Paddy Duffy Collection

New Lodge Volunteers

2024-03-302024-08-27Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Twenty portraits in circular frames have replaced the twenty-one square portraits seen on the ‘Out Of The Ashes Of 1969’ mural in the New Lodge. From left to right, those portrayed are Michael P Neill, Seamus McCusker, Gerard Crossan, Colm Mulgrew, Francis Liggett, Brian Fox, John Kelly, Robert Allsopp, Louis Scullion, Billy Reid, Danny O’Hagan, Michael Kane, Sean McIlvenna, Jim O’Neill, Rosemary Bleakley, Martin McDonagh, James McCann, James Sloan, Dan McCann. Paddy McManus is no longer included, as compared with the earlier portraits.

For the mural without any portraits, at the time of its launch in 2012, see X00857.

New Lodge Road, north Belfast.

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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Gaırdín Thomáıs Uí Chléırıgh

2024-03-302025-10-07Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Thomas Clarke/Tomás Ó Cléırıgh (b. 1858) has a long career in Irish fenianism, including fleeing to America after firing at police (at age 20) and 15 years of hard labour for an attempted bombing in London, beginning in 1883 (DIB). He is best known for his role, along with Sean Mac Dıarmada (The Mainspring), as architect of the Easter Rising. He is particularly honoured in Dungannon, where he grew up from the age of nine onward, the last posting of his British-Army–sergeant father. This statue in the Lisnahull area was unveiled (in this location) in late November 2021 (We Are Tyrone | NI World).

The circular placard is on O’Neill Park, across the street from the Garden.

The ‘East Tyrone Remembers’ board to IRA volunteers Sean Loughran, Patrick Carty, Patrick Quinn, Patrick McDonald, Kevin Murray, Paddy Kelly, Patrick Vincent – either this one exactly or a re-print of it – is mounted periodically. It first appeared in 2010 to be replaced by the Clonoe Martyrs. It was back again in 2013 and has been in place since 2017.

See previously from Lisnahull: Ireland’s Hunger Strike Martyrs

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Auld Cobblers

2024-03-292024-08-27Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This new three-storey mural by Dee Craig (Fb) is at the city end of Newtownards Road and so serves as a highly-visible introduction to east Belfast. People arriving in the area are now greeted with a vintage image of a smiling bearded man in a cloth cap, surrounded by occupations from the industrial era: “Cobbler, rag’n’bone man, fish monger, welder, builder, sweep, carpenter, window cleaner, butcher”, capped off by an inspirational “Be your best”, with yellow highlights that match the colour of the shipyard cranes Samson and Goliath.

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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Ravara

2024-03-292024-11-17Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

These images are from the Ravara Centre in Bangor. The cartoon characters (above) are probably by PENS (ig).

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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North Down UVF

2024-03-292024-08-27Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Each quadrant of Down (north, south, east, west) gave rise to a battalion of Ulster Volunteers, and North Down comprised 15 companies, almost doubling the typical British-Army size of eight companies (History Ireland; see also another History Ireland article on the initially sporadic development of the Volunteers out of Unionist Clubs).

Upon the outbreak of the Great War, the Down volunteers joined the 13th battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles, which were assigned to the 108th brigade of the 36th Division of the British Army.

The mural shown in this entry is a recent repainting; the previous version was painted in 2017 (and originally c. 2007 – see M03697).

See also: Only A Few Minutes – a memorial mural to Bangor native James Samuel Davidson, of the 108th and a North Down volunteer.

Clandeboye Road, at the bottom of the Kilcooley estate.

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Back On The Streets

2024-03-242024-08-27Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This shelf of cassette tapes is a new mural by Blaze FX (web) at Portallo Street on the Woodstock Road, east Belfast, part of the wave of street art being along the avenue (see previously: Down The Woodstock | Up The Cregagh).

Van Morrison (who was with Them before going solo), Gary Moore, David Holmes, and members of Rudi (Spit) and The Defects (Spit), grew up in east Belfast, as did Thin Lizzy’s guitarist Eric Bell. (Comment/Get in touch if you know of any SLF connection to east Belfast.)

The odd tape out here is the Cut La Roc/David Holmes ‘Stars X2’ live recording from Coventry’s ‘Eclipse’ nightclub, which is from 1999 (Old Skool Anthems) while the rest are from the sixties and seventies.

The “Cregagh-Woodstock Traders” (Fb) pencil (on the right) is presumably for re-spooling the tape after you pull it out and fix the tangle.

See also: Morrison, Moore, Holmes and Bell are all included in the Luminaries And Legends mural at Connswater.

For the Belfast punk scene of the late 1970s and early 80s, see also Belfast Has The Reason.

The Undertones

2024-03-222024-10-10Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Here are images of signage in the courtyard of the Dark Horse (web) in tribute to Derry band The Undertones, whose 1978 single ‘Teenage Kicks’ begins with the line “Teenage dreams, so hard to beat …” . The sign uses the same font as the original writing by TDS under the Bridge End flyover that was put up when John Peel died, in 2004, (see J2426), and restored in 2015 (see Teenage Dreams Never Die). The signatures, from left to right, are of band members Dee O’Neill, Michael Bradley, Billy Doherty, John O’Neill, F[eargal] Sharkey.

The wide shot shows ‘Teenage dreams’ at the very top of the wall, above the cycle telling the story of the Conservative Party leadership contests involving Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak (see Ship Of Fools) (plus Nigel Farage presiding over Sweet Rockall), and on the bottom level, the open windows of Belfast Stripped Bare (the Undertones are referenced in the Snow Patrol panel, third from the right in the top row – see Teenage Dreams for a close-up) plus, on the right, six of the panels from the series The Friend At Hand. All of the painted pieces are by Ciaran Gallagher

See also The Undertones in Derry: The Punk Of The Parish | Creggan Is My Home

Bonus image, last below: Belfast punk band Stiff Little Fingers on the opposite wall in the courtyard.

Easter Commemoration

2024-03-212025-04-22Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This RNU (Fb) board calls for attendees at a gathering in Milltown cemetery to commemorate the Easter Rising of 1916. The signatories to the Proclamation can be seen above and behind the large Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann gravestone on the right.

Glen Road, on the grounds of the old Andersonstown RUC barracks.

Ireland Says “No”

2024-03-212024-08-27Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“… to Genocide Joe”. This mural – a copy of a cartoon by Carlos Latuff – was painted in Divis Street in advance of the visit by Irish politicians to the United States for St Patrick’s Day – for background, see Don’t Look Away and The Fog Of War (which showed the same message on Slıabh Dubh).

In the mural, the leaders of “SF”, “FF”, and “FG” (Sınn Féın, Fıanna Fáıl, Fıne Gael) on their knees offer shamrock to US president Joe Biden, the blood dripping from whose hands spells “Gaza” on the ground.

However, the mural was completely blacked out the week before March 17th (Xitter) and then had to be cleaned, to give the version shown above.

In 2016, a Latuff reproduction in Beechmount, which was critical of Martin McGuinness’s shaking hands with Queen Elizabeth of England, was whitewashed (and was not subsequently restored). See The Butcher’s Apron for ‘before’ and ‘after’ photos.