Introduction
Even if the new, post-peace, Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive were non-functioning from 2002 onwards, it was clear that the peace would last. And as the peace wore on, the pressure grew on loyalist paramilitary groups to remove paramilitary murals and in particular those showing hooded gunmen.
Visual History 08 described the introduction of Ulster-Scots/Scots-Irish and the 36th Division as additional themes in PUL muraling, but it also mentioned various reasons why loyalist hooded gunmen did not go away in the years between 1994 and 2002: perception of the Agreement as a threat; uncertainty over the IRA’s resistance to decommissioning; use by paramilitary organisations to assert control over an area (including asserting control by one group over a fellow loyalist group); a lack of alternative themes. (Previous pages describe how hooded gunmen in active poses were no longer painted in republican murals after 1994 – Visual History 07 and Visual History 08 – and the direction that republican murals went in after the peace – Visual History 09).
These obstacles were overcome, beginning in 2003, by a handful of local initiatives, but a more substantial decrease in images of gunmen came as a result of intervention by the state, beginning in 2004 with the “Art For Regeneration” programme from the Arts Council NI and Belfast City Council. In 2005, 2.4 million pounds were allocated to nine borough councils for a variety of projects, including the removal or repainting of murals and installation of sculpture in public places (Arts Council NI Press Release); then in 2006 the Shared Communities Consortium (led by the Arts Council and the Executive) launched the “Re-Imaging Communities” programme, with the 3.3 million pounds pilot programme running from 2006 to 2009 and then renewed for 2012-2015.
One might expect state agencies to be involved in muraling early and often during the Troubles, as art not identifiable with either sect (later including street art and graffiti art/wild-style writing, as seen in Visual History 11) reminds people that public art need not be unwelcoming to a person of ‘the other’ sect and need not even reflect CNR or PUL communities.
And indeed, there had been a ‘community murals’ programme in the late 1970s involving Art College students funded by the NI Office (see Rolston 1991 chapter 2 and Watson 1983) and perhaps inspired by similar programmes in Britain (see Cooper & Sargent’s Painting The Town and (though it mostly covers the 1980s) the For Walls With Tongues project). Rolston begins his treatment of the programme by distinguishing it from the ‘community mural’ movement of 1960s USA and rightly notes that while the murals in Northern Ireland appeared in local communities, the programme is more properly described as a state initiative (p. 51). (The US community mural movement is perhaps more akin to the republican mural movement of 1981. The murals in Belfast and Derry were not undertaken by professional artists but they at least had their impetus in concerns of the community.)
The programme ran from 1977 to 1981, during which time 43 murals were painted. There was another small initiative in 1987-1988 when a dozen or so murals were painted. The peace-time period covered by this page, however, has seen a much greater involvement on the part of state agencies (and some NGOs). The number of projects, to remove existing murals and/or paint new ones, is unknown, but it is certainly in the hundreds.
The challenges and shortcomings have proven just as strong as before, as will be illustrated below. To state a general principle that will be instantiated many times: if it’s not sectarian, a community won’t bother painting it, only the state will. In the effort to understand post-peace muraling, it must be understood that sectarian politics saturates almost everything, to a greater or lesser extent, and many sectarian identifiers are also oppositional – they will be understood to exclude or even offend the other side. While a few expressions of a sect’s identity might be perceived as harmless by the other side, there are very few themes to which both sects will say “Mine”.
Before the re-imaging period, most wall art is sectarian and oppositional, though it is so to differing degrees. Here is a brief survey of themes which have become more prevalent after the peace and have been used as alternatives to paramilitary images:
While historical murals, such as those depicting the [PUL] Williamite campaign in Ireland (1688, 1690), the [CNR] rebellions of the United Irishmen (1798, 1803), the [PUL] mobilisation against Home Rule (1912), the [CNR] Easter Rising (1916) and the [PUL] Battle Of The Somme (1916), are seen as an improvement over paramilitary murals, and as such the state agencies fund works on these themes. Nonetheless, they are still sectarian and oppositional. One might think that historical events vary enough that they would have to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, but in practice every event that has been represented (so far) has been represented because it is significant enough to one of the sects.
