The (second) Gorta Mór mural in great disrepair in Ardoyne Avenue, Belfast. The plaque to Larry Marley is on the left.
M06734
Copyright © 2011 Peter Moloney
An Gorta Mór
Great Hunger/Emigration
An Gorta Mór
2009 image of the (second – see C05209) Great Hunger mural on Ardoyne Avenue (see previously the mural in 2002) with the correct spelling of “emigration” restored (see 2004).
“They buried us without shroud or coffin” is a line from an unrelated Seamus Heaney poem Requiem For The Croppies. Produced by “Ardoyne Art & Environment Project”.
The plaque on the left is to Larry Marley.
M04781
Copyright © 2009 Peter Moloney
Weary People, What Reap Ye?
“Weary people, what reap ye? Golden corn for the stranger. What sow ye? human corpses that wait for the avenger. Fainting forms, hunger–stricken, what see you in the offing? Stately ships to bear our food away, [amid the stranger’s scoffing]. There’s a proud array of soldiers — what do they round your door? They guard our masters’ granaries from the thin hands of the poor. – Speranza” (The poetry is the first few lines of The Famine Year by “Speranza”, i.e. Lady Jane Wilde, mother of Oscar) “Painted by Síle na Gig & St James Youth Aug 95” In the centre an aboriginal figure holds the flags of Ireland and of the Native Australians.
M04224 [M04223] M04222
Copyright © 2008 Peter Moloney
An Gorta Mór
“An Gorta Mór 1845-1848. In memory of the 500 inhabitants of Rathlin island who emigrated to America and England during The Great Famine.” Church Quarter, Rathlin.
M03569 [M03570]
Copyright © 2007 Peter Moloney
The Famine
“Nature sent the potato blight, government & landlords created the famine.” 1845-1849 saw one million Irish people die and a million more emigrate. During the period, the full range of other foodstuffs was produced and shipped to England, being too expensive for the native population.
Lenadoon Avenue, Belfast.
M03538
Copyright © 2007 Peter Moloney
Coffin Ship
The Crocus Street, Belfast, Great Hunger/emigration mural is in bad shape. For the mural in better days, see 2001.
M02208
Copyright © 2004 Peter Moloney
An Gorta Mór
An Gorta Mór is the Great Famine, or the Great Hunger among those who point out that there was plenty of food in Ireland in the late 1840s, just not made available to peasants. Of a population around eight million, a million people died and a million more emigrated. “They buried us without shroud or coffin” is a line from an unrelated Seamus Heaney poem Requiem For The Croppies.
The mural comprises three images from Illustrated London News: The Ejectment, The Day After The Ejectment | The Embarkation, Waterloo Docks Liverpool.
“Ardoyne Art & Environment Project”. In 2004, “Emigration” was incorrectly spelled with two “M”s – see the post at Extramural Activity.
Ardoyne Avenue, Belfast
M01804 M01803
Copyright © 2002 Peter Moloney
Coffin Ship
Irish people, perhaps fleeing the Great Hunger, board a ship to emigrate to the United States. Oakman Street, Belfast. See also: this mural without the fence in the way in 1999; the Coffin Ship in Crocus Street.
M01676
Copyright © 2002 Peter Moloney
Coffin Ship
One in four Irish people, more than 2 million people, left Ireland between 1845 and 1855, many sailing on so-called “coffin ships” which had mortality rates of 30%. Another million died in the Great Hunger itself, in most cases the proximate causes were fever and dysentery (WP | Irish Central).
Crocus Street, Belfast.
M01486
Copyright © 2001 Peter Moloney
Ireland’s Holocaust
“Britain’s genocide by starvation”, “Ireland’s holocaust 1845-1849”, “Over 1,500,000 deaths”. Completed version of the Great Hunger mural on the Whiterock Road, Belfast, previously seen twice in development: 1995 | 1997. The images used are from Illustrated London Newses of the time (see An tOcras Mór).
M02750
Copyright © 1999 Peter Moloney
peter moloney collection 