Here is a board announcing, and a gallery of images from, the hunger strike commemoration in 2012, Dungiven.
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Copyright © 2012 Peter Moloney
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Kevin Lynch is shown raising the Under-16 County Derry hurling trophy (photo below). He was arrested in December 1976 and went on the blanket and then the second hunger strike. Lynch died after 71 days on hunger strike – the longest-surviving striker – in Long Kesh/the Maze prison. The H-Block Song (with lyric “I’ll wear no convict’s uniform/nor meekly serve my time/that Britain might brand Ireland’s fight/800 years of crime” was played by a piper at his funeral. (An Phoblacht)
The four black-and-white squares show (top left) Mary Nelis, Kathleen Deeny and Theresa Deery, protesting the arrests of their sons; (bottom left) the memorial to Lynch in Park, where has was born; (top right) blanketmen Hugh Rooney and Freddie Toal; (bottom right) Lynch’s gravestone in Dungiven.
Along the bottom are the emblems of Kevin Lynch Memorial flute band (Fb), Kevin Lynch’s hurling club (“mısneach ‘s dílseacht”), and St Dympna’s football club, Luton (Fb).
The mural is shown on the day of its launch, August 4th, 2012 – the plaque on the left is covered by a small curtain in the first image above but shown in the second.
The street was also named in Lynch’s honor, with a plaque at the other end.
The placard is in Chapel Road – it seems to be the same one as in 2011, but with a frame added.
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Copyright © 2012 Peter Moloney
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“Dungiven remembers INLA Vol Kevin Lynch. Help build the socialist republic for which he died.” Lynch died after 71 days on hunger strike in 1981. The IRSP was the political wing of the INLA and continues to operate.
This is a new or repainted version of the board seen in 2010.
For the nearby memorial stone and plaque, see Vol Kevin Lynch.
Main Street, Dungiven
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Copyright © 2012 Peter Moloney
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Kevin Lynch, the seventh of the 1981 hunger strikers to die, is buried in Dungiven Cemetery. He is commemorated annually in the town. These images were taken on the day of the 30th anniversary commemoration.
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Copyright © 2011 Peter Moloney
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The ten deceased 1981 hunger strikers are shown, each “murdered by Britain”, plus Michael Gaughan (“died on hungerstrike in Parkhurst Prison June 3rd 1974”) and Prıonsıas Stagg (usually Frank Stagg) (“died on hunger-strike February 12th 1976 Wakefield Prison”).
Republican Sınn Féın (web | old web | tw) board Chapel Road, Dungiven.
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Copyright © 2011 Peter Moloney
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This is a board above the advertising hoarding commemorating the 200th anniversary of the 1798 Rebellion. “Erin go bragh” on the bottom scroll; it’s not clear that anything at all was written in the top scroll.
Garvagh Road, Dungiven
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Copyright © 2011 Peter Moloney
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The title phrase is attributed to Brian McCreesh of his hunger-striker brother Raymond, from Camlough, Co Armagh. “Remember the H-Block martyrs.” This board is (temporarily) on display in Main Street, Dungiven.
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Copyright © 2010 Peter Moloney
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“Dungiven remembers INLA Vol Kevin Lynch. Help build the socialist republic for which he died.” Lynch died after 71 days on hunger strike in 1981. The IRSP was the political wing of the INLA and continues to operate.
Update: the board perhaps met its end on a bonfire in the Fountain in 2014.
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Copyright © 2010 Peter Moloney
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Republican flags are mounted above the Kevin Lynch portrait in Church Street, Dungiven, previously seen in 2001.
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Copyright © 2010 Peter Moloney
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2009 was the fortieth anniversary of the beginning of the Troubles and of the “first person to be killed in the Troubles – murdered by the RUC at this spot [Main Street, Dungiven] on 14th July 1969”: Francie (Pól Beag) McCloskey. McCloskey was a 67 year-old farmer standing in a shop doorway on the 12th (BelTel) or 13th (An Phoblacht) when the RUC charged nationalist rioters attacking the Orange lodge. He would die of a brain haemorrhage on the 14th. “Ar dheıs Dé go raıbh a anam.”
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Copyright © 2009 Peter Moloney
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