2nd Battalion B Company Village

“In proud and loving memory of our fallen comrades 2nd battalion south Belfast will always be remembered by the officers and volunteers ‘B’ company Village. At the going down of the sun and in the morning we shall remember them. For God and Ulster.” Combined Ulster Volunteers (on the left, with Thiepval Tower and insignia) and UVF (on the right) memorial garden in Moltke Street, Belfast.

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Copyright © 2009 Peter Moloney
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Killed In Action

The plaques read “36th Ulster Division – dedicated to all our fallen comrades who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. Greater love hath no man than to lay down his life for his friends. For God and Ulster.” and “From the officers and volunteers of East Belfast to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Great War.” The quadrants of the mural show (clockwise) soldiers in the trenches, soldiers manning a machine-gun, the death telegraph for William MacFadzean, and a soldier reflecting on a grave. UVF YCV “Lest we forget”

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Copyright © 2009 Peter Moloney
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For Valour

The Victoria Cross shows a lion on top of the crown of St Edward. The medal has been awarded since 1856 for combat valour by British Army soldiers. The four faces are perhaps those of Cather, McFadzean, Quigg, and Bell (see the mural in Cappagh Gardens). Painted by Dee Craig in Pitt Park, east Belfast, as part of the Re-Imaging Communities programme (Irish Times), perhaps replacing J2585.

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Copyright © 2009 Peter Moloney
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The People’s Army

“The arming, the training, and the sacrifice of The People’s Army.” The arming (left) comes from the guns smuggled into Larne on the Clyde Valley. The training shown here (right) is probably Ballywalter. The sacrifice (bottom) is the 36th (Ulster) Division going over the top in James Beadle’s painting ‘Charge of the 36th (Ulster) Division, Somme, 1st July 1916’.

Inverary Drive, east Belfast

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Copyright © 2009 Peter Moloney
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Somme Memorial

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“This memorial was erected by the office bearers and members of the 1st Shankill Somme Association. It is dedicated in solemn, but glorious memory to those brave and gallant men from the greater Shankill who served with the 36th (Ulster) Division and were immortalised on the fields of France and Flanders during the Great War 1914-1918. It stands also as a tribute to the men and women of the greater Shankill, who in the many conflicts which followed the Great War, fought with courage and defiance for crown and country, and made the ultimate sacrifice. ‘At the going down of the sun/And in the morning/We will remember them.'” “The unveiling of this memorial was carried out by Col. D. Smyth  21-02-2009.” “This memorial was dedicated by Rev. Edith Quirey 21-02-2009.”

The board showing Carson inspecting the troops at Fernhill House was added to the right in 2011.

Copyright © 2009 Peter Moloney
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Copyright © 2011 Peter Moloney
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Wheatfield Action Project

This is the second generation of a series of boards on Ballysilland Road depicting (as the info board states “a series of scenes from the 20th century which have strong resonance with the local community”. The first generation can be seen in 20th Century Northern Ireland. Most of the changes are at the start/left-hand side: the info board replaces the first two panels, which were of the Cavehill Road and the Clyde Valley, and (next in line) only one of the three scenes of Belfast on Ulster Day survives. Carson signing the covenant is followed by a new double-sized panel of Fernhill House, specifically of “the 2nd West Belfast Battalion of the UVF … on parade”, and then the rest as before, but with the order of the “Sunningdale Agreement of 1973” and “Ulster Workers Council’s ‘Constitutional Stoppage’ of May 1974” panels reversed (i.e. now in chronological order). “Parliament Buildings at Stormont, opened by the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VIII) on 16 November 1932, completes the mural.”

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Copyright © 2008 Peter Moloney
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90 Years Of Resistance

“The People’s Army 1912-2002 – 90 years of resistance.” The top two panels show the “newly-formed Shankill Volunteers” “train[ing] at Fernhill estate, Glencairn” and then in 1916 the “9th RIR (West Belfast UVF) go over the top at the Somme.” Below, “volunteers defend the Shankill community from republican attack” in the 1969 riots in Bombay Street and environs, leading to the “crossroads” of 2002, with David Ervine holding a copy of the “Good Friday Agreement” on the road to “peace”.

Previously seen in 2005.

Canmore Street, Belfast

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Copyright © 2008 Peter Moloney
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