Similarly, murals on economic life are loyalist and generally understood oppositionally by Catholics, on account of the predominance of Protestant workers and owners and discrimination against Catholics throughout the twentieth century. The primary PUL symbol of Belfast industry is the cranes Samson and Goliath of the Harland & Wolff shipyards. The construction and sinking of Titanic generally belongs to the loyalist community but there was a H&W/Titanic sinking mural painted in a republican area, at the Giant’s Foot next to Coláiste Feirste (X00661). The only economic theme that appears in republican murals is mill work (M03527 | M04431) though this is not exclusive to republican murals (see M04049).
Cultural murals (Celtic myths, Gaelic games, Gaelic music and dancing (all CNR), flute bands from both sects) are less oppositional: they can function as positive expressions of one sect’s culture, especially when viewed by people internal to the sect, but when viewed by outsiders, they often function oppositionally when the culture of one sect is perceived as a threat by the other.
Team sports serve (all over the world) as a proxy for battle between communities. In Northern Ireland, soccer is the only team sport of note played by large numbers from both sects, and the teams that are best on each side have sectarian as well as rivalrous roles. Thus, the pre-eminent Protestant team, south Belfast’s Linfield, is opposed to both Catholic-supported teams in general as well as to other Protestant teams, such as east Belfast’s Glentoran. There are different leagues in Northern Ireland and the Republic, and thus no chance that Catholic fans might back Linfield as the Belfast team in an all-Ireland cup final or in European competitions. Similarly, the two associations – the Irish Football Association and the Football Association Of Ireland (no, this is not a Monty Python joke) – are represented by two national teams: Northern Ireland and the Republic Of Ireland, respectively. Back at the club level, global media has allowed people to follow their favorite teams abroad. First to mind come the Glasgow teams Rangers and Celtic, which are supported along sectarian lines, by Protestants and Catholics respectively. Teams from England and further afield might draw support from both Catholics and Protestants, but then … there are, with very few exceptions, no murals to these teams in both areas. Again, the rule seems to be: if it doesn’t identify us in opposition to them, it’s not worth putting on a wall.
Individual sports provide little relief. Heroes are mostly claimed by their local (sectarian) areas, though boxer Carl Frampton is portrayed in both Tigers Bay (X01757) and the city centre (X02509), and golfer Rory McIlroy can be found in (non-sectarian) south Belfast (X00559) and the city centre (again X02509).
We finally reach “community” murals. These are murals which depict life in a local community, often in days gone by (i.e. without mentioning the Troubles). We can also include in this category murals about specific institutions, especially schools, in the area. Community murals might be the liminal case with respect to oppositionality: if a mural depicts this neighbourhood, is it a mural about an area of one sect as opposed to the other sect, or just a mural about our area without reference to any opposing sect? One might argue that anything that is tied to any area with a sectarian history is still weakly oppositional. (If the wealthy Malone Road area got community murals, they might not be oppositional. But of course, the fact that there are no murals on the Malone Road tells you that this area is not in oppositional conflict.)
Taking the maximal (but not implausible) position that community murals are still somewhat sectarian, the themes that are non-sectarian and non-oppositional are …
Children’s (including children’s rights, American cartoon and superhero characters)
Women’s
Human rights
Social issues (such as suicide prevention, anti-drugs)
Environmental issues
Public safety murals (such as road safety)
Personal expression (such as the street art and wild-style writing that is included in Visual History 11)
Ideally, the state-sponsored re-imaging campaigns would like murals to be on this latter groups of themes and thus completely devoid of sectarianism. As mentioned above, however, the loyalist gunmen were initially replaced with sectarian cultural, historical, and community murals, and only later was it sometimes possible to deploy only community murals and non-sectarian murals. 2009 appears to be the apogee of re-imaging. (Guns still controversially appeared in memorial murals on both sides.)
