tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18662192504941805452024-03-13T04:21:13.595+00:00Fadó Fadó: Irish MemoryIrish history, culture, ephemera.
I like old things, especially photos and maps.
Fingal Rapareehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293475853657061602noreply@blogger.comBlogger79125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1866219250494180545.post-66580108168868822052016-11-08T20:52:00.001+00:002016-11-08T20:53:26.647+00:00A tour of Swords in 1985<br />
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Bernadette Marks, the Swords local historian who has done most to preserve and promote the history of the town and surroundings recently posted this fantastic snapshot of the town/village in 1985. My own family did not yet live in the town though we had a business there and some of my early, happy memories pertain to Swords at this time. Enjoy!Fingal Rapareehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293475853657061602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1866219250494180545.post-24567137611455852882015-10-22T22:53:00.000+01:002015-10-22T22:56:13.536+01:00True Dublin (2015)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I am proud to announce the release of my first book, True Dublin. It will be available online and in bookshops around mid-November (just in time for Christmas). I was asked to put together the book in September, 2013, and spent much of the next year working on it, as well as plenty of revising since. The whole project has been a challenging but I suppose ultimately rewarding experience. One great thing about researching the book, which mainly comprises a set of images of Dublin in the Victorian, Edwardian, and early independence eras, was that it spurred me to visit archives whose doors I would not otherwise have darkened. I also got to meet a lot of interesting people while undertaking research for the book.<br />
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The book can be pre-ordered <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/True-Dublin-C-J-McCanney/dp/1781172439" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<br />Fingal Rapareehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293475853657061602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1866219250494180545.post-24737083971017071492014-12-26T20:19:00.000+00:002014-12-26T20:19:05.337+00:00Tyrone Dialectal Words Originating In The Irish Language<i>My father, Michael, was born in Co. Tyrone in 1941 and died in Dublin, which had been his home for many years, in 2006. He was an enthusiastic amateur scholar of the Irish language and having learned it in secondary school and beyond became a fluent speaker. This essay was written by him sometime in the 1990s. I am unsure whether it was ever published in any of the publications he occasionally submitted his work to. It is also unclear to me that I have the whole manuscript as it seems there might be more of a preamble. However, as presented it should still make sense to the reader. Apologies if there are any typos as my dad's handwriting could sometimes be a tad indecipherable. I haven't included the meaning of the Irish words from which the English dialectal words are derived but in most instances they're the same or similar. There were several thousand native speakers of the language in the county according to the 1911 Census. Some of these would ahve been born and bred in Tyrone while others were migrants from the Donegal Gaeltachtaí. As the century progressed the number of native Tyrone speakers dwindled. Nowadays the Irish language in the county has undergone a renaissance with many students being educated through it and many adults taking up lessons.</i><br />
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Many words used by local people in everyday speech are not to be found in the standard English dictionaries. These words have their origin on the one hand in the native Irish language, and on the other hand in the language of the settlers who came from Scotland and England in Plantation times. The words which I have listed below are some of the last local remnants of a tongue which was spoken here for probably two thousand years and which finally did out only in the present [20th] century. The list is not the result of any exhaustive survey but has been randomly compiled by me over a long number of years from the speech of my parents and of other residents of the locality, some still living, many now dead. I suspect that many such words have escaped my notice, while others which I have listed may now have disappeared. A few of the words are earthy and rarely heard in polite speech, but let the gentle reader not be ashamed of them, for they have a long pedigree. Close variants of them are to be found in Latin and Greek, in languages across Europe, and even in far-off India where they were brought in ancient times by our common Indo-European ancestors.<br />
<br />[Each English dialectal word is followed by the Irish word is is supposed to have derived from in brackets, followed by the meaning of the English dialectal word.]<br />
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Amadan (amadán), a fool.<br />
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Baakan (bacán), a timber roof-beam.<br />
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Bockan barra (bocán beara), a toadstool or mushroom.<br /><br />Bardrucks (pardóg or bardóg) wickerwork creels slung across a donkey's back and used mainly for carrying turf.<br />
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Bing (beinn, binn), a large pile of potatoes etc.<br /><br />Blether (bladar), nonsensical, boring talk.<br />
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Bothy (both), a small run-down house or shed, also found in Scots dialect.<br /><br />Bresh (breis), a bout of illness.<br />
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Broughan (brachán) porridge.<br />
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Bruteen (brúitín) mashed potatoes with butter, the Irish version of poundies.<br /><br />Brock (broc), a badger, also in Scots.<br />
