Benjamin West painted The Battle Of The Boyne in 1778 and his composition – with William moving from left to right on a white horse and Marshal Schomberg dying in the bottom-right corner – has become the standard representation in loyalist culture, perhaps due to versions of it appearing on the covers of songbooks for the Orange Order and the Apprentice Boys soon after (Belinda Loftus 1982 Images In Conflict). It appears here on the wall of Whitehead Orange Hall, along with a board connecting service by Irish soldiers in British forces in WWI and Afghanistan (see previously: The Sacrifice Remains the Same in east Belfast).
These images show the scene at Dunraven Court, a Choice (web | Fb) social housing community in east Belfast.
The main piece (above) shows photographs purporting to be of the 36th (Ulster) Division during WWI, above the title “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori”/”It is Sweet and Honourable to die for one’s country” (which WWI poet Wilfred Owen called “the old lie“) and two epigrams: (left) “And you unborn then, remember that their luck, skill, and nerve where pushed to the limits and they were young like you” and (right) “They layed down the glory of their youth upon the altar of freedom”.
The first is a paraphrase of Cecil Day-Lewis’s poem in homage to the airmen of WWII’s Battle Of Britain, which ends: “And you, unborn then, what will you make of it—/This shadow-play of battles long ago?/Be sure of this: they pushed to the uttermost limit/Their luck, skill, nerve. And they were young like you.”
The second does not appear to be a quotation; it is perhaps inspired by Lincoln’s Letter To Mrs Bixby (WP), perhaps via the film Saving Private Ryan (youtube).
On the wall below the large piece are plaques to Cordner, Long, Bennett, and Seymour from the Troubles-era UVF – see Standing Guard – and to their right ‘Poppy Trail’ plaques of local WWI casualties Joseph Agnew, William Lowry, John Dornan, John Ritchie, William Reid, James Rea, and Robert Atkinson.
A little way into the complex we find a small memorial garden to two UVF volunteers, deceased post-Agreement: Lee Wilson and David Stewart.
Compared to the image (from 2021) seen in The Sacrifice Remains The Same, a blue background and a new wall of Poppy Trail plaques (for the Poppy Trail see this 2017 entry on the board) have been added to the Cosy Somme Association’s tribute to British Army soldiers from the 36th (Ulster) Division in WWI and the modern-day Royal Irish Regiment. (See also the image in Alain Miossec’s collection from earlier this year.)
Ogilvie Street, east Belfast, with a bonus image below of the milkman just around the corner, next to Piccola Parma.
“Deadly” here means “excellent” or “terrific”, perhaps from the idea of “hitting the (living!) target” (Stack) – it is a piece of southern slang that artist and print-maker Leo Boyd (web) perhaps picked up on his journey from Bristol to Dublin to Belfast (Boyd | Atom) where he is one of the Vault Studios artists (Vault).
The Ballycraigy bonfire from 2021 (Fb) is at the centre of a new free-standing board that was added this (2024) summer. Around the outside, the rose and thistle are joined by the orange lily and the poppy, rather than the shamrock and daffodil of the “four nations”.
For the similar board on the gable wall in the distance, see Lead The Way.
On the green at Hollowburn Road, in the Ballycraigy estate, Antrim.
According the Antrim & Newtownabbey Council press-release, the new statue of Queen Elizabeth (and two corgis) unveiled on September 6th next to last year’s statue of Prince Philip in Antrim Castle Gardens “captures Her Majesty in a dignified pose, reflecting her grace, steadfastness and lifelong service to public service”. Others are not so sure that it captures Elizabeth at all, including the A&N’s own councillor Vera McWilliam, who told the BBC that “it does not resemble the queen in any shape or form” (BBC); the controversy was reported on as far afield as Australia, India, and the US.
“In memory of Brigadier Billy Wright (King Rat). ‘Greater love hath no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends.’ – John Ch15v13. Gone but not forgotten.” Wright became alienated from the UVF due to his opposition to the ceasefire and peace process (in 1994) and was finally kicked out in 1996 during the Drumcree dispute. The Portadown UVF under Wright formed the LVF [Loyalist Volunteer Force]; another LVF unit was formed in Ballycraigy, where this memorial can be found. (BBC | WP) Silhouetted graveside mourners have been added, compared to the 2009 image in the Peter Moloney collection.
This piece of street art is by emic (web) (with the “Friday Folk”, a social group for retired women (Volunteer Now)) in Killyleagh Street, Crossgar, County Down. It appears to show the transmogrification of driftwood and rock (in the left hand) into a bird (in the right hand). Get in touch if you can supply a reference or better interpretation.
The distinctive turrets of Killyleagh Castle were added by Charles Lanyon in the mid 1800s, when the house – parts of which go back to the 1100s – was renovated (Castles World). There is no water around the grounds but Canoe NI has maps of trails in the Strangford Lough area that go past Killyleagh.
The art is by Pigment Space/MWAK (ig) in Church Hill, Killyleagh, on the side of the ‘Great Wall’ Chinese take-away.
Ireland’s first-ever gymnastics gold medal was won at the recent (2024) summer Olympics by Rhys McClenaghan, competing on the pommel horse (Reuters | Irish Times). The new art celebrating his victory is by Cha Cha (ig) in Meetinghouse Lane, in his home town of Newtownards. McClenaghan was also featured in a 2021 wall-painting in Dublin (Dublin Gazette).
Paddy Duffy Collection 