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4000 Years Of Ulster Scots

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“4000 years of Ulster-Scots history and heritage. Ulster & Scotland – shared language, shared literature, shared culture.” 400 years takes us back to the plantation; 4000 years suggests an even deeper connection.

Ulster-Scots was included in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement under the principle of support for “linguistic diversity”. This mural celebrating Ulster-Scots and ties between Northern Ireland and Scotland dates to 1999, with the crests of St Andrew and St Patrick on the left, and an Ulster Banner and Scottish lion rampant on the right.

“Dinnae houl yer wheest, houl yer ain!” [Don’t hold your tongue, hold your own!]

Templemore Street, east Belfast

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Copyright © 2005 Peter Moloney
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Welcome To Loyalist Cluan Place

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Cluan Place is a single street of 25 houses in east Belfast, hemmed in by the shops on the Albertbridge Road and by a “peace” line separating it from the (nationalist) Short Strand. Tensions between the two areas were particularly high in the early 2000s – see this Guardian article from 2002.

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Copyright © 2005 Peter Moloney
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Vita, Veritas, Victa

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South Belfast MP Robert Bradford was assassinated by the Provisional IRA in Finaghy at a meeting with constituents; the caretaker of the community centre, Ken Campbell, was also killed by the fleeing attackers. In late 1981, with the hunger strikes having ended only a month before, the killing was noted around the world and raised fears of broad civil unrest (BBC | NYTimes).

“Vita, veritas, Victoria” [life, truth, victory] is the motto of Londonderry. Here we have “vita, veritas, victa” [life, truth, conquered; perhaps the intended meaning was “conquering” rather than the passive]. The crest is also not quite the crest of the Apprentice Boys, with a ship in the bottom right rather than a skeleton. Get in touch if you can resolve either discrepancy.

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Copyright © 2001 Peter Moloney
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The Dark Days

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Paint-bombed mural to members of the Ulster Volunteer Force, Belfast Brigade, in the 36th (Ulster) Division, with (anachronistic) Ulster Banner and Union Flag: “they arose in the dark days to defend our native land for God and Ulster”, “And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee, though shalt smite them and utterly destroy them, thou shalt make no covenant with them nor show mercy unto them – Deuteronomy 7 verse 2”.

Blythe Street, Sandy Row, south Belfast

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Copyright © 2001 Peter Moloney
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REM 1690

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In 1690, William III defeated James II at the Battle Of The Boyne, securing Ireland for England. And in legend, Ulster was won in a race by an O’Neill tossing his severed hand ahead of his competitor. Similar battle is needed to preserve Northern Ireland, the mural suggests. “Quis separabit” is the motto of the UDA, and “Terrae filius” (“Son of the land”) is the motto of the Ulster Young Militants, its youth branch. Lord Street, Belfast.

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Copyright © 2000 Peter Moloney
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Free Our Prisoners

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“In memory of our freedom fighters who fought and died for Ulster. It was not for glory they fought nor honour or riches but freedom alone which no good man should lose but with his life.” A three-panel UFF mural in Linfield Road. A scroll with four emblems (UDA, UYM, UFF and Ulster banner); flags of the UDA and Scotland with manacled red fists and an outline of Northern Ireland superimposed with the Ulster banner, between emblems of the LPA and another prisoners’ organisation; a kneeling volunteer from A battalion, south Belfast’s Sandy Row.

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Copyright © 1997 Peter Moloney
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