<br />Budyin (boidín) a penis, sometimes used as a term of abuse<br />
<br />Brose (broghais), a fat, unwieldy person.<br /><br />Brew (bruach), the edge of a river or turf-bank.<br />
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Bussock (basóg), a blow with the open hand.<br />
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Cack (cac), human excrement.<br />
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Calderer (cealdrach), a foolish person.<br /><br />Capper (ceapaire), a slice of bread and jam.<br />
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Car (cár), a grimace, a cross face.<br />
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Clabber (clabar), mud or muck.<br /><br />Crag (crag), a handful.<br /><br />Craw (cró), outhouse for pigs, etc.<br /><br />Crig (Criog), a rap, a blow.<br />
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Diddy (dide), a woman's breast.<br /><br />Deelog (daolog), any kind of beetle or cockroach.<br /><br />
Drig (driog), a small drop, the final drop of milk from a cow.<br /><br />Dreedar (dríodar) sediment in the bottom of a bucket of water.<br />
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Dull (dol), a wire loop used as a rabbit snare.<br /><br />Guggy (gogaí) a childish name for an egg.<br />
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Gub (gob), the mouth.<br />
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Gorreen (goirín), a pimple or boil.<br /><br />Gammy (gámaí), a fool, a stupid person.<br />
<br />Glar (glár) green scum on a well or stagnant pool.<br /><br />Gowpen (gabhpán), the full of two hands held together.<br />
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Gra (grá) love, liking "I have no gra for that fellow".<br /><br />Gulpen (guilpín) an ignorant lout.<br /><br />Greeshey (gríosach), hot embers.<br /><br />Jore (deor), a small drop of any liquid.<br />
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Keeney (caoineadh), wailing or howling, often said of a dog.<br />
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Kesh (ceis), heather, rushes, etc. placed so as to allow passage over a boggy place.<br /><br />Kippen (cipín), a small stick.<br /><br />Kitthog, kitter (ciotach), left-handed.<br />
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Lafter (lachtar), a brood of chicks or young turkeys<br />
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Looder (liúdar), a heavy, hard blow.<br /><br />Loughryman (luchramán), a leprechuan, an elf.<br /><br />Lug (log), the ear.<br />
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Lubber (liobar), a hanging lip, or a person with such.<br />
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Markin (mairtín), an old sock with the sole missing.<br /><br />Miskin (meascán),a lump of home-churned butter.<br /><br />Mullan (mullán), a small, round hill.<br /><br />Malken (mulcán), a soggy mass, e.g. overboiled potatoes.<br /><br />
Pittick (piteog), a small, effeminate man.<br />
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Poreen (póirín), a small potato.<br />
<br />Puth, puss (pus), a sour face.<br />
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Scobe (scuab), a shallow bite from an apple or vegetable.<br />
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Scregh (scréach), a shriek, a screech.<br />
<br />Shall-fasky (seal foscaidh), a rough shelter, a calf-shed.<br /><br />Shebeen (síbín), an illegal tavern.<br />
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Sheebowing (siabadh), drifting snow.<br />
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Sheeg (sidheog, síog), an elongated 'hip-roofed' haystack.<br />
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Slig (sliog), an old cutaway boot.<br />
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Sowans (Samhain) Oaten gruel formerly eaten from Hallowe'en onwards through the winter.<br /><br />
Spag (spag), a big foot.<br /><br />Spiddick (spideog), abusive term for a small person.<br />
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Spink (spinnc), a steep, rocky slope.<br /><br />Splank (splanc), a spark from the fire.<br /><br />Tubashtey (tubaiste), an accident, a disaster.<br />
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<br />Fingal Rapareehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293475853657061602noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1866219250494180545.post-1306116611956526332014-11-27T02:04:00.002+00:002014-11-27T07:32:36.663+00:00The Ulster Student Song Book (1957)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-IxZN4WJnUxkcGBc0jH6fK_F4eRVu3YarnXYWudrkSWaeqoKl2En_w0hIlwkpM5t3alTCR7lPYRvABxzC3KSLj6wlXvGiAgas1A0gfHbU3qKvevavhsT8XkiU_F2bgIcYztKTmrFDDPgk/s1600/003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-IxZN4WJnUxkcGBc0jH6fK_F4eRVu3YarnXYWudrkSWaeqoKl2En_w0hIlwkpM5t3alTCR7lPYRvABxzC3KSLj6wlXvGiAgas1A0gfHbU3qKvevavhsT8XkiU_F2bgIcYztKTmrFDDPgk/s1600/003.jpg" height="320" width="219" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVz9SWfT_BtqgSueB5hMD6u539oL5dzOcEmcN5yWD9IS3Q-ocRKMn0Lo-1CAVr-yH2eQRjH6c8KTh0dedzAaPyK59vdDJ6osYq0lDZpaq_Ik4MT1QoQXdS8mNhNmOWamMaqoFMOhpYgxu1/s1600/001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVz9SWfT_BtqgSueB5hMD6u539oL5dzOcEmcN5yWD9IS3Q-ocRKMn0Lo-1CAVr-yH2eQRjH6c8KTh0dedzAaPyK59vdDJ6osYq0lDZpaq_Ik4MT1QoQXdS8mNhNmOWamMaqoFMOhpYgxu1/s1600/001.jpg" height="320" width="224" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-align: start;"><br />Here's another gem from my late father's vast store of curios. It seems it was published in 1957. The booklet contains songs mainly from the Irish tradition but also includes student staples of the day and appears to have seen a lot of use. The booklet contains advertisements for various Belfast companies which I've included below. I don't know if any of these firms still operate but if they do I'd be happy to hear about them.