These three images are from the grassy areas at the junctions of Dublin Road and Tullyree Road in Kilcoo, Co Down. There is a large memorial stone from the South Down Republican Graves Association “in loving memory of those who died on hungerstrike in the H Blocks of Long Kesh” along with Sands’s quote, ten crosses in the shape of an “H”, and “IRA” letters nailed to the electricity pole. “Fuaır sıad bas [bás] ag [ar] son saoırse hEıreann [na hÉıreann] .”
“This monument has been re-dedicated by the people of Twinbrook and Poleglass in honour of those volunteers of Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann who gave their lives for Irish freedom.” Gerard Fennell, John Rooney, Bobby Sands, Frankie Ryan. “Fuaır sıad bás ar son saoırse na hÉıreann”. “[Like the lark,] I too have fought for my freedom not only in captivity [where I now languish] but also [while on the] outside where my country is held captive … I have the spirit of freedom that cannot be quenched.” (Bobby Sands, The Lark And The Freedom Fighter, 1979)
The final image is of the adjacent hunger strikers stone. It will later be moved and repositioned inside the (extended) fencing.
The scale of the Ballymurphy memorial garden can be seen in the final image. The central panels (images 1 and 2) are to IRA volunteers. Jimmy Steele was OC of the IRA’s Belfast battalion and founding editor of Republican News. “The seed which on Cave Hill was sown/O’er Belfast town its fruit has grown/And they who served, suffered and died/Their blood, our cause has sanctified//Be proud of them our martyred dead/And in their footsteps let us tread/They died for us that we might see/Ireland, united, Gaelic, and free.” To the left and right are lists of civilian dead and on the far right is a brief list of activists who survived the Troubles but have died since.
Tommy Herron, brigadier in East Belfast, heads the list of UDA volunteers on this Dee Street stone. Herron was kidnapped and killed in September 1973, perhaps by the UDA itself for Herron’s extortion and racketeering (Irish Times).
“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.)
Memorial stone to IRA volunteer Michael Quigley, embedded in the wall at the top of Central Drive, Derry. For a clearer impression, see the image from 2003.
Here are close-ups of the three stones in the IRA memorial garden in Creggan, seen previously in 2005. “There is no strength without unity”. “In proud and loving memory of the volunteer soldiers 2nd Battaltion Derry Brigade Óglaigh Na hÉireann who gave their lives for Ireland. Also dedicated to the memory of those republican activists who in their own way contributed to the struggle for freedom.”
“In proud memory of Vol. Charles Breslin age 20, Vol. Michael Devine age 22, Vol. David Devine age 16. West Tyrone command, Óglaıgh na hÉıreann. Killed by crown forces near this spot23 Feb. 1985.” The three were killed in an alleged shoot-to-kill incident. Obituaries in An Phoblacht.
