Wall & Pavement Art of the Post 1960's Northern Ireland Toubles

[Ulsterman]

Revolutionary solidarity proclaimed:

[Ulsterman]

A newer house in the Short Strand, a small Catholic enclave in the mostly Protestant Belfast. Note the low brick walls, a bit of urban counter-insurgent architecture. The crane for the Harland and Wolfe shipyard is in the background. That's the shipyard that built the titanic.

[Ulsterman]

The gate at Londonderry, (look familiar Leigh?):

[Ulsterman]

The city wall looking across into Bogside:

[Ulsterman]

looking down into the flats, note the graffiti. A very dangerous area. I almost got shot down there:

[Ulsterman]

One of the old cannons on the walls. Note the Republican tricolour on the flats behind. Bloody Sunday occurred directly below here.

[Ulsterman]

Looking up at the city from the Bogside.

[Ulsterman]

The Provo's clubhouse:

[Ulsterman]

A very famous mural:

[Ulsterman]

Probably the most famous mural of all:

[Ulsterman]

James Connolly House, with the IRA-owned taxi service in front:

[Ulsterman]

Bobby Sands, Lenin and Che. The wall above and directly over ones' left shoulder as one looks at this mural was a wall where snipers liked to take shots.

I was always very nervous about an RPG coming down from there:

[Ulsterman]

A PIRA memorial wall:

[Ulsterman]

another Hunger Strike wall:

[Ulsterman]

stopping for a flake 99 in the Loyalist area:

[Ulsterman]

Mon Repose. Best fried egg and cheese sandwiches in the world were found here:

Edited October 9, 2008 by Ulsterman

[Ulsterman]

VCP:

[Ulsterman]

The Captain's office. OK, not a mural, but nostalgic :

[leigh kitchen]

Interesting photos, simply nostalgic for people like me but of far more significance & of more than passing interest for others.

Rossvile Flats have been demolished now & I can remember when Free Derry Corner was still a building rather than a wall, which I think has been knocked down by armoured vehicles "by accident" once or twice? And the wording must have been repainted many times over the years. I think that the Royal Welch Fusiliers repainted it as Free Wales Corner at the end of their Garrison Tour of 18 months during the last few days of August 1973. I don't think I have a photo of that "vandalism", but should have one somewhere of similar wording they painted in the road nearby. Such gestures are always much appreciated by the units taking over, nothing like upsetting people as you leave & letting the lot n deal with the trouble.

Looks like another thread is called for for general photos of NI or a specific city or region.

Edited October 9, 2008 by leigh kitchen

[Taz]

Very much a part of the Northern Ireland scene still, not just slogans daubed on walls but artwork of varying standards indicating the loyalties of the local population.

Again, please, we steer clear of political comment or dispute, we know what these murals represent, we don't have to agree with the sentiments expressed, they're posted for interest & not to provoke upset or offence.

An iconic photo from 1969, this appears within & on the front cover of "The Battle of the Bogside" by press photographer Clive Limpkin, published by Penguin in 1972.

That is a moving photo, and one I have never forgotten.

''The battle of the Bogside'' book I bought at Fort George, 1977 during my first tour.

I often look through it and the pictures always send a shiver.

Inside the same little fella talking to Bernadette Devlin.

Regards Eddie