Larne

Antiville UDA

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This is a very aggressive set of boards, in Hampton Crescent behind the Antiville (Larne) community centre: two of them show silhouetted UDA (3rd battalion, D company) gunmen in active poses, and another deploys the fearsome figure of Eddie The Head. Rather than the Union flag that he carries in other murals and on the original Iron Maiden album cover (see Eddie’s Visual History page), in this version “The Trooper” carries a UDA flag (with the UFF symbol also shown). “AYM” is presumably “Antiville Young Militants”. 

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
M11811 M11819 M11816 [M11817] [M11818] M11812 [M11813] [M11814] [M11815]
M11806 M11810 M11808 [M11809] M11807

Kenneth Nicholl

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Remember those not here today, And those unwell or far away, And those who never lived to see the end of the War & Victory, And every friend who’ve lost [or: passed] our way, Remember as of yesterday, It’s absent friends we miss the most, To ALL, Let’s drink a loving toast.”

William Walker’s poem Absent Friends is used as a part of UDA/UFF commemoration of various Larne men: “Ewan ‘Shug’ McPherson, Raymond ‘Toby’ Sloan, Kenneth ‘Kenny’ Nicholl (who is featured in a separate board; BBC-NI report of his killing), Ian ‘Big Ian’ Hamilton. Walker was a pilot during WWII who wrote poetry and returned to the brewing trade after the war; he died at age 99 in 2012 (Guardian).

Linn Road, Antiville, Larne

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
M11820 [M11821] [M11822] [M11823] M11824

Gun-Running Centenary

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Here are a few images from the parade through Larne town (and speeches in Sandy Bay playing fields) to celebrate the centenary of the gun-running of April 24-25th, 1914, in which more than 30,000 rifles (rather than the Lewis gun and machine gun seen here) were smuggled into Ireland and dispersed to the various groups of Ulster Volunteers by horseless carriage (i.e. motor-car), in order to thwart the passage of the Home Rule bill.

(Here is a contemporary (1914) account from the (Adelaide) Journal. Here are video of the (2014) event: BBC | youtube | youtube)

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
[M10985] [M10986] M10988 M10989 M10987 M10990 [M10991] [M10992] M10993 M10994 [M10995] [M10996]

Free Protestant Hostages

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The larger plaque on the board above reads, “We wish to pay tribute to the young men and women from this area, who are currently serving or have served with Her Majesty’s Forces in Afghanistan and to those from Northern Ireland who have paid the Surpreme Sacrifice. Lest we forget”. 

The smaller one has part of the Ode of Remembrance from Laurence Binyon’s poem For The Fallen: “They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old, Age shall not weary them, Nor the years condemn, At the going down of the sun, And in the morning, We will Remember them.”

The side-wall reads “End PSNIRA political policing – free Protestant hostages” with a pair of fists bound by rope (rather than barbed wire).

Linn Road, Larne

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2013 Peter Moloney
M09900 [M09901] [M09902] [M09903] [M09904] [M09905] M09906

Rifleman Robert King

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Robert King, of the 12th Royal Irish Rifles, who joined the army from the Ulster Volunteers, was “awarded the Military Medal for gallantry in action on 1st July 1916” at the Somme. The two sides of the medal are shown in the top right, with George V on one side and “for bravery in the field”. The 12th Rifles were drawn from the Central Antrim regiment of the Ulster Volunteers including the Newington area of Larne; King, however, was from Ship Street.

Wellington Green, Larne

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2013 Peter Moloney
M09697 [M09894] [M09895] [M09896] [M09897] [M09898]

Tullygarley

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This series of boards, painted by Caroline Jeffrey, presents life in Larne from the early 20th century. As part of the 2009 Re-Imaging Project, it replaced an Ulster Volunteers mural. It is largely non-sectarian, and begins with the derivation of the name “Tullygarley” from the Irish for “Hillock of the Grey Calf”, but includes the emblem of the 36th (Ulster) Division and the gunrunning ship Clyde Valley.
Info board:
“Tullygarley” means “Hillock of the Grey Calf” – thus the grey calf grazing with the cows. The 36th Ulster Division – In September 1914 the Ulster Division was formed from the Ulster Volunteer Force which raised thirteen battalions for the three Irish regiments in Ulster. Bleaching Green – Linen laid out in fields to bleach. The Bleaching Factory interior depicts the Bleaching process. (The building is currently derelict.) Blue Flax Flowers are the national floral emblem of Northern Ireland. Local Primary School, Inver and Larne, known locally as “the Bridge”, as it looked in the 1930’s with the Inver River running through it. The bridge that the school was named after no longer exists. Linen Factory of Glyn [Glynn] Road (no longer exists, site of abandoned garage) with inset depicting workers with weaving machines (circa 1924). The old Tullygarley playground (mural site) with the Fountain in the foreground, and rows of houses on either side (Glynn Road and South Circular Road). Sun Laundry Van. Sun Laundry showing people working inside (now Rea’s Furnishings, Bank Road). Larne Lough – it is an area of special interest, a special protection area and a Ramsar site in order to protect the wetland environment. SS Clyde Valley – launched in July 1886. Was used in 1914 to transport arms from Hamburg to Larne. Roseate Tern – Larne Lough is the only breeding colony in Northern Ireland for the Roseate Tern, one of the UK’s rarest birds.

Glynn Road, Larne

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2010 Peter Moloney
[M06061] [M06062] M06063 M060604