In general, scholars have not been kind to the state initiatives, the central criticism being that through the re-imaging programmes state organisations attempt to assert control over the visual environment in a top-down manner, such as by bringing in an outside artist to “enrich the community”; in contrast, public art in communities is most meaningful when it is the expression of a community to the outside world or a message from one part of the community directed internally. Rolston summarizes the re-imaged pieces as being “sanitised, de-politicised” (2012 p. 460); Romens says that the new murals “fail to depict scenes that resonate with local history and community identity” (2007 p. 12) (the emphasis here is perhaps on “resonate”, as the subject of such murals is often precisely local history and community); and both Romens and Hill & White (2012) fear that re-imaged murals will go the way of the Northern Ireland Office/Art College murals from 1977-1980, meaning that while in some cases they are appreciated and in some cases not, in no case do they inspire long-term devotion.
In general, community arts programmes have limited success because they are “top-down”, that is, they are spearheaded by outsiders and these outsiders remain in charge no matter the extent to the local community becomes involved. The task of involving the community is a difficult one, even putting aside the ‘outsider’ aspect, because in peace-time there are few obvious subjects that might garner approval and enthusiasm from the neighbourhood. Instead, the process often involves outreach to community groups and public meetings which can only be of limited reach.
It’s likely that public art in peace-time cannot hope to match the intensity of Troubles art, and this might be a good thing – the art of peaceful societies should be pleasant and perhaps intellectually provocative or personally enriching, but not aimed at social change and certainly not at change along sectarian lines. The proper comparison-class for state-sponsored art is perhaps art produced by other societies that are not in conflict rather than the murals currently being produced by communities themselves, much of which is of a piece with Troubles-era art, and it is certainly not the most striking pieces from the 1980s which are heightened by the drama of their time.
A more definitive judgement on the state initiatives might be that when the pieces reached the end of their lives they were in many cases replaced by loyalist gunmen – that is, they were re-re-imaged (see Visual History 11) – and additional paramilitary murals were painted.
At the same time as Troubles-era murals were being passed through the filter of peace, that same peace made it safe for tourists to visit the murals. And – in exactly the same way as described above – the tourists were primarily interested in sectarian murals, and the more threatening (to the locals) the better. This is called “dark tourism” – the visitor achieves the thrill of danger without being in fact endangered – or “conflict tourism” or “Troubles tourism”, in reference to Northern Ireland specifically.
Images
Some efforts to remove loyalist gunmen were being made locally from 2003 onward. In east Belfast, Rev. Gary Mason worked with local paramilitaries to remove six hooded-gunmen murals, (BBC clarifies that there are six rather than the nine of the CSMonitor | Rolston 2012 p. 453), including ‘UVF Still Undefeated’ (T00147) with footballer George Best (J1969) on the Woodstock Road, and ‘RHC Red Branch Knights’ (J1932 X05517) with local author CS Lewis (J1919) in Ballymacarrett.
Other local initiatives were taking place in Craigyhill (Larne), Bangor, The Factory (Larne) & Ballycarry (references from Lisle 2006, p. 51 n. 41.).
In Tullycarnet, and Eddie The Trooper mural (see Eddie’s Visual History page) was replaced with a mural to (Catholic) WWII Victoria Cross recipient, James Magennis:
McCormick & Jarman 2005 note the following changes:
In New Mossley a YCV gunman was replaced by an environmental mural (BelTel article);
in Monkstown a UVF mural with four hooded gunmen aiming at the viewer (J1042) was replaced by one of Edward Carson’s statue outside Stormont, though the names from the previous mural (John Webber/Webster and Lee Irwin, son of John Irwin) were retained (and, as shown below, Steven Cook’s name was then added);
(2006 dating to 2002 M03069)
in Linfield Road (south Belfast) a UFF mural …
(1997 M01329)
