“In proud and loving memory of all those republican from the west Tyrone area who suffered, fought or died in the cause of Irish freedom – ní dhéanfar dearmad ar bhur níobaırtí choíche”.
Ballycolman Avenue, Strabane
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Copyright © 2002 Peter Moloney
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Here is a collection of six murals from Ballycolman, Strabane, all seen previously in 1989 and showing their age, and with some RIRA graffiti “Who is the real freedomfighters now! Real IRA” and “Strabane RUC station – 2001 RIRA”.
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Copyright © 2002 Peter Moloney
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Volunteer Charles English was a member of the IRA’s Derry Brigade (1st battalion). He died on August 6th, 1985, at age 21, when a grenade launcher exploded. His brother, Gary, had been killed four years earlier when an Army land rover hit and then reversed over him (Derry Journal). Images from the funeral are collected in this video.
Abbey Street, Derry
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Copyright © 2002 Peter Moloney
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By 2002, the “Time for peace, time to go” mural in Beechfield Street, Belfast, painted in 1997, was beginning to show its age. The image is based on a photograph of British forces in the Falklands.
The image was also produced in Ardoyne (north Belfast), above the Sınn Féın offices/Sıopa Na hEalaíne (west Belfast), on Free Derry Corner, in Shantallow (Derry), and in Letterkenny.
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Copyright © 2002 Peter Moloney
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This Short Strand mural packs a lot in, beginning with both ancient Éıre and a celtic cross. Its main panels commemorate 25 years of resistance in east Belfast (probably dating to the Battle Of St Matthew’s in 1970) with portraits of 16 deceased locals (“I measc laochra na nGael go raıbh a naınmeacha”) and two verses from Bobby Sands’s poem Weeping Winds (see below). On the right (in the second image) is a quote from Bobby Sands: “Our revenge will be the laughter of our children”.
Oh, whistling winds why do you weep/When roaming free you are,
Oh! Is it that your poor heart’s broke/And scattered off afar?
Or is it that you bear the cries/Of people born unfree,
Who like your way have no control/Or sovereign destiny?
Oh! Lonely winds that walk the night/To haunt the sinner’s soul/
Pray pity me a wretched lad/Who never will grow old.
Pray pity those who lie in pain/The bondsman and the slave
And whisper sweet the breath of God/Upon my humble grave.
These verses are also used on a board in St James’s.
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Copyright © 2002 Peter Moloney
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“Dedicated to the memory of INLA volunteer Matt McLarnon, Nora McCabe and Peter Doherty who were murdered in this area by British state forces during the 1981 H-Block hunger strike. A Mhuıre banríon na nGael guí ar a son”. The area in question is Clonard/Falls. Doherty and McCabe were hit by plastic bullets; McLarnon was shot by a sniper on Divis tower. Erected by a Sınn Féın group (Lower Falls/Clonard Committee) rather than INLA.
old Linden Street, west Belfast
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Copyright © 2002 Peter Moloney
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IRA volunteer (and marksman in the Irish Army) John Starrs was killed in a gun battle with the British Army in William Street, near his plaque in Chamberlain Street, Derry
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Copyright © 2002 Peter Moloney
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2002 image of the republican prisoners board in Beechmount Avenue, Belfast. In addition to the 1981 hunger strikers and Stagg and Gaughan, the mural mentions Paddy Joe Crawford, Francis Dodds, Patrick Teer, Teddy Campbell, Hugh Coney, Jim Moyne, Henry Henry, Sean Bateson, Pol Kinsella (all from Long Kesh), Tom Smyth, Brendan Seery, Paddy Kelly (Portlaoise), Noel Jenkinson and Sean O’Conaill (who died in English prisons).
“I ndıl chuımhne na gcımí poblachtánacha a fuaır bás ı ngéıbheann ı rıth na coımhlınte reatha seo.” [In memory of the republican prisoners who died in captivity in the course of this ongoing (lit. running) contest.]
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Copyright © 2002 Peter Moloney
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“HMP Maghaberry = Stormonts’ best kept secret. “Where ’81 never happened” – 32CSM” and a list of “Six County POWs”. First appearance of both 32CSM (32-county Sovereignty Movement) and IRPWA (Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association).
Whiterock Road, west Belfast
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Copyright © 2002 Peter Moloney
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“In memory of [IRA] volunteers Jim Bryson and Patrick Mulvenna. Died on active service 1973”. The pair were killed by undercover British Army soldiers firing from above the Ballymurphy shops (Broken Elbow). Mulvenna died immediately (August 30th), Bryson three days later. Another plaque will later be added to the centre of the mural.
Ballymurphy Road, west Belfast
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Copyright © 2002 Peter Moloney
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