“There is no strength without unity”. “In proud and loving memory of the volunteer soldiers 2nd Battalion Derry Brigade Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann 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.”
Linsfort Drive, Creggan, Derry
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2005 Peter Moloney
M02663
Sınn Féın councillor (Buncrana Urban District Council and Donegal County Council) Eddie Fullerton was killed in his Buncrana home by the UDA in 1991.
Cockhill Cemetery, Buncrana
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2005 Peter Moloney
M02607
These plaques and headstones are from St Colman’s cemetery in Lurgan (on N. Circular Road). The most notable and the first and last: Thomas Harte and Paddy McGrath (a 1916 Rising participant) who were executed by De Valera in 1940 for the deaths of two (Irish) Special Branch officers who were among a party that stormed their house, though it was never established whose bullets had killed the pair (more at Treason Felony).
The car in which McKerr, Toman, and Burns were travelling was shot 109 times by a specially trained RUC squad (Headquarters Mobile Support Unit – HMSU), under the control of (UK) special branch in an apparent shoot-to-kill operation.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2005 Peter Moloney
M02597 M02598 M02599 M02600 M02602 M02601
Additional plaques (along the side wall) have been added to the Lower Falls Memorial Garden (Falls Road, Belfast) – the first is of D Company members up to 1969, the second is of volunteers from the 1970s, the third is to civilians.
The final two images are close-ups of the main monument, seen previously (from a distance) in 2001.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2005 Peter Moloney
M02565 M02566 M02567 M02568 M02569
“James McCurrie – Robert Neill memorial garden – commissioned by East Belfast Historical and Cultural Society 2003.” “Murder Most Foul – 27th/28th June 1970. As I look back in my mind’s eye/I see a night that makes me cry/That Saturday started like any day/People shopping and children at play//Later that night at darkness fell/PIRA opened up like something from hell/Man, woman and child had to dive/It’s a wonder so ma[n]y escaped alive//A woman was shot at Wolff Street/Blood on the ground, all around her feet/As the ambulance arrived to take her away/A wounded man inside was heard to pray//From St. Matthew’s Chapel with murderous intent/PIRA kept firing till every bullet was spent/From the tower where the bells kept their silent peel/It’s from here PIRA shot dead Bobby Neill//Making his way home in a hurry/PIRA shot dead Jimmy McCurrie/As he lay at the Beechfield School Gate/The wounded kept rising till it reached twenty-eight//When I look back in the light of day/There can be no compromise with the IRA/The date should be burned in our brain/East Belfast cannot let this happen again – W. J. Magee – 2002”. This is a poetic account of the Battle Of St Matthew’s, in which three people died, including James McCurrie and Robert Neill. Tommy Reid (in the plaque on the left) was hit by a projectile earlier in the day on the Springfield Road and died six days later. Loughins, Gould, and Kincaid (in the plaque on the right) were killed by the Provisionals on the Crumlin Road that same afternoon.
Newtownards Road, east Belfast
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2005 Peter Moloney
M02366 M02365 M02364 M02363
Copyright © 2009 Peter Moloney
M04858 (exterior plaque) [M04857]
“In proud and loving memory [of] republican activists who dedicated their lives to a noble cause”. “To those who come to think and pray remember well the price they paid. Lives were given, for our country to be free, lives were taken, to keep us on our knees. From 1916 to the present day our struggle continues, our enemies the same. But we know, and they know, that one day our country will be united, Gaelic, and free.” The cross in the foreground is dedicated to Louis Scullion, an IRA volunteer from Unity Flats who was shot by the British Army in July 1972.
Plunkett Court, Belfast
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2005 Peter Moloney
M02287 M02288
Copyright © 2010 Peter Moloney
[M05742] [M05743] [M05744]
British Army snipers ensconced into Corry’s timber yard shot dead five people, including three teenagers, from Springhill and Westrock on the summer night of July 9th, 1972. All were unarmed. These images are from the Westrock-Whiterock memorial gardens (“gairdíní cuimhneacháin”) in Westrock Drive, west Belfast.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2005 Peter Moloney
M02273 M02274 M02275 M02276 M02277 M02278 M02279
These images are of the IRA memorial stone in Bingnian Drive, Belfast, honouring members of the B Company, 1st Battalion, Belfast Brigade and local Andersonstown residents. The stone bears an Easter lily, including a leaf of the plant.
“Togadh an leach chuımhneacháın seo ı ndíl [ndıl] chuımhne na nÓglach de chuıd complacht B an chéad chathlann Brıogáıd Bhéal Feırste, Óglaıgh na hÉıreann. Moltoır, comh maıth, a gcuıd comradaıthe a sheas agust a throıd lena daıobh. Bíodh cuımhneadh, fosta, ar na daoıne ón cheantaır a chınmharaıodh ag arm na Breataıne agus a comhglacaıthe.”
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2004 Peter Moloney
M02252 M022151 [M04504] M02250 M02249 M02253
Ornately-worked Celtic crosses between pikes are added to the Derry Brigade memorial in Racecourse Road, Shantallow, Derry. For the three black plaques, see Brıogáıd Dhoıre.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2004 Peter Moloney
M02168 M02169
Many memorial plaques to IRA volunteers have been featured previously on this site: Michael Quigley | Brian Coyle | Patsy Duffy | Dennis Heaney | John Starrs | Charles English | Seamus Bradley | Sean Dolan | George McBrearty & Pop Maguire (see also Bronco Bradley). The Derry Brigade memorial in the median between Fahan Street and Rossville Street “is dedicated to those Volunteers who died in places where circumstances do not permit the erection of a commemorative plaque.” There are 18 names on the stone. Vintage rifles are crossed in front of an oak leaf, symbol of the city of Derry.
“Ar fud na ceathrach seo, tá gluaıseacht na poblachta tar éıs na haıteacha mar a bhfuaır Óglach na hÉıreann bás ar fıanas a mharcáıl le leaca cuımhneacháın. Tá an leac seo toırbhrıthe do na hÓglaıgh sıúd a fuaır bás ın áıteacha nach bhfuıl fóırsteanach do thógáıl leıca cuımhneachaın. Arna thógáıl a gcomrádaıthe ı nGluaıseacht na poblachta. 12ú Deıreadh Fómhaır 2003. Beırıgí bua.”
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2004 Peter Moloney
M02137 M02139 M02138 M02136
Peter Moloney Collection 