… was replaced by an Orange Order parade against the backdrop of Sandy Row …
(D00743 D00744 D00745)
… which itself was replaced by a children’s mural:
(X04854)
Only a small proportion of loyalist gunmen were painted out or replaced. Near the Carson mural above, for example, one could find several UFF murals, such as this one:
(2006 dating to at least 2001 M03089)
And within a year of the Magennis mural (above) replacing the Eddie The Trooper mural in Tullycarnet, this UFF mural was added adjacent to it:
(M02937)
In the lower Shankill, C company of 2nd battalion of the UDA/UFF rose to prominence under the leadership of Johnny ‘Mad Dog’ Adair. In 2000 an astonishing number of murals – at least 18 – were painted in Adair’s lower Shankill stronghold, and a few more were added in 2001 and 2002. They spanned the range of themes that we have seen on previous pages:
a few were on traditional/-ish themes – King Billy and the Duke of Schomberg (X00052), the Siege Of Derry (M03808), Drumcree (X00058);
an unusual homage to Princess Diana
(2000 D00924 C01478);
a historical piece commemorating the persecution of Protestants in “1600” (probably the Irish Rebellion of 1641) (shown below);
(2000 M03316)
a few were to deceased volunteers:
Billy Wright of the LVF, with which Adair was forging connections
(D01005 | C01471)
Stevie McKeag (X00068)
Bucky McCullough
(D00943 | X00241);
one tied together “Scotland – Ulster”
(D00976 | C01469)
one was historical, linking the current UDA to the UDU, though it centrally depicted a hooded gunman who always seemed to be aiming directly at the viewer;
(2009 dating to 2000 X00283; originally the side wall was an Independent Ulster flag and “UDA” D00949)
a few were straightforwardly of hooded gunmen, such as this one; 
(2004 dating to 2001 X00075)
and this one
(D00958)
and there was a version of Eddie;
(D00963)
and finally one with Spike (the dog from Tom & Jerry) brandishing an assault rifle and chasing Gerry Adams up the Shankill Road, past the murals at and behind the KFC
(T01190 D00956 C01472).
Adair’s ambition, however, brought him into conflict with other loyalist paramilitaries, first in 2000 with the UVF, and again in 2002 with UDA commanders in other regions. In 2000, Adair tried to force the UVF out of the lower Shankill (and Highfield). At least seven died in the ensuring feud, including the UDA’s Jackie Coulter (M02477) and the UVF’s Sam Rockett (J1169). Adair was returned to prison until May 2002 when he tried to take over the UDA and push out other UDA commanders. Adair was expelled from the organisation in September 2002. Adair was returned to prison but South East Antrim’s John Gregg was killed regardless (M05978 | M05224 | M05807). To evade the backlash, Adair’s friends and family fled for Scotland; Adair himself fled in January 2005 upon release from prison. (Guardian article on the UDA feud and killing of Gregg.)
With Adair removed, seven (according the the Belfast Telegraph) or more of the murals were painted over. All of the following appear (from the photographic record) to have been removed: Diana, Spike & Gerry, Billy Wright (though McCormick & Jarman (2005) claim this was preserved), Eddie, a “Free J Adair” side wall featuring a portrait of Adair with his arms crossed, a long wall with “UFF 2nd Batt C Coy” written on it (C01465), one of three C Coy hooded gunmen in jeans (J0479), and the joint UDA-LVF mural (J1664). A ‘UFF A C B Coy’ mural (C01468) had been replaced by a Queen Elizabeth II ‘golden jubilee’ mural (J1251) in 2002. (Re-imaging in the sense of murals on alternative themes would come to the lower Shankill in the 2009 re-imaging project – see below.)
By 2004, state agencies were beginning re-imaging attempts. The Housing Executive formed a ‘Community Cohesion Unit’ which in one instance joined together with Belfast City Council’s ‘Greater Belfast Mural Project’ to replaced UVF murals in the Village (Rolston 2012 p. 453).
In February 2004, a 2.4 million pounds, lottery-funded, “Art of Regeneration” programme was announced by the Arts Council in conjunction with the NI Department of Culture, Arts & Leisure, distributing money to Borough Councils (Craigavon, Derry, Moyle, Ballymoney, Antrim, North Down, Strabane, Fermanagh, Newtownabbey – 85% of funds allocated outside Belfast) for art-related projects of various types. Here is an account of a sculpture supported by Ballymoney Borough Council; mural removal projects took place in Kilcooley (Bangor) and Loughview/Redburn in Holywood (Hill & White 2012).
