PUL

The Great War

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The memorial garden in Mount Vernon, which previously had and Ulster Volunteers mural and UVF stone, has undergone a major redevelopment this year (2015) with a new “cut-out” mural to the 36th (Ulster) Division and stand-alone memorial plaques to six UVF (3rd Belfast Battalion) members who were listed the plaque on the outside wall of the garden. “Murdered in the service of Ulster: Joe Shaw 18-5-1974, Samuel Frame 13-3-1976, Jackie Irvine 16-3-1989. Colin Caldwell 28-11-1991, Bertie Rice 31-10-2000, Mark Quail 1-11-2000.”

“We salute also all volunteers at home and on the mainland who served with dignity and pride.”

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Covenants Without Swords Are Only Words

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“Covenants without swords are only words” is a slight emendation of a line from Chapter 17 of Thomas Hobbes’s The Leviathan: “And covenants, without the sword, are but words and of no strength to secure a man at all.” 

It is applied here to the 1912 Ulster Covenant being backed up by the 1914 gun-running. Edward Carson is shown acknowledging the cheers of the Ulster Volunteers, who have been drilling at Glencairn (as seen in this Shankill mural).

Above the Unionist souvenir shop on the Newtownards Road, east Belfast. Seen previously in 2012: Where Ulstermen Shop.

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Welcome To Hell!!

Extramural Activity3 Comments

These graffiti are at the western edge of the Village, south Belfast, at the waste-ground over the Blackstaff and next to the Balls On The Falls, a.k.a Rise (on the Broadway roundabout).

“B Coy UFV Village”, Monarch UVF VTOT [Village team on tour]”, “Taigs enter at own risk”, “ATAT [All Taigs are target]”, “Welcome to loyalist Village”, “Taigs will be crucified”, “Welcome to hell!!”

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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36th (Ulster) Division

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Samson and Goliath, the cranes of the Harland & Wolff shipyard in east Belfast, stand alongside crosses on the burial grounds of the 36th (Ulster) Division in Flanders (though Cave Hill might be in the background) in this Flora Street mural in east Belfast. UVF flags fly overhead.

On the headstone in the front-middle is written “Francis Lemon 1916”, perhaps this Francis Lemon, from Ballymacarrett, who died on July 2nd: FindAGrave | IWM.

This is a new (2015-05) mural in Flora Street, east Belfast.

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Lest We Forget

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“At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we shall remember them.” The fence at the back of the Belvoir Somme Association’s Victoria Cross memorial garden on along the Newtownards (at the old Newcastle Street) has been replaced with a wall and the poppy wreath on the left (above) has been joined by a mural in memory of the Somme dead and the Victoria Crosses awarded to the 36th Division “For Valour”.

For the board detailing the VCs, see Victoria Crosses Of The 36th (Ulster) Division.

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Absent Friends

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The Tullycarnet Flute Band mural on the electrical sub-station in Lochinver Drive, Tullycarnet, as been repainted/touched up (compare to 2013).

The plaques read: “In memory of Steven Dawson (Big Penny). Gone but not forgotten. A light shone in the night”, and “In memory of Joseph Baxter Corry (Joe). Gone but not forgotten. You’ll always be in our hearts. Farewell our absent friend.”

Lochinver Drive, Tullycarnet, Dundonald

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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John Gregg

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This is a new UDA mural in memory of John Gregg, “The Reaper”, who waged a campaign of terror against Catholics in south-east Antrim and was reputedly associated with British neo-Nazi groups. Gregg was gunned down in 2003, while returning from a Rangers match, as part of the power struggle with Johnny Adair. 

Nearby red-white-and-blue poles on Knockenagh Ave, Newtownabbey, are also shown.

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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You Will Become A Great Nation, Even Many Nations

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Genesis 35:11 reads (NIV) “And God said to him, “I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will be among your descendants.” The flags of Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England are joined in the mural above by those of Australia and (a simplified version of) the Falkland Islands (on the left) and New Zealand and Canada (on the right). The flag flying in the centre is the Royal Standard, flown on the building or vehicle where the monarch is.

The adjacent mural of army badges around a burial scene from the first world war features some lesser-seen items. On the left, alongside the Royal Irish Rifles (top left) and the (modern-day) Royal Irish Regiment (at the time of WWI the harp was plain and there was no garland), we see the emblem of the North Irish Horse, a cavalry unit in the Territorial Army. On the right, the emblem of the Royal Irish Rangers (which was folded into the Royal Irish Regiment in 1992) is joined by the star of the Irish Guards (above) and the emblem of the Ulster Special Constabulary or B-Specials (below). Only the Royal Irish Regiment and the Irish Guards remain as regiments of the British Army; “The Horse” now forms squadrons of other units. Of the six, four served in WWI; the B-Specials were formed in 1920 and the Rangers in 1968.

Above is King William III at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Freedom Corner 2015

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The murals along east Belfast’s “Freedom Corner” (on the Newtownards Road) were repainted over the course of several months in 2015. These images are from a variety of dates in July and August; the ‘red hand’ piece is incomplete – for the finished work, see The Strangest Victory In All History.

The new pieces reproduce the previous ones in terms of theme: UFF/Young Newton at the ends, with the Past (Specials and UDR) and Present Defenders (UDA) in the middle – compare with the 2009 entries Freedom Corner | Ulster’s Present Day Defenders | Young Newton.

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Fountain Relief Of Derry Bonfire

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The ‘Relief Of Derry‘ bonfire stands ready for burning, flying Irish Tricolour and Starry Plough flags, and decked with an IRSP hunger strike board – perhaps stolen from Rossville Street.

See also: the 2015 Eleventh Night bonfire | the 2013 Relief Of Derry bonfire

The Fountain, Londonderry

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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