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDVOPyDPfVsxpVBezU8oARdi6Rzv2ECg5oL4xeyELBsWMYrrAMrn84efvgRW7l2bXqCZfvL8MGK-PqPjO-RQZ98OB3KiuXdE5Bv6xLRiKI2AbUCYIz0NmZLVrFGEpeO3xB51_0JqWK_zB5/s1600/009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDVOPyDPfVsxpVBezU8oARdi6Rzv2ECg5oL4xeyELBsWMYrrAMrn84efvgRW7l2bXqCZfvL8MGK-PqPjO-RQZ98OB3KiuXdE5Bv6xLRiKI2AbUCYIz0NmZLVrFGEpeO3xB51_0JqWK_zB5/s1600/009.jpg" height="320" width="199" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6uFnHgUzGfhY4x2CpuUYYZh4Y0jIedxgL78oaFHK5i11znFetl82bs9SOqkD5PhOLtAYVLW693LM2Zoa1bt77TGwWQKBSNeTnNhjgv7YZM61Evxv-mDIeLRqmgStsZS43CpEUeshmLbpl/s1600/002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6uFnHgUzGfhY4x2CpuUYYZh4Y0jIedxgL78oaFHK5i11znFetl82bs9SOqkD5PhOLtAYVLW693LM2Zoa1bt77TGwWQKBSNeTnNhjgv7YZM61Evxv-mDIeLRqmgStsZS43CpEUeshmLbpl/s1600/002.jpg" height="285" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />To my mind the most historically fascinating section of the book is "Songs To Stir The Blood". Herein is published the lyrics to songs such as The Minstrel Boy, A Nation Once Again, The Wearing Of The Green, and Kelly, The Boy From Killane. These are songs which remains staples of republican balladry to this day. The songs are published alongside "The Ould Orange Flute", "The Sash My Father Wore", and other perennials from the loyalist tradition.<br />
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Queen's University of Belfast has been, from the outset, a non-sectarian centre of learning. In 1957, when the book was published, approximately 20% of its students came from a Roman Catholic background. This percentage would increase throughout the rest of the 20th century and beyond. I find it fascinating that it was permissible to include the republican ballads at the time given that in 1954 the Flags and Emblems (Display) Act (Northern Ireland) essentially forbid the flying of the Irish Tricolour in the six counties. Similarly the IRA's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_Campaign_%28Irish_Republican_Army%29" target="_blank">Border Campaign</a> was ongoing at the time of publication.<br />
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The Education Act of 1947 brought in free secondary level education in Northern Ireland (as well as the rest of the UK) and student grants were also provided for in the act. This meant that children from less well off families were for the first time able to avail of third level education. Roman Catholic participation in third level education skyrocketed thereafter.<br />
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<br />Fingal Rapareehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293475853657061602noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1866219250494180545.post-47258411220800602742014-11-20T03:13:00.001+00:002014-11-20T03:13:35.872+00:00Happy Christmas? (1971)I must first apologise for the long hiatus, I was busy with other stuff including putting together a book which I shall plug ad nauseum at some point in the future.<br />
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This Christmas card-styled pamphlet fell out of a book in my dad's collection a few years ago. Alas, he had already flitted off to another realm so I didn't get a chance to ask him how he came about acquiring it. It is from 1971 and was published by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People's_Democracy_(Ireland)" target="_blank">People's Democracy</a> as a protest against internment in Northern Ireland. Internment had been introduced as part of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Demetrius" target="_blank">Operation Demetrius</a> which saw 100s of mainly Catholic/Nationalist civilians arrested and detained without trial. This activity was legally justified by provisions of the Special Powers Act (NI) as described. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HM_Prison_Maze#H-Blocks" target="_blank">Long Kesh</a> is where the internees were imprisoned. The Nazi figure is <a href="http://www.openunionism.com/reflections-on-the-premiership-of-brian-faulkner/" target="_blank">Brian Faulkner</a>, then Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. Faulkner was the last Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, serving from March 1971 until March 1972, and had presided over Operation Demetrius' implementation.<br />
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<br />Fingal Rapareehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293475853657061602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1866219250494180545.post-9869418350648994522014-07-11T01:04:00.001+01:002014-07-11T01:16:07.625+01:00Old And New Claddagh (1931)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Young lady of the Claddagh, 1931 (Corbis/Sexton)</div>
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The Claddagh, 1931 (Galway Advertiser/Sexton)</div>
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This post is inspired by the two images above, taken in 1931. They're both part of Sean Sexton's amazing collection of Irish photography, some of which I was fortunate to see at an exhibition in the Gallery Of Photography in Dublin some years ago. I assume the first photo was posed for, probably for a press photographer, and they were both clearly taken to juxtapose the old and the new, as the old Claddagh cottages were swept away and replaced with the modern dwellings seen in the background. The modern houses looming in the background highlight the squalidness of the older cottages, a type of housing that to this day is, somewhat ironically, a mainstay of romantic imagery of Ireland, at home and abroad.<br />
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These are some of my favourite photos taken in Ireland for a number of reasons. First off, they beautifully and poignantly encapsulate the huge change the small community of the Claddagh was undergoing at the time. The people of the Claddagh had differed in custom and culture from other city dwellers just a short distance away and its array of thatched cottages seemed a relic of a bygone, more primitive era long before the 1930s. The fishing village's old world charm and unique customs attracted all manner of artists, photographers, and writers during the 19th and early 20th century.<br />
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The Claddagh, c1901 (Corbis)</div>