2004 was also the year in which the East Belfast Historical & Cultural Society sponsored a series of fourteen panels in Thorndyke Street, chronicling Protestant history from Cromwell to Cluan Place; the centrepiece is below. (Previously (2003) from EB Historical & Cultural Society McCurrie & Neill memorial garden M02366 | later work: M03498 | M04069 | M04840.)
(2005 M02304 panel #7 of 14)
Here is a 2004 or 2005 piece in (CNR) Short Strand, part of the New Belfast Community Arts Initiative, an organisation formed in December 1999 to promote community arts activities (A Coming Of Age). It would be replaced in 2006.
(2005 M02358)
“Women of substance – Plúr Na mBan”. Another New Belfast initiative, in the (CNR) Markets area.
(2005 dating to 2004 M02356. See also Tar Liom I Mo Dhiaidh 2006 M03335).
2006’s ‘Re-Imaging Communities’ programme brought together the Arts Council (which oversaw the project), Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, the Department for Social Development, the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure, the International Fund for Ireland, the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, the Community Relations Council and Solace, the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers, but not Belfast City Council (Rolston 2012 p. 454). The SDLP’s Alban McGuinness suggested it was “a polite form of extortion” on the part of loyalist paramilitaries (NewsLetter).
In Kilcooley (Bangor) a UDA mural with a gunman aiming straight at the viewer was painted out and later (2009) replaced by a mural to local Victoria Cross recipient Edward Bingham. In 2018, however, this mural would be re-re-imaged with a North Down Defenders mural – see Visual History 11.
(2007 M03713)
(2013 X01030)
An example of “the gold old pre-Troubles days” is the series of five boards in 2008 about the (republican) Markets area done by artist Raymond Henshaw, with photographs from yesteryear on the themes of Portraits (shown below), Industry, Social History, Sport & Culture, Bars (and a sixth wall showing people). The project was funded by the Arts Council and locally involved the Markets Development Association. In 2009, Henshaw produced a series of tarps for the fencing around a vacant lot on the Shankill as part of the City Council’s Arterial Routes programme.
(2017 dating to 2008 X04479)
In Glenbryn (north Belfast), a mural putting the Confederate forces of the American Civil War (which it calls the “War Of Northern Aggression”) in parallel with the resistance to Home Rule was replaced in 2009 with a mural of famous faces from the past, designed in collaboration with older residents.
(2008 dating to 2005 X00259)
(2009 X00331)
It can be seen from these changes that (as mentioned above) the funding agencies prefer images that are devoid, if possible, of any hint of sectarianism, on themes such as the local community (in the good old pre-Troubles days) and global issues such as children’s and human rights.
The 2009 Evaluation Report of the project claimed that by summer 2009, 39 projects involving murals had been completed, including further work in lower Shankill, where six murals were replaced …
Drumcree by Shankill A-Z – both shown below
UDA Scottish Brigade (C01463) by 1969 Gold Rush (X00298)
Siege of Derry (M03808) by Shankill Road Boxing (M05059)
Can It Change (M03801) by Play (X00308)
C Coy (M02480) by Shankill 455 AD (X03426)
Ethnic Cleansing by Everybody Has The Right To Participate (both shown below) –
… and four new murals added:
Martin Luther (X00301; see also M02382) and
three about WWI and II (Enlisting in WWI (X00504) – WWII Blitz (X00502) – WWII VE Day (shown below)) in Dover Place.
Also in the lower Shankill by this time were murals about Cuchulainn (shown below), the Red Hand Of Ulster (X00309) which replaced the C company mural shown above (X00075), and the Battle Of Talavera (X00325). (2009-06 BelTel article on the changes.)
It is (again) worth noting that while some of the murals being replaced were paramilitary murals (e.g. UDA Scottish Brigade replaced by ’69 Gold Rush), some of them were ‘cultural’ rather than paramilitary, but that they were replaced anyway, by murals that are – at most – ‘community’ in theme. For example, the Siege Of Derry mural was replaced by one about Shankill boxing; Drumcree was replaced by the Shankill A-Z; the Shankill Eddie had already been re-imaged into Can It Change? (about the house-burnings in Bombay St) and this in turn was replaced by a kids’ mural. Similarly, in east Belfast, a H&W shipbuilders mural (J1913) was replaced by a cross-community poem No More in 2010 (X03411). The 2009 wave of re-imaging was the high-point/low-point (depending on your view) of re-imaging.
