Area Affiliation

The Supreme Sacrifice

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These are close-ups of the IRA memorial in Derry’s City Cemetery (“Erected Easter 1975”, with the roll of honour extended around the base and then onto additional stones, and a plaque added in 1991 on the 75th anniversary of the second hunger strike and seen first in 1994). “Arna tógáıl An Cháısc 1975, ag Brıogáıd Dhoıre, Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann ın ómós agus ı gcuımhne ár gcomrádaıthe a rınne a ardíobaırt go saortar ár dtír dhúchaıs.”

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Copyright © 2007 Peter Moloney
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Here We Stand We Can Do No Other

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The Orange Order was prevented from marching from Drumcree church (shown in the board) down the Garvaghy Road (in Portadown) by the RUC in the mid- to late-1990s, which the OO claimed impinged upon its “civil and religious liberty” (in the flag). The dispute was notable (among other reasons) for the emergence of Billy Wright (then a member of the UVF). Wright was unhappy with how the dispute was conducted and ultimately he and his unit were stood down (in 1996), and Wright went on to found the LVF.

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Copyright © 2007 Peter Moloney
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Ulster Sails West

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This Ballymoney mural goes all the way back to at least 2004 and to the wave of Ulster-Scots – or as here, “Scotch-Irish” – murals painted in PUL areas after the promotion of Ulstèr-Scotch as a parallel language to Irish by the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement.

As the Visual History page on Ulster-Scots Murals shows, most of these murals made a connection to (what would-become) the United States, to where about a quarter million people emigrated (WP). The mural is intended to tell a story of emigration (signified by the sailing ship), American independence (the McKinley quote), and American expansion (the frontiersman).

The Scotch-Irish were Presbyterians and supporters of breaking the ties to Great Britain. In 1893, Governor Of Ohio (and later US President) (Ulster Nation) William McKinley said, “They were the first to proclaim for freedom in these United States. Even before Lexington [i.e. the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, on April 19, 1775] the Scotch-Irish blood had been shed for American Freedom.” (According to William Marshall’s book Ulster Sails West, the battle McKinley is referring to took place on the Alamace river in North Carolina in 1771 (p. 29).)

The frontiersman on the right is generally taken to be David “Davy” Crockett, from the 1830s (Rolston in Al Jazeera | McCormick J2024); it is in fact a 1991 sketch of a generic frontiersman by David Wright (web), called “The Long Knife”, and the figure is referred to generically as “a trapper” by the artist (BBC).

None of the conquests of European-American colonists provides a good parallel to unionism, due to the complicated nature of political conflicts both there and here. The Americans, of course, threw off British rule in their revolution; Irish unionists want to remain part of the UK. And Crockett died in the Battle Of The Alamo in the Texas Revolution; that is, he died fighting for Texan independence from the Mexican government, which again doesn’t line up well with the desire of Irish unionists to remain part of the United Kingdom. (For another strained analogy involving the Scotch-Irish and US political history, see The War Of Northern Aggression and its discussion in the Ulster-Scots Murals page.)

The reason for its inclusion is the simpler idea that the Scotch-Irish are a rugged and feisty people who are not to be trifled with, whether in North America or Ireland.

Painted by Kenny Blair (Fb) in Hillview Avenue, Ballymoney; sponsored by the North Antrim Cultural And Musical Society and funded by the Heritage Commission. “Ulster Sails West” is the title of a 1943 book by WF Marshall (Isles Abroad).

Hillview Avenue, Ballymoney

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Copyright © 2007 Peter Moloney
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