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The older houses, though picturesque, especially to tourists who typically had nicer abodes to go home to, were deemed unsuitable for modern living and were replaced with more comfortable but nondescript suburban housing which stands to this day. From a cursory search of contemporary newspapers it seems there was some local opposition to the rebuilding of the village. Some commented that the rents on the new dwellings was too high, others complained that if some work had been put into providing proper sanitation that the older cottages (some of which no rent was charged on) would be fine. Others still, with an eye on posterity and tourist dollars, marks, francs and pounds, suggested that at least a few of the finer examples of cottages should have been preserved.<br />
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Cartoon from Dublin Opinion, early 1960s</div>
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Beyond what these images specifically represent it is interesting to consider them in terms of broader societal changes in the wake of the creation of the Irish Free State. The 1920s had seen the establishment of 2RN, that national radio broadcaster, the construction of the ambitious Shannon Scheme, and the early 1930s would see the establishment of the first national commercial airline, Iona National Airways. As well as these technological and infrastructural changes, Ireland was continuing its long march from becoming a predominantly rural nation to becoming a largely urban and suburban one through a combination of migration to the towns and cities and the long blight of emigration. Although the Claddagh was not a rural village, part of its uniqueness was its existence in the midst of a modern city, it had a rural character that was all but totally erased by its redevelopment.<br />
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The powers that be in the Free State were often ambivalent about the march of social progress (see <a href="http://www.theirishstory.com/2011/07/01/the-anti-jazz-campaign/#.U7nuZ5RdXGk" target="_blank">the 1930s anti-Jazz hysteria</a> or the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_and_Child_Scheme" target="_blank">Mother and Child Scheme</a> debacle of the 1950s for just two examples) yet at the same time, especially as regards Ireland's built history they could be callously proactive in replacing older structures. Having not been a resident of the Claddagh at the time I can't say for definite the village should or shouldn't have been so drastically rebuilt but it seems to me that maybe some compromise, as suggested at the time, might have been preferable. Contemporary accounts suggest that similar schemes in Dublin and other cities that created superior suburban housing for former tenement dwellers were also sometimes looked on in two minds, with many feeling a sense of dislocation from their former communities, despite obvious material improvements in their living conditions.<br />
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Workman demolishing cottage in The Claddagh, 1930 or 1931 (Corbis). Note the cottage directly behind is still occupied.</div>
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Renewal is of course always an issue, with successive governments facing damned if they do, damned if they don't criticism when they act to replace older dwellings and other structures. Tradition, history, heritage, are all also luxuries of those who already live in unquestioned modern comfort. Finally, perhaps what makes these images most resonate with the modern Irish viewer is how reminiscent the scenes are of the half-finished ghost estates that dot the Irish landscape at the present time, the result of bad planning, irrational exuberance, and systemic corruption. The Claddagh images contain the ghosts of the past, the image below, the ghosts of the future.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpkRFHCyV0CWmZjny1g-Z8ClQZmXb48rad6cxMahUr9Joj_yWefc6MB2buAykgq9ifMs1FCLDv3TDKrGcdSqNQkkuUQvWOWFe4ccZi-VaczTD6kIPjdCYwcMZe218YGlN8dtHwMvKuqff1/s1600/ghost+estate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpkRFHCyV0CWmZjny1g-Z8ClQZmXb48rad6cxMahUr9Joj_yWefc6MB2buAykgq9ifMs1FCLDv3TDKrGcdSqNQkkuUQvWOWFe4ccZi-VaczTD6kIPjdCYwcMZe218YGlN8dtHwMvKuqff1/s1600/ghost+estate.jpg" height="216" width="320" /></a></div>
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Ghost estate near Loughrea, Co. Galway, 2013 (Rolf Haid/Corbis)</div>
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<br />Fingal Rapareehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293475853657061602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1866219250494180545.post-79285802120813045522014-07-10T22:22:00.002+01:002014-07-10T22:22:35.630+01:00Dublin 1980: The Glue Sniffers<i>This article written by Gene Kerrigan with photos by Andrew McGlynn originally appeared in the September 1980 issue of Magill Magazine.</i><br />
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<i><br /></i>Fingal Rapareehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293475853657061602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1866219250494180545.post-74710504925909174672014-07-02T01:42:00.001+01:002014-07-02T01:46:34.455+01:00From Contemporary Ireland (1908) by L. Paul-DuBois<i>Below is an excerpt from L. Paul-Dubois' "Contemporary Ireland" from 1908 which provides a vivid (and to my mind touching) tableau showing some of the effects of the <a href="http://www.gaelicmatters.com/gaelic-revival.html" target="_blank">Gaelic Revival</a>. It's also interesting in that it clearly indicates that adult education, nowadays ubiquitous, was at the time quite a novel concept. "Contemporary Ireland" can be found in its entirety <a href="https://archive.org/stream/contemporaryirel00paul#page/n0/mode/2up" target="_blank">here</a>.</i><br />