Also worth noting: among the artists involved in the lower Shankill re-imaging of 2009 was a street artist – VERZ/Tim McCarthy (’69 Gold Rush, Luther), along with fine artists Ed Reynolds (Play, Right To Participate) and Lesley Cherry (A-Z, Boxing), and graphic designer Steven Tunley from New Belfast/Community Arts Partnership (Original Belfast and the three Dover Place pieces).
Before: Shankill Rd Supports Drumcree
(2004 dating to 2000 X00058)
After: Shankill A-Z
(2009 X00336)
Before: Can It Change?
(2008 dating to 2006 X00238)
After: Play
The info board for Play described the history of the wall (including the Eddie mural) and also shows the involvement of the Lower Shankill Community Association.
(2009 M05049)
Before: Ethnic Cleansing” (shown above)
After: “Everybody Has The Right To Participate”, shown here with pallets stacked for 11th night celebrations.
(2013 dating to 2009 X01116 also M05057)
One of the slightly earlier (2008) murals: Cuchulainn, defender of Northern Ireland, who replaced Stevie ‘Top Gun’ McKeag.
(2009 dating to 2008 X00272) There is a separate Visual History page on Cú Chulainn in muraling.
One of three new murals in Dover Place: VE Day.
(2012 dating to 2009 X00504)
Agencies were not always successful in getting a non-sectarian image put in place. Rolston (2012 p. 455) reports that the Arts Council thought King Billy was too divisive an image to replace the Village Eddie (both shown below), but lost this particular battle.
(2005 M02487)
(2012 dating to 2008 X00552)
Rolston (2012 p. 459) describes how the Arts Council demanded the removal of a sword in the hand of the chieftain on the right of the Flight Of The Earls mural in Ardoyne; instead, he was painted clutching the collar of his cloak.
(2009 M04785)
At the same time (Rolston continues), funds were allocated to murals with WWI soldiers carrying weapons at the Somme. His explanation is a double-standard on the part of the Arts Council: “The demarcation line between militant republicanism and the state is rigid and cannot be transgressed, even artistically. But that between militant loyalism and the state is more porous, allowing official and illegal iconography to coexist, even if not acceptable to all.” Why the Arts Council should decide in this way is unknown; it was perhaps willing to go make greater compromises in the case of loyalist murals in order to get rid of hooded gunmen.
Like their republican counterparts, memorials to loyalist paramilitaries continue to appear and in the case of the UVF – due to the shared name – sometimes appear alongside the Ulster Volunteers who fought in the 36th Division in WWI. This Rathcoole mural (from 2004) includes both portraits of six modern-day UVF volunteers (in the apex) and four columns of WWI dead (along both sides).
(M05035)
In the memorial garden in Kilcooley, Bangor, which cost 74,000 pounds, the recessed panels beside the gate and in the back wall are of WWI, while the three standing stones – added after completion – are to UDA, RHC, and UVF volunteers.
(2017 dating to 2009 X04092)
Similarly, plaques to contemporary volunteers were added below a Thiepval Tower board in Pine Street.
