29Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This is a pair of small boards at the corner of Balkan Street and Leeson Street, Divis, west Belfast.

Above, “Saoırse [freedom]” and “beır bua [seize victory]” and imagery of the four provinces and a lark in barbed wire are on top of the old Divis flats. The flats were built to replace the tightly-packed streets of the lower Falls. After the first three blocks were completed in 1969, there was a plan to have a mixture of flats all the way up to Dunville Park (“Phase 2” in this 30-minute BBC video on the flats, which also includes the story of its eventual demise.

Below, “For what died the sons of Róısín [Dubh]?” The Dogs of IRA D company, second battalion [Belfast brigade] are “unbowed” and “unbroken”.

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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Óıge Na bhFál

2026-03-102026-03-21Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Our youth, out culture, our community, our future”. This mural was painted in 2014 but the future for one of the clubs featured – Seán Mac Dıarmada/Seán Sean McDermott’s in the yellow with green stripe – was short-lived, as the club folded later the same year. The other club, Michael Davitt’s in the green, white, and gold strip, still exists.

Painted by Lucas Quigley in Sultan Way/Ross Road, Divis, west Belfast.

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Strabane

2026-03-082026-03-28Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Four local landmarks are featured in this recent (2025-07) mural in Strabane. From left to right/top to bottom: one of the five Tinnies (TripAdvisor) (officially known as the ‘Let The Dance Begin’ sculpture), the pedestrian/cycle bridge (with a heart drawn around it), the pig sculpture (WikiMedia), and the boat in Abercorn Square (Geograph).

Painted by Peaball (web) and young people from SPARYA (Fb), with support from DC&S council (web), and the Housing Executive

Springhill Park, Strabane, next to the Good Vibes piece.

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An Lon Dubh Ar An Bhalla Bınne

2026-03-082026-03-19Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“The blackbird on the gable wall.” This piece of Peaball (web) art is on the side of the credit union in Main Street, Claudy, commissioned by Derry Credit Union to celebrate its sixty-fifth anniversary (ig).

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Cuımhníonn An Srath Bán Orthu

2026-03-082026-03-28Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Ceannasaíacht [sic Ceannasaíocht] Iarthar Thír Eoghaın – Cuımhníonn an Srath Bán ortha [sic orthu]. [West Tyrone leadership – Strabane remembers them]”. This large tarp replaces another one that used similar language – Cuımhníonn An Srath Bán Orthu Go Deo – but where that tarp remembered the dead of 1916, this one commemorates Sands and Guevara (who are also painted together just to the viewer’s right on a yard wall – see Revolutionaries) and the hooded gunmen of the Troubles-era armed struggle.

Fountain Street, Strabane

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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Republican Clady

2026-03-082026-03-16Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“We salute all those who have fought, died and assisted in the fight for Irish freedom. Ar dheıs Dé go raıbh a n-anamacha. West Tyrone remembers.”

Above is a recent (2025-06) mural painted in Clady of IRA volunteers c. 1971 defending the bridge a stone’s throw outside the town, to prevent it from being blown up by the British Army. A history of the bridge, and the photograph which the mural reproduces, can be found at The Pensive Quill. The work of painting the mural and refreshing the window-boards of the building has been undertaken by the Joseph Plunkett 1916 Society Clady/Grebe (Fb).

The two monuments, to volunteers generally and Neal Lafferty (d. 1975) specifically (Fb), stand together at the junction with Cluney Gardens. There is also a memorial to James McPhelimy (d. 1988) on the other side of Urney Road, and one to Jim McGann (d. 1973) on the bridge.

Urney Road, Clady

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The Western Front

2026-03-082026-03-18Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Cuımhníonn an Srath Bán orthu go deo [Strabane remembers them forever]”. The names of the ten deceased 1981 hunger strikers appear on ten white crosses that are set in a “H” formation in front of a tarp bearing their portraits.

The image on the tarp was originally on Divis Street in west Belfast – see the Peter Moloney Collection and the wall’s Visual History page. And in that mural, the protesters on the left date back to a 1981 poster which was reproduced for the very first mural – see I’ll Wear No Convict’s Uniform.

Townsend Street, Strabane

Strabane Wildlife

2026-03-082026-03-15Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Here are a tiger from Jam2 (ig), a pair of toucans from Junk Graff (both from June 2025) and (on the other side of the street) seals and ?a largemouth bass? from HMC (web) in November 2025. None of the animals are native to the Strabane rivers or countryside, though there are sometimes seals in Lough Foyle.

Painted for Love Strabane (web) in Castle Place, Strabane.

If I Have Erred, It Was Only Through Too Much Love

2026-03-082026-03-13Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Finvola of the O’Cahans was such a beauty that she was called the “gem of the Roe” – the Roe being the river that runs through Dungiven on its way from the Sperrins to Lough Foyle. She married Angus McDonnell of Islay, who could not bear, as promised, to return with her body when she died. Her family travelled to the Hebrides to reclaim the corpse and return it to Dungiven (Library Ireland). Her life was immortalised in the song ‘Finvola, Gem Of The Roe’. (Here is a version by Anne And Francie Brolly on youtube).

In this mural, Finvola’s long red hair represents the river, which flows towards Benbradagh Mountain.

Painted by Sheila Byrne with youths from Benbradagh Community Support (Fb) in Main Street, Dungiven (Derry Now).