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But the stranger is most forcibly struck when he attends some Irish class in a poor quarter in Dublin, or even London, and perceives how serious, deep, and infectious is the enthusiasm of the crowd, young and old, clerks and artisans for the most part - with an "intellectual" here and there - who are gathered together in the ill-lit hall. To these there is no doubt the thought of learning anything, and above all of learning a language other than English, would never have occurred at any other time, but now after their day's work, they sit here with an O'Growney* in their hands, with shining eyes, and strained looks, greedily listening to the lesson, following with their lips, <i>con amore</i>, the soft speech of their teacher.<br />
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O'Growney's "Simple Lessons In Irish"</div>
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Evidently here are people who have been transformed to the core of their being by this somewhat severe study, and by the importance of the social role which they wish to play, and which in fact they do play. Here, as elsewhere, the Gaelic movement has given an object, a goal, an ideal, to lives which, from their conditions, are often empty in these respects. Those who are in a position to know say indeed that few people of national feeling have taken up the study of Irish without being quickly aware of its strengthening and stimulating influence, without being fascinated by it as by a revelation. This shows that the language is for the children of Erin neither a dead language nor a strange one, but an integral part of their nature, a second self, an element of themselves that they had forgotten.</div>
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The English which they speak with a remarkable native accent is, as has often been remarked, an English learnt from books, and full of absurd Irishisms which have remained locked up within their brains, a heritage of which they were not aware; it is an English built artifically upon a Gaelic substructure.<br />
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*<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_O'Growney" target="_blank">Eugene O'Growney</a> was a priest and Irish scholar who wrote the then popular textbook "Simple Lessons In Irish".Fingal Rapareehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293475853657061602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1866219250494180545.post-35519797700789593862014-05-30T23:21:00.002+01:002014-05-30T23:24:47.219+01:00Johnny Forty Coats (1943)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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"Forty Coats, how many coats ye wearin' today?" - Forty Coats chatting to a young lad in Dublin, February, 1943 (Independent Newspapers)<br />
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Most Irish people of a certain age have heard the name Forty Coats. Those familiar with the name will probably recall the popular children's TV character on RTÉ in Ireland in the 1980s. What you may not realise is that the character was loosely based on a real person, PJ Marlow. Marlow, and perhaps other vagrants in Dublin in the 1930s and '40s, was known by the name Johnny Forty Coats or Forty Coats.<br />
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RTÉ's popular Fortycoats (http://labhaoisenidhuibhir.blogspot.ie/2012/10/born-in-80s.html)</div>
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Johnny Forty Coats was a Dublin vagrant who was so named for his habit of wearing multiple overcoats regardless of the weather. Francis Mc Manus, writing in an obituary for him in the Irish Press in February, 1943 described him thus, "Winter or Summer, he dressed as if he were living in some blizzard-stricken spot within a stone's throw of the Arctic Circle. He wore innumerable overcoats - perhaps he himself forgot how many of them there were! - until he was encased and layered like a fine onion."</div>
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Another snap of Forty Coats from February, 1943 (Independent Newspapers)</div>
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Forty Coats cut an odd figure traipsing the streets of 1930s and 1940s Dublin but he was well regarded and well recalled. Apart from his gentle eccentricity, his only apparent vice was his habit of spitting on the floor of the cafés that would allow him be a patron. He seems to have been particularly popular with the children in the neighbourhoods he wandered. McManus, again writing in that 1943 obituary,</div>
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I take it that "dekko" means a look at but it's not a term I've come across before. <a href="http://www.petestjohn.com/" target="_blank">Pete St. John</a>, writer of such perennials as The Fields Of Athenry and Dublin In The Rare Old Times, referred to Johnny Forty Coats in the chorus of his song about the Dublin of his youth, The Mero. The song also references <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bang_Bang_(Dubliner)" target="_blank">Bang Bang</a>, another still fondly remembered Dublin street character.</div>
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And we all went up to the Mero,</div>
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hey there! Who's your man? </div>
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It's only Johnny '40 coats', </div>
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sure he's a desperate man. </div>
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Bang Bang shoots the buses</div>
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with his golden key. </div>
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Hey! Hi! Diddeleedai, </div>
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and out goes she.</div>
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Forty Coats gets several mentions in the papers in 1943 and it appears that he passed away sometime that year. However, despite the appearance of an obituary for him it isn't at all clear to me that he did indeed shuffle off then. For example, having published an obituary for him the Irish Press ran a short story, a retraction of sorts, headlined "Forty Coats Is Still Going Strong" later in February, 1943, which includes some extra biographical information on the man. </div>
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Mentions of Forty Coats trail off in 1943 but his name appears in passing in articles in 1944 and 1946. If anyone has further information on the man please leave a comment. </div>
