painted wall

Ulster’s Defenders

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Ulster’s defenders, past and present, from Cuchulainn “Ancient defender of Ulster from Gael attacks”, via the 1893 UDU and WWI soldiers memorialised in the towers at Messines and Thiepval, to the modern UDA/UFF: “In memory of the officers and volunteers of A. Coy. UDA/UFF West Belfast Brigade who unselfishly dedicated their lives in defence of their country.”

There was also a Cuchulainn mural on Newtownards Road in 1992 (updated in 2005), as well as ‘past defenders’ in the form of B Specials and UDR (1992 | 2005).

Among the volunteers listed on the stone, 19 year old Alan Simpson was shot in his home in nearby Highfield Drive.

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Copyright © 2006 Peter Moloney
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God, Give Us Men!

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“Men whom the lusts of office do not kill/Men whom the spoils of office do not buy/Men who possess opinions and will/Men who love honour; men who cannot lie” – part of a poem by Josiah Gilbert Holland.

The men on the left of the mural are Captain James Craig (who fought in the Second Boer War before becoming a unionist leader, organiser of the the Ulster Volunteers, and first Prime Minister Of Northern Ireland) and Major Frederick Crawford, who fought in both Boer Wars and organised the Larne gunrunning.

The four others, listed both on the plaque in front of the mural and on the stone in the memorial garden (constructed in 2003) are UVF volunteers Robert Seymour, shot dead by the PIRA; James Cordner and Joseph Long, who were killed in a premature explosion, and Robert Bennett, killed by the British Army during a riot. (Seymour and Long are on the right of the mural.)

Fraser Pass, east Belfast

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Copyright © 2006 Peter Moloney
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[M06830] which shows the lower wall of the mural whitewashed

Walkway Express

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This mural by Blaze FX is opposite Walkway Community Centre (web) in Finvoy Street, Belfast. The railway between Belfast and Comber no longer exists; it is now a 7 mile cycle path. The place-names on the mural are stops on the old ‘Belfast & County Down’ system. Also depicted is the Belfast Blitz, which was in 1941, with targets including the Connswater fuel station (BBC).

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Copyright © 2006 Peter Moloney
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James Magennis

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VC (Victoria Cross) recipient James Magennis was the only person from Northern Ireland awarded the VC for action during WWII (WP). Although the mural is in loyalist Tullycarnet, Magennis was a Catholic, born in west Belfast, though he lived for a time in Castlereagh. Produced with help from the Tullycarnet Action Group Initiative Trust (TAGIT). The mural takes the place of an Eddie The Trooper mural (see Eddie’s Visual History page). There is a large memorial to Magennis in the grounds of Belfast City Hall.

Kings Road, Dundonald.

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Copyright © 2006 Peter Moloney
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2011 [M06481]