A history of nationalism/republicanism from left to right: a pair of Easter lilies, four generations of rifles, and then a switch to a ballot paper with a check in favour of “unity” and a road named “Unity Way”: “From bullet to ballot: the evolution of our revolution. 1916 – 2016”
The mural was painted by Con on the north side of Hugo Street – the south side remains exclusively éırígí.
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Copyright © 2016 Peter Moloney
M13022
UFF/UDA/UYM (North Down, 2nd battalion, D company) memorial mural in Bloomfield estate, Bangor, to Andrew McIlvenny and Roy Officer, with hooded gunmen on a bed of poppies flanking the UFF clenched fist.
The estate is also home to UVF murals, e.g. We Band Of Brothers.
Ballyree Drive, Bangor
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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
M12349 [M12350] [M12351] [M12352] M12353 [M12354] [M12355] [M12356] M12357
“For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.” This is a new (July 2014) Red Hand Commando mural in Bangor with RHC Youth and Red Hand Comrades Association insignia against a backdrop of Thiepval Tower and the Somme, with masked gunmen in the foreground and a border of poppies.
The quote is from Shakespeare’s Henry V, act 4, though the lines are reversed (Folger).
Ballyminetragh Gardens, Bangor
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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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M12348
This is a new UDA mural in memory of John Gregg, “The Reaper”, who waged a campaign of terror against Catholics in south-east Antrim and was reputedly associated with British neo-Nazi groups. Gregg was gunned down in 2003, while returning from a Rangers match, as part of the power struggle with Johnny Adair.
Nearby red-white-and-blue poles on Knockenagh Ave, Newtownabbey, are also shown.
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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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The murals along east Belfast’s “Freedom Corner” (on the Newtownards Road) were repainted over the course of several months in 2015. These images are from a variety of dates in July and August; the ‘red hand’ piece is incomplete – for the finished work, see The Strangest Victory In All History.
The new pieces reproduce the previous ones in terms of theme: UFF/Young Newton at the ends, with the Past (Specials and UDR) and Present Defenders (UDA) in the middle – compare with the 2009 entries Freedom Corner | Ulster’s Present Day Defenders | Young Newton.
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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
UFF 1973: [M11905] M11906 [M11906a]
[M12049] [M12050]
UFF EB: [M11907] [M11908] [M11908a] [M11909] [M11909a] [M11910]
M12051 [M12052] [M12053] [M12054] [M12055]
Loyalist EB: M11911 [M11911a] [M11912]
Red Hand: M11913 [M11913a] [M11914] [M11915] [M11916]
Past Defenders: [M11917] [M11918]
M12056 [M12057] [M12058] [M12059] [M12060] [M12061] [M12062] [M12063] [M12064] [M12065]
Nationality: [M11919]
M12066
Present Defenders: [M12104] [M12130] [M12131] [M12132] [M12133] [M12134] [M12135] [M12136] [M12137]
M12145 [M12146] [M12147] [M12148] [M12149] [M12150]
UDA: [M12138] M12151
Tomorrow: M12105 [M12152] M12153 [M12154] [M12155] M12156
Wide: [M11920] M12067 M12157
These two boards are on either side of the Fıanna Éıreann roll of honour in Racecourse Road, Shantallow, Derry.
First (left): the Derry branch of the 1916 Societies (Fb) is named after Sean Dolan, an IRA volunteer interned at the outbreak of WWII on the prison ship Al Rawdah (WP | saoırse32) before being moved to Crumlin Road gaol. He was released on grounds of ill health shortly before dying in 1941 at age 28 in Derry. The title of today’s post comes from Dolan’s gravestone, which is in Ardmore (findagrave).
It was the 1916 Societies that hoisted an Irish tricolour from the roof of Stormont in June 2015 (BBC).
Second (right): two hunger-strikers from Derry, Patsy O’Hara and Michael Devine, were both members of the INLA; the third INLA hunger-striker was Kevin Lynch, from nearby Dungiven. The seven others who died were members of the IRA, whose political wing was Sınn Féın, while the IRSP (web), who sponsored this board, serve as the political face of the INLA.
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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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“GHQ” [general head-quarters] is added to the CIRA stencil in Waterford Street, west Belfast
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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
M12579
This is a vintage cut-out in the Sunnylands estate (visible in 2008 Google Street View). The central board – a RHC emblem – had a plastic or paper layer between the star/wings and the circular back-board with red-white-and-blue colours and the words “Red Hand Commando” in a circle. The hooded gunmen on either side each appear to be a single, painted, carving.
Salia Avenue, Sunnylands, Carrickfergus
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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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This is a very aggressive set of boards, in Hampton Crescent behind the Antiville (Larne) community centre: two of them show silhouetted UDA (3rd battalion, D company) gunmen in active poses, and another deploys the fearsome figure of Eddie The Head. Rather than the Union flag that he carries in other murals and on the original Iron Maiden album cover (see Eddie’s Visual History page), in this version “The Trooper” carries a UDA flag (with the UFF symbol also shown). “AYM” is presumably “Antiville Young Militants”.
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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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The stencil might be crude but the intent is clear: to suggest that the anti-Agreement IRA (probably the Continuity IRA, specifically) intend to continue the physical fight against British occupation.
Durrow Park, Derry
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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
M12521
Peter Moloney Collection 