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Johnny Forty Coats, sans hat, 1943 (Independent Newspapers)</div>
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Fingal Rapareehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293475853657061602noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1866219250494180545.post-2986301004533119362014-05-12T17:56:00.001+01:002014-05-12T17:56:07.995+01:00Old Borough National School, Swords, Co. Dublin (1809)Visitors to Swords brave enough to venture beyond the palatial confines of the Pavilions Shopping Centre may have noticed the Old Boro Pub, a rather imposing building that sits at the junction of the Malahide Road and the nowadays rather forlorn looking Main Street. Its size makes it look more like a hotel than a simple public house. The building operated as a primary school for 191 years until closing in the year 2000. A new school was built around the corner and the Smith Group took on the old school and converted it into the popular watering hole it now is.<br />
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The Old Boro Pub in recent times (Source: Geograph.org.uk)</div>
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The town has its fair share of notable buildings, including the <a href="http://www.megalithicireland.com/Swords%20Round%20Tower.html" target="_blank">Round Tower</a> and Clock Tower of St. Columba's and the 800 year old <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swords_Castle" target="_blank">Swords Castle</a>, all of which are mentioned in a <a href="http://irishmemory.blogspot.ie/2013/02/a-history-tour-of-swords-1921.html" target="_blank">previous post of mine</a>. However the school building is by far the most significant one constructed in the town during the 19th Century. </div>
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The Old Borough School as depicted on a postcard circa 1900</div>
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As the 19th Century commenced Swords was a small village mainly populated by farm labourers. It would be many years before its character would be irrevocably altered by the construction of Dublin Airport at Collinstown, a couple of miles to the south, and the rapid suburbanisation and industrial development of the town it spurred. While the town was not of any great importance throughout much of its history by some quirk of politics it was allowed elect two MPs to the Irish Parliament. Weston St. John Joyce had this to say of the political arrangement:</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18.479999542236328px;">"Swords was constituted a borough by James I, returning two members to the Irish House of Commons, and was one of the few free boroughs in Ireland (ie, not private property), the franchise having been vested in what were called, in the slang of the period, "</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potwalloper" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; line-height: 18.479999542236328px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Potwallopers</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18.479999542236328px;">", meaning Protestants who had been resident for a continuous period of six months."</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18.479999542236328px;">With the Acts Of Union of 1800 and the consequent dissolution of the Irish Parliament, Swords was granted a juicy compensation package for foregoing its political clout. The princely sum of £15,000 was awarded to the town. Local grandees decided that the entirety of this money would be spent on a school or schools in the locality. </span></span></div>
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The Old Boro National School as it was in the 1970s looking pretty much the same as it had for the previous 160 years. (Source: South Dublin Libraries/ Patrick Healy Collection)</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18.479999542236328px;">The construction of the school was a big deal as save for Swords House and the vicarage on Church Road, there had been no significant buildings erected in the town since Norman times. By all accounts the construction caused a mini-boom in the hitherto economically depressed town, as it took a lot of labour to bring the project to fruition. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18.479999542236328px;">The design of the school building was tasked to </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Johnston_(architect)" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 18.479999542236328px;" target="_blank">Francis Johnston</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18.479999542236328px;">, better recalled these days as the architect responsible for Townley Hall in Louth, Dublin's storied GPO and St. George's Church on Hardwicke Place, also in Dublin. It seems his initial designs were rather extravagant and it was only on the fourth revision that his more frugally minded design was given the go ahead. Consequently, the structure has none of the finesse of many of his other works but is still to my mind a handsome building. </span></div>
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One of Francis Johnston's plans of the Old Borough School (Source: Áine Shields)</div>
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In my younger days I wondered why the handful of Protestants of primary school age in the town got this seemingly enormous building to themselves while the Catholics and everyone else attended drab utilitarian looking 1970/80s built schools with plenty of prefabricated additions. Initially the school was integrated, taking children in of school age, regardless of denomination, and due to the endowment, no fees had to be paid by any of the childrens' parents. There were other perks to attending the school, such as free coal and funding for several apprenticeships every year.<br />