(2009 M04972)
The Platoon 5, A Coy, 1st Batt UVF mural in Northland Street was reimaged with a Thiepval Wood mural, but a stone was added to the UVF volunteers who died “not in the mud of foreign lands/Nor buried in the desert sands”:
(M06485)
Within the broader categories listed in the Introduction, the most popular new themes for loyalist murals were …
… the mobilisation against Home Rule in 1912: Edward Carson, the Covenant, and also the Clyde Valley gunrunning (M02446 | Rex Bar M02452 M02453 M02454 | Londonderry M03584 | Portadown M04155 | M04205 Village | M04282 Shankill | M04854 | M04961 | M05397 | M05688 | 2010 M05773)
… WWI: the 36th (Ulster) Division, the Battle Of The Somme
… WWI VC recipients (2001 M01520 M01515 | 2003 M01930 M01925 | M02336 etc | M02445 | M03061 | M03076 | M03505 | M03903 | M04186 Donegall Rd bridge | M04281 | M04913 | M04930 | M05342
… WWII VC recipients: Magennis VC (see above) | Bingham VC (see above) | also Seymour Hill In WWII
(2009 M04776; part of the Re-Imaging Programme – it replaced a ‘C Batt’ UDA memorial mural (D01455))
… soccer: George Best was a favourite of funding agencies because his time at Manchester United and world-wide prominence made him a candidate for a non-oppositional figure, even though he played for Northern Ireland at the international level (and, he had just died in 2005, which meant he could be eulogised and much of his controversial past put in perspective). Thus, he generally appeared in loyalist areas – e.g. Blythe St shown below| Portadown shown below – the only exception being that his name was included in a ‘welcome’ mural in the New Lodge (WP).
NI Football (M03499 | M03638 | M04203 | M05824 Sandy Row | M07752 Broadway | Times Bar shown below).
Local and Scottish teams. Local soccer is semi-professional, so fans also follow Scottish and English teams. Of Scottish teams, the favourites are the two Glasgow teams, Rangers (supported by loyalists) and Celtic (supported by republicans).
The George Best mural in Blythe Street replaced the UVF/Deuteronomy mural (M01515).
(2007 dating to 2006 X00196)
The George Best mural in Brownstown Road, Portadown, replaced a Billy Wright mural (J0320).
(2008 M04139)
(2012 dating back to at least 2009 X00794)
Linfield won seven trophies in 1961-1962. It is perennially the strongest local team. This board is on the Shankill in west Belfast but the pitch is east of the Motorway.
(2008 X00856)
Glentoran is the east Belfast rival of (south Belfast’s) Linfield.
(2008 M04041)
Celtic mural in Twinbrook.
(2001 M01636 See also Belfast Celtic 2011 X00387)
Rangers ‘Ready’ mural in Portadown.
(2008 M04154)
“The Ulster Connection” – this east Belfast mural lists local players who have played for Glasgow Rangers.
(2008 M04055)
Scottish League and Scottish Cup champions, 2009, riding to victory like King William at the Boyne. King Billy, or at least his horse, serves as a vehicle for the hero of the day – see also King Michael Stone I.
(2009 M04963)
Smaller and not-particularly-successful teams serve only the functions of local rivalries or even just local pride, such as Albion Swifts in the Markets. A mural to the former Belfast Celtic would appear in 2009 and one to the current Donegal Celtic in 2010.
… British royalty.
Here is a youthful Queen Elizabeth II in the Village (south Belfast):
(2012 dating to 2007 X00613 See Visual History 09 for Queen Elizabeth’s golden jubilee murals.)
… industry: Harland & Wolff shipyard, where Titanic was built: M03125 shown below | M02332 shown below | Downing St replacing a UFF 2nd Batt C Coy mural (M05371) | shipyard workers in the style of William Conor 2013 dating to at least 2008 X01159 | Ship Of Dreams replaced the Democratic Rights mural in Kenilworth Place/east Belfast 2010 M06834. H&W/Titanic would continue to be a frequent theme of murals in the 2010s, and even appeared in republican west Belfast (2012 X00661).)
(2006 dating to at least 2003 M03125)
(2005 M02332 later replaced by another, more detailed Titanic mural in black & white 2006 M02916)
The only economic theme that appears in CNR murals is mill work (M03527 shown below| M04431) though this is not exclusive to CNR murals (see e.g. M04049).
(2007 M03527)
Additional Ulster-Scots murals were painted (see Visual History 08 for the introduction of Scots-Irish/Ulster-Scots murals in 1999): 2002 Ulster Sails West (Ballymoney) (M03568) | 2002? Hame Is Whaur Tha Hairt Is (New Mossley) (J1299) | 2002 Roosevelt (New Mossley) (J1600 M09074) | 2004? Roosevelt (Seymour Hill) | 2005 USA Emigration (Bowtown) (A0198) | 2005 Confederate Leaders & Ulster Covenant (Glenbryn) (see above, in the section on re-imaging) | 2007? Andrew Jackson (Shankill) (X00285) | 2007? Ulster Scots (Harryville) (M03572) | 2009 Emigration (Bowtown) (A0333).
