Belfast north

These Are Times That Try Men’s Souls

Extramural Activity2 Comments

Portraits of, and quotes from, Mary Ann McCracken (“What a wonderful clamour is now raised at the name of union, when in reality there has always been such a union between England and this country, as there is between husband and wife by which the former has the power to oppress the latter.”) and her older brother Henry Joy McCracken (“These are the times that try men’s souls … the rich always betray the poor.”). The two – sister and brother – were Presbyterians and republicans. Henry led the Antrim uprising of the United Irishmen in 1798 and was executed for it; Mary Ann was an abolitionist and social reformer.

New Lodge Road, north Belfast

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Copyright © 1997 Peter Moloney
M01348

William Drennan

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William Drennan, 1754-1820, was a doctor, poet, Presbyterian, one of the founders of the Society of United Irishmen, and the first person to refer to Ireland as “the Emerald Isle”, in his poem When Erin First Rose. The words in this mural are the epitaph on his stone in Clifton Street Cemetery: “Pure, just, benign. Thus filial love would trace the virtues, hollowing [sic] this narrow space. The Emerald Isle may grant a wider claim and link the patriot with his country’s name.”

Ludlow Square, New Lodge, north Belfast.

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Copyright © 1997 Peter Moloney
M01349

Doves

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Doves in flight over a flower meadow. There’s also a tree painted on the wall on the right – get in touch if you know anything about it.

Perhaps painted in 1988 along with murals depicting a paschal lamb (C00111 | X05493), a shamrock (C04981), Gaelic games (C04977), a harpist (M01248), and possibly this mural of the Knock apparition in 1879 (Street View).

Edlingham Street, New Lodge, north Belfast

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Copyright © 1995 Peter Moloney
M01249

Harpist

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Posters demanding the release of POWs (“Saoırse – release political prisoners now”) on top of a mural of an Irish harpist, in Edlingham Street, Belfast.

Perhaps painted in 1988 along with murals depicting a paschal lamb (C00111 | X05493), a shamrock (C04981), Gaelic games (C04977), doves (M01248), and possibly this mural of the Knock apparition in 1879 (Street View).

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Copyright © 1995 Peter Moloney
M01248

Free The POWs

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Republican H-Block POWs divided into “sentenced’ (Lyttle, S. Campbell, Collins, McGarrigle, McKinney, McSorley, McEvoy, Doherty, McKeirnan, Thompson, Mary E. Campbell) and “remand” (Magee, Mahon, O’Hagan, Bradley, M. Campbell, Hughes, Stitt, Boyle, Lavery, McCart).

On the right, a manacled fist in front of strands of barbed wire, with “saoırse” and the male and female symbols in the green of the ‘green ribbon’ campaign. New Lodge Road, Belfast. Also rare: the mural is dated (1995).

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Copyright © 1995 Peter Moloney
M01247