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While the student body was integrated the ethos of the school was Church Of Ireland. This didn't sit well with the Catholics of the town, who lobbied for years to have the issue redressed. Catholic primary schools were established in the town's former chapel in the 1830s although they were fee paying and it wasn't until 1853 that the last Catholic students ceased attending the Old Borough school. In 1855, a dedicated Catholic primary school was built on Seatown Road in the town.<br />
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Catholic School, Seatown Road, built 1855, obscured by a horrendously misjudged Celtic Tiger-era addition. (Source: http://www.andreworourke.ie/)</div>
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Although the issue of ethos and curriculum was addressed by having separate denominational schools there still remained the issue of funding. The administrators of the Old Boro School still controlled the purse strings of the endowment. The provision of funding would remain a contentious issue for years to come, which wasn't fully resolved until 1887 when an equitable division of endowment funds between the Protestant and Catholic schools was agreed under the provisions of the <a href="http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1885/en/act/pub/0078/print.html" target="_blank">Educational Endowment (Ireland) Act, 1885</a>. </div>
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<br />Fingal Rapareehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293475853657061602noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1866219250494180545.post-62154659494064922902014-04-29T19:31:00.002+01:002014-04-29T19:33:03.827+01:00Historical Ireland (1957)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This illustrated map was published in the American Geographical Society's publication <i>Around The World Program: Ireland</i>, first published in 1957, by John Fraser Hart. It depicts key people and events from Ireland's tumultuous history against the background of the island of Ireland. While some of the people and events are tied to their locale on the map, most aren't. To give one example, and I'm sure you can spot others, the Flight Of The Earls is depicted down in Cork/Waterford when it set sail from Rathmullan in Donegal.<br />
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My favourite illustration is the one from the Easter Rebellion. The sparring cop and other gentlemen look more like they're illustrating the Dublin Lockout of 1913. I'm not sure if this is a mistake or simply artistic licence. There's a lot of charm in the map, despite inaccuracies, and it's always interesting to see a map in a non-standard format like this, Ireland is almost at a right angle relative to how it is typically depicted.<br />
<br />Fingal Rapareehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293475853657061602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1866219250494180545.post-66631377740813720172014-04-16T23:23:00.002+01:002014-04-16T23:45:55.687+01:00Nelson's Pillar (1963) And What's To Be Done With History?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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(The Pillar, 1963, Dublin Corporation)</div>
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This beautifully composed photograph of Nelson's Pillar appeared in the Official Guide To Dublin published by the Corporation in 1963. At the time this photo was taken, the Pillar was not long for this world, famously being blown up, first by the IRA, then finished off by the Irish Army, in 1966. Below you can see the stump that was left after the IRA bomb.<br />
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(The Pillar, 1966, Archiseek)</div>
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The annihilation of the British rule era statue was only the most successful and famous in a line of physical force urban planning by republican elements in the city. Previous, less successful targets of attacks included the statue of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Gough,_1st_Viscount_Gough" target="_blank">Field-Marshall Gough</a>* in the Phoenix Park and of King William Of Orange who stood for centuries on College Green but suffered vandalism all down the years. Worn down by literally centuries of vandalism King Billy was finally removed in 1928 following an explosion.<br />
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(King Billy, College Green, c1900, Streets Broad And Narrow)</div>
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As part of more official erasure of monuments there was the removal in 1947 of a statue of Queen Victoria, which had stood in the grounds of Leinster House from 1904. That statue had an afterlife of its own detailed over at <a href="http://comeheretome.com/2012/05/24/statues-of-dublin-the-unveiling-and-removal-of-queen-victoria/" target="_blank">Come Here To Me</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMrKtGP79Kdun80WGAlyp-MA9DTUg-aaZlgfwV5VuJFYrB3B737qh3FYqhmsPUjTAxd7NeScFMtZ8DbrdqVXDpJVpmh4Xab8Zc8Km05HDl4iEIJdNC-JZt5-JMo3IrWqPBLqawvUcfDflX/s1600/queen_victoria-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMrKtGP79Kdun80WGAlyp-MA9DTUg-aaZlgfwV5VuJFYrB3B737qh3FYqhmsPUjTAxd7NeScFMtZ8DbrdqVXDpJVpmh4Xab8Zc8Km05HDl4iEIJdNC-JZt5-JMo3IrWqPBLqawvUcfDflX/s1600/queen_victoria-2.jpg" height="320" width="233" /></a></div>
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(Queen Victoria Statue being removed from Leinster Lawn, 1948, <a href="http://comeheretome.com/2012/05/24/statues-of-dublin-the-unveiling-and-removal-of-queen-victoria/" target="_blank">Come Here To Me</a>)</div>
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(Cartoon lampooning the removal, published in Dublin Opinion Magazine, August, 1948)</div>
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Vandalism and official removal of statues and other symbols relating to the ancien régime is a common postcolonial move, and arguments about whether such traces of the old order should remain continue to this day in Europe's former colonies in Africa and Asia and in former Soviet satellite states in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. In Ireland, many towns such as Maryborough (now Portlaoise), Queenstown (now Cóbh), and Phillipstown (Daingean, Co. Offaly) were renamed in the wake of independence, as were King's and Queen's Counties, now Offaly and Laois respectively. This practice occurred elsewhere with for example, Léopoldville in the Congo becoming Kinshasa, and Salisbury in Zimbabwe being renamed Harare.<br />
