The Battle of the Somme began on July 1st, 1916, which was also the date (in the Julian calendar) of the Battle of the Boyne. The 36th (Ulster) Division of the British Army lost more than 5,000 men in the initial attack and counter-attack. The battle lasted until November 18th.
Parkhall Road, Antrim
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Copyright © 2003 Peter Moloney
M01930
Side-by-side in Parkhall Road, Antrim, are board to the 36th (Ulster) Division at the Battle of the Somme, and the local Steeple Defenders flute band (Fb) (and modern UVF and YCV).
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Copyright © 2003 Peter Moloney
M01925 M01924
A skull and cross-bones is given a spray-can hat. “Solvent abuse has consequences: poor concentration, hallucinations, distorted vision, slurred speech, headaches, dizziness, no fun!”
Free Dery Corner, Lecky Road, Derry
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Copyright © 2003 Peter Moloney
M01773
In August, 1969, families, mostly Catholic, were driven out and their homes burned in Bombay Street (and surrounding streets), between the Falls and Shankill. RTÉ news report | CultureNI on a Red Barn Gallery exhibition of photographs. The defenselessness of the community then is reflected in the urging for “No decommission” in the present. Fıan Gerard McAuley (aged 15) was shot in nearby Waterville Street.
Bombay Street, west Belfast
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Copyright © 2002 Peter Moloney
M03945 M03954 [M03955]
Solicitor Rosemary Nelson was killed by the Red Hand Defenders in Lurgan in 1999. At the time of her death she was representing the family of Robert Hamill. King Street, Belfast.
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Copyright © 2002 Peter Moloney
M01808
An Gorta Mór is the Great Famine, or the Great Hunger among those who point out that there was plenty of food in Ireland in the late 1840s, just not made available to peasants. Of a population around eight million, a million people died and a million more emigrated. “They buried us without shroud or coffin” is a line from an unrelated Seamus Heaney poem Requiem For The Croppies.
The mural comprises three images from Illustrated London News: The Ejectment, The Day After The Ejectment | The Embarkation, Waterloo Docks Liverpool.
“Ardoyne Art & Environment Project”. In 2004, “Emigration” was incorrectly spelled with two “M”s – see X00046.
Ardoyne Avenue, north Belfast
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Copyright © 2002 Peter Moloney
M01804 M01803
Londoner Stephen Lawrence was murdered by stabbing in 1993 and, although arrests were made, no charges were brought. A 1998 public inquiry found that the Metropolitan Police Service was “institutionally racist”. In 2012, two of the original suspects were found guilty of the murder (WP). Catholic Robert Hamill was beaten to death by loyalists in Portadown in 1997 while police in an RUC land-rover looked on (WP).
The same board (in slightly different colours) appeared in Artana Street, south Belfast.
Brompton Park, Ardoyne, north Belfast
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Copyright © 2002 Peter Moloney
M01792
The Easter lily is the symbol on the 1916 Rising. The stamen is yellow, but typically painted orange so that the colours of the parts match the colours of the Tricolour.
Ardoyne Road, north Belfast
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Copyright © 2002 Peter Moloney
M01784
“Ireland unfree shall never be at peace” (from Pearse’s oration at the funeral of O’Donovan Rossa), with the Tricolour and Sunburst (flag of the junior IRA, the Fianna) on pikes.
Brompton Park, north Belfast
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Copyright © 2002 Peter Moloney
M01782
A cartoon British soldier (in the style of Cormac) is given the boot. Sponsored by “Ardoyne Ógra Shınn Féın”.
Brompton Park, north Belfast
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Copyright © 2002 Peter Moloney
M01780
