Three pieces of republican graffiti along the wall along Lecky Road leading to the overpass: “Real IRA”, “PSNI/RUC scum out now”, “BRY” [Bogside Republican Youth], “RSF” [Republican Sınn Féın], “Up the RSF”, “SF sell outs”.
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Copyright © 2007 Peter Moloney
M03847 M03846 M03845
This “blue plaque” from the Ulster History Circle is on the wall of Kelly’s Cellars (established 1720) in Bank Street: “Society of United Irishmen met here 1791-1798.” Henry Joy McCracken was hanged in the nearby Corn Market.
For image from inside, see this 2008 entry.
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Copyright © 2007 Peter Moloney
M03838
Graffiti in the Westland Road estate, off Cavehill Road, and from Ballysillan Road: “CYL [Cavehill Young Loyalists] – kill all taigs”. For the CYL, see previously Fearless. And, second, “KAT”, “UVF” on the shutters of Fryer Chuck’s, on the Ballysillan Road.
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Copyright © 2007 Peter Moloney
M03830 M03837
The memorial in the middle has now (compared to the original mural) been labelled (on a plinth) “In memory of 36th (Ulster) Division” but the names on the stone remain those of UVF volunteers John Bingham and Thomas Stewart.
The plaques are to (left) Davey Phillips, Patrick McEvoy, (top middle) John Bingham, (right) Thomas Stewart, Chin Taylor. The plaque in the middle is to “the officers and volunteers of of D Company 1st Battalion Ulster Volunteer Force”.
Ballysillan Road, north Belfast
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Copyright © 2007 Peter Moloney
M03836 [M03831] [M03832] [M03833] [M03834] [M03835]
Sixteen year-old Glen “Spacer” Branagh was killed by a premature blast bomb during a riot on Remembrance Sunday (Nov. 11), 2001. His portrait is on a board at the centre of UDA flags and guns (and the tiger of Tiger’s Bay). “Ulster Young Militants – Terrae filius.” The background was previously yellow.
“If the Provos and the pan nationalist front and the British and Irish governments keep trying to succeed in a united Ireland then they may prepare themselves for another 30 bloody years for the battle will have just begun.”
Edlingham Street, north Belfast
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Copyright © 2007 Peter Moloney
M03827
Three hunger strikers (all three from 1981) – Kevin Lynch, Tom McElwee, Mickey Devine – on the tops of three ‘houses’ in the New Lodge. For a complete list of strikers and houses, see New Lodge Flats.
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Copyright © 2007 Peter Moloney
M03820
The Siege Of Derry began in December 1688 when 13 apprentice boys shut the gates against the approaching army of Jacobite soldiers.
Shankill Parade, lower Shankill, west Belfast
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Copyright © 2007 Peter Moloney
M03808
Red Hand Commando volunteer Stevie McCrea was sentenced to 16 years for the murder of James Kerr in 1972 (Behind The Mask) and was subsequently “murdered by the enemies of Ulster” on February 18th, 1989 in an IPLO attack on the Orange Cross (see M00560 | WP). “For he shall not grow old as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary him nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember him.”
This is a repaint of the original mural to McCrea – see T00152.
McCrea is included on murals in south Belfast’s Frenchpark Street and Broadway (dating back to at least 1993).
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Copyright © 2007 Peter Moloney
M03807 [M03805] [M03806]
“In loving memory of military commander Stevie ‘Top Gun’ McKeag. Born 1970, died 2000. Sleeping where no shadows fall.” McKeag was the top assassin in the UDA during the 1990s, claiming at least 12 victims. Both his WP page and this Guardian article describe his career and his – sometimes contentious – preeminent standing within the UDA.
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Copyright © 2007 Peter Moloney
M03803 [M03802]
On the side wall: “This mural portrays Protestant men defending their community which was subjected to constant attempts of ethnic cleansing with petrol bombing attacks of their homes on a day to day basis. Eventually vigillanty [sic] groups were formed to secure these areas.”
From the Belfast Telegraph: “Several hundred familys [sic] were forced to flee their homes last night as homes came under attack from republicans. The number homeless is running into several thousand, more people were moving out of riot areas today. The women and children have been offered shelter in cities across the sea. Security forces moved in to bring calm into riot areas.”
The event referred to is the rioting in Bombay Street in 1969.
Hopewell Crescent, lower Shankill, west Belfast
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Copyright © 2007 Peter Moloney
M03801 [M03800] [M03799] [M03798]
Peter Moloney Collection 