Loyalist Lower Shankill

Welcome to the loyalist lower Shankill, and specifically the UDA (2nd battalion, C company) lower Shankill.

However, these are somewhat peripheral locations, in California Close, Boundary Way, and Hopewell Crescent. The centre of the estate has been re-imaged a second time – see Lower Shankill Angels.

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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The Battle Of Britain

“Love demands sacrifice”. “‘From this day to the ending of the world … we in it shall be remembered, we few, we happy few, we band of brothers’ for he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother’ – Henry V, William Shakespeare”

2015 marks the 75th anniversary of the Battle Of Britain, which was waged from July to October in 1940. This large board is part of an anti-racism project, celebrating the contributions to the Battle made by roughly 145 Polish aviators (WP) and especially the 303 squadron, which was stationed in Northern Ireland for a time (BBC-NI). “The Polish nation – part of us then, part of us now”.

The artist is Ross Wilson. Belfast Live has a report on the launch.

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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How Nobly They Fight And Die

Soldiers from the 36th (Ulster) division in the trenches of WWI prepare to go ‘over the top’. One waits for the precise moment according to his watch, ready to fire a shot, while the other prepares to blow a whistle and launch a flare. “Throughout the long years of struggle, the men of Ulster have proved how nobly they fight and die.” King George V on November 16, 1918. The quote also appears on the Ulster Tower in Clandeboye.

Queen’s Parade, Rathcoole, Newtownabbey

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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The Great War

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

“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!!

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

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

“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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John Gregg

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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