Rooftop graffiti on Racecourse Road, Derry, dating back to the 1990 extradition of Dessie Ellis from Ireland to the UK, seen previously in a number of graffiti and at least one mural. The graffiti was still visible in 2015.
IRA volunteer Seán Keenan/Ó Cıanáın was interned on three different occasions and spent 15 years in prison without ever being convicted. In August 1969 (the Battle Of The Bogside) he was chairman of the Derry Citizens Defence Association. This bilingual memorial stone (though with more in English than Irish) is in Fahan Street, Derry
“In memory of their victims … they shall not pass.” An elaborate celtic cross in memory (i ndil cuimhne) of Troubles victims from Catholic south Belfast and a promise to block Orange Order parades in the lower Ormeau.
The Orange Order had not marched to Drumcree church in 1998, 1999, 0r 2000 (WP). This banner in Wapping Lane, Londonderry, reminds people to “be prepared” for the current year’s conflict.
The second panel of the four shown here in Donegall Pass, Belfast, is the most interesting. The upper circle is labelled “Ulster 2001” and shows a modern volunteer between the UVF and YCV symbols. In the lower circle, which is labelled “Ulster 1916”, is a portrait of Carson and the text of the 1912 Ulster Covenant and a headstone which is broken and bloodied. The other panels contain the UVF emblem, the YCV emblem, and the emblem of the 36th (Ulster) Division.
A piper plays over a soldier’s grave in a mural commemorating South Belfast 2nd battalion UVF volunteers from the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Pine Street, Belfast.
King Billy crossing the Boyne and trampling on a Jacobite soldier. This mural was painted in 1989 by a “H. Gibson” (according to the 2015 repainting). The original version of this mural was on the other side of the Pass, at the junction of Apsley Street and Howard Street South, next to a mural of the Lindsay Street arch dedicated to Robert Bradford. (See the Paddy Duffy Collection for both of these.) 1989 was the 25th anniversary of the erection of the arch in nearby Lindsay Street, but the arch was not painted into this mural until 2002.
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.