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The debate on decolonisation has also extended to the wider built environment with buildings dating to the colonial era often in jeopardy. Few may ever lament the concrete piles the Soviets littered across the map of Central and Eastern Europe but much of Dublin's Georgian heritage was either wilfully levelled or let fall to rack and ruin, partly out of a sense that these buildings represented Ireland's former colonial masters and should be erased. All of this is part of a never-ending public debate about what stories should be recalled and what should be forgotten and I suppose there is no clear right answer. A complete blotting out of our (currently) undesirable pasts would be impossible and probably a huge disservice to human civilisation if it were feasible, but then not everything can or should be preserved. Time marches on, social needs and priorities change.<br />
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In the wake of World War II, the Allied Control Commission in Germany ordered the complete destruction of all buildings and memorials linked to the Nazis. At that point in time however, most of Germany lay in ruins and intact buildings were scarce. Hence, despite the order, much of the architecture of the Nazis remained. It was expedient to remove swastikas and other overt Nazi regalia but to leave the buildings intact. A later generation of Germans have debated whether these buildings should be preserved. A similar debate has ensued with regard to the restoration of buildings constructed during Mussolini's reign. It has been pointed out that much of Italy's most prized older built heritage was also undertaken beneath the foot of tyrants.<br />
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*The attack on the Gough statue inspired a hilariously crude poem, Gough's Statue, by Vinnie Caprani. Below is the second verse.<br />
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"’Neath the horse’s big prick a dynamite stick<br />
some gallant ‘hayro’ did place,<br />
For the cause of our land, with a match in his hand<br />
Bravely the foe he did face;<br />
Then without showing fear – and standing well clear-<br />
He expected to blow up the pair<br />
But he nearly went crackers, all he got was the knackers<br />
And he made the poor stallion a mare!"Fingal Rapareehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293475853657061602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1866219250494180545.post-18627556379336964452014-02-17T01:33:00.004+00:002014-02-17T01:51:56.033+00:00What does graffiti tell you about a place and a time? (Belfast, Derry City, Armagh City, 1970s)While collecting images for my <a href="https://twitter.com/OldIrelandPics" target="_blank">Old Ireland Pictures</a> Twitter account I came across these images of graffiti in various cities in Northern Ireland. They all date from the 1970s, two from predominantly Protestant, Unionist areas and two from predominantly Catholic, Republican districts*. Graffiti has probably existed since people have been able to write and there are numerous examples of ancient graffiti to be found in Egypt, Rome, Greece, and the like. One of the slightly dubious delights at sites such as New Grange is seeing 19th century and older graffiti inside it. Like the marginalia found in illuminated manuscripts graffiti can lend the historian a different, less formal insight into a time and a place than the official narrative.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1oHSFE4cw0QlmLwpGtj3H7sw0GPyhtK8GjFT4WbrPQyhR6rnfBuIqRfm-QE01Cwl1uraxAmjbGqbNDQCQxWxAoVIF3H8fbFFRwZ1pC-hS9DSkIZkNcLA2uhPH0qXZnxBWAhz0lNCuRNuF/s1600/Geoffry+St+Belfast+1973.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1oHSFE4cw0QlmLwpGtj3H7sw0GPyhtK8GjFT4WbrPQyhR6rnfBuIqRfm-QE01Cwl1uraxAmjbGqbNDQCQxWxAoVIF3H8fbFFRwZ1pC-hS9DSkIZkNcLA2uhPH0qXZnxBWAhz0lNCuRNuF/s1600/Geoffry+St+Belfast+1973.png" height="183" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-align: start;"> Geoffrey Street, near Crumlin Road, Belfast, 1973</span></div>
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The examples of graffiti I've included can I suppose be seen as an ancestor of sorts to the<a href="http://irishmemory.blogspot.ie/2013/06/political-murals-of-northern-ireland.html" target="_blank"> political murals</a> that I've written about before. The first image above, which shows graffiti that espouses a quite clearly Unionist perspective, includes "Keep Ulster Protestant", "God Bless Paisley", "God Save The Queen", and "O'Neill The Lundy". While the first three are probably self explanatory, the Paisley being of course Ian Paisley, the Queen being Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the last one might need a bit of explanation. The O'Neill referred to was Captain Terrence O'Neill, who was Prime Minister of Northern Ireland between 1963 and 1969. O'Neill felt it expedient to achieve a rapprochement with, and bring in reforms to improve the lot of, Northern Irish Catholics. In the eyes of many Northern Irish Protestants this was tantamount to treason. A <i>Lundy</i> is any traitor to the Protestant Unionist cause. The term, especially well known in Derry City and environs, refers to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Lundy" target="_blank">Robert Lundy</a>, Governor of Derry during the Siege Of Derry. Due to either treachery or perhaps rank incompetence, Lundy seemed to do all in his power to let <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_II_of_England" target="_blank">King James II</a>'s forces take the city. To this day he is burned in effigy.<br />
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The Bogside, Derry City, 1972.</div>
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The graffiti in this next image comprises the slogan "Easter 1916-72", an Irish