After the Bowtown and Harryville murals, there were no more Ulster-Scots murals until a 2016 mural (Discover Ulster Scots 13 panels in York Street, Belfast one | two | three | four | five) that focuses on industrialists in Belfast, rather than the Scots-Irish in America.
Hooded Gunmen Persist
To repeat from above: despite these attempts at re-imaging and the emergence of additional themes, many murals of hooded gunmen continued to exist and to appear anew.
As on the republican side, some murals are memorial to fallen comrades, such as this RHC mural and plaques in the old Hunt Street, east Belfast.
(2005 M02328 Later joined by a memorial garden mixing WWI and modern RHC M04845)
But many are of hooded gunmen in “action” poses, such as this “UFF Dee St Coy” mural in east Belfast.
(2005 dating to 2000 M02322)
(2006 M02920 The same design was used for full-sized murals in Mersey St (C00967) and Tamar St (M02337) and (later) again on the Newtownards Rd in 2011 (X00905) and (much later) in Bangor X04227)
See also:
combined Somme and UVF/RHC (M02367) – compare with (republican) Twinbrook mural combining 1798, 1916, and PIRA (M01635) | Freedom Corner (M02371) | Templemore Ave (M02385) | Young Newton (M02386) | Tullycarnet UFF (M02937 )| M03011 | M03022 | M03027 | M03038 | M03059 Cloughfern Eddie | M03060 Cloughfern UDA | M03071 | M03075 would be blanked but then M03701! | M03087 | M03097 | M03378 | M03710 Kilcooley (reimaged?) | M04128 | M04953 | M04982 | M05007 | M06591 Spike & Tom
See Visual History 11 for the resurgence of loyalist gunmen – a phenomenon we call “re-re-imaging”.
See also ‘Dark Tourism’ below.
Non-Sectarian & Non-Oppositional Murals In Republican Areas
UN Day For The Eradication Of Poverty (Dunlewey St). The mural makes reference to child poverty in “W. Belfast” which would include the (loyalist) Shankill and Woodvale areas. However, the Celtic imagery might be understood oppositionally by loyalists.
(1998 M01367)
“Death drivers are killing the community” (Ascaill Ard Na bhFeá/Beechmount Avenue)
(2016 dating to 2002 X03286)
Bill Of Rights (Northumberland St)
(2008 M03992)
Dark Tourism
The ceasefire (1994) and the Good Friday Agreement (1998) meant that tourists could feel safer in Belfast and London-/Derry. As early as 1999, Fáilte Feirste Thiar was taking advantage of the peace to promote nationalist west Belfast as a tourist destination (BBC). Murals and other reminders of the Troubles such as the “peace” lines have proven a popular attraction and are included as a part of every tour, whether offered by Taxi Trax, Belfast Black Cab Tours, Coiste (whose tours guided by former prisoners) or even the broader City Sightseeing Belfast tour, which includes the Falls and Shankill and a stop at the so-called International Wall. Also on the tour is the Cupar Way part of the (so-called) “peace” line that divides CNR and PUL west Belfast. Tourists are now encouraged to leave a signature and a message in permanent marker on the wall. They leave messages of hope and love but it’s also likely that they get a thrill from the loyalist gunmen and, perhaps to a lesser extent, from the historical images of violent struggle elsewhere on tour.
West Belfast Taxi Tours. Only one of the murals depicted was in fact still visible in 2003.
(2003 M02002)
Derry Sightseeing Bus featuring Free Derry Corner and The Petrol Bomber mural.
(2008 M04413)
Murals are included in Fáilte Feirste Thiar’s advertising to tourists.
(2009 M04939)
(Compare the images above to a 1985 nationalist mural (M00311) ironically using the Tourist Board slogan ‘Discover Ireland’ and to a loyalist one (A009) using the slogan from the post-peace campaign “Wouldn’t it be great?”)
On to Visual History 11.
Back to the index of Visual History pages.
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