WWI

Wheatfield Action Project

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

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.”

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2008 Peter Moloney
M04335 [M04336] [M04337] [M04338] [M04339] [M04340] [M04341] [M04342] [M04343] M04344 [M04345] [M04346] [M04347] [M04348] M04349 [M04350]

90 Years Of Resistance

Extramural Activity1 Comment

“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

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2008 Peter Moloney
M04292 [M04288] [M04289] [M04290] [M04291]

1912-2002 Ulster Volunteer Force

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“1912-2002 Ulster Volunteer Force – 90 years” linking the Ulster Volunteers of 1912 and WWI with the Carrickfergus company of the contemporary UVF’s 1st East Antrim Battalion.

The Larches and Blackthorn Park in Carrickfergus

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2008 Peter Moloney
M04121 [M04118] [M04119] [M04120] M04117 M04122 M04123

Ulster Volunteers

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

From left to right: a Union Flag, the emblem of the USSF [Ulster Special Service Force, elite units within the Ulster Volunteers], Carson and the Covenant, the gunrunning ship Clyde Valley, a red hand in a garland, crossed “1914” rifles, the memorial to the gunrunning near Chaine Memorial, soldiers going over the top, Ulster Tower, and a cross marking a grave.

Drumahoe Gardens, Larne

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2008 Peter Moloney
M04084 [M04083] [M04082] [M04081] [M04080] [M04079] [M04078] [M04077]

East Belfast Volunteers

Extramural Activity1 Comment

This mural and its accompanying plaques, at the mouth of Canada Street, commemorate WWI and celebrate the nine Victoria Crosses won by members of the 36th (Ulster) Division “For valour”: Cather, McFadzean, Bell, Quigg, Emerson, De Wind, Seaman, Knox, and Harvey; the final plaque is McCrae’s In Flanders’ Fields. The main mural features insignia of more than thirty units of types ranging from machine gunners to vets.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2008 Peter Moloney
M04063 [M04062] [M04061] M04060 [M04059] [M04058] [M04057] [M4056]

Tamery Pass

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Tamery Pass (and Willowfield Walk) lies below Beersbridge Road between Woodstock and Castlereagh roads. This mural, at the lower entrance to the area, celebrates the area’s contribution to the Young Citizen Volunteers who fought in WWI. Willowfield Street, Belfast.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2008 Peter Moloney
M04050
2011 [M06760] “YCV” is whitewashed

Ulster Volunteers

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The Ulster Volunteers were formed in response to the Home Rule bill of April 1912 and the Covenant signed in September 1912, first by Edward Carson and then by almost half a million others. Guns were smuggled into Larne on the Clyde Valley in April 1914 but the advent of the World War saw the volunteers instead joining the British Army.

Previously seen, in better shape, in 2005.

Shankill Road, Belfast

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2008 Peter Moloney
M04282

Victoria Crosses Of The 36th (Ulster) Division

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Nine Victoria Cross recipients from the 36th (Ulster) Division in World War I are honoured in this board on the Shankill at the Co-Op (which was previously across the road in Crimea Street). The nine are (from 1917 and 1918) E[dmund] De Wind, E[rnest] Seaman, C[ecil] L[eonard] Knox, N[orman] Harvey, (from 1916) G[eoffrey] St. G[eorge] S[hillington] Cather, W[illiam] F[rederick] MacFadzean, E[ric] N[orman] F[rankland] Bell, R[obert] Quigg, and J[ames] S[amuel] Emerson. “Only by remembering these men, and others like them, can we ever repay their memory.” The poem In Flanders’ Fields is by Canadian John McCrea.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2008 Peter Moloney
M04281 [M04278] [M04279] [M04280]

Rising Sons Flute Band

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Rising Sons Flute Band (Fb) East Belfast 1985″ with the emblem of the Red Hand Commando on either side, flanking the insignia of the 36th (Ulster) Division, Ulster Volunteers, Royal Irish Rifles, UDR, and B-Specials (Ulster Special Constabulary). “Their name liveth forever more.” Seen in progress in 2005.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2008 Peter Moloney
M04046 [M04042] [M04043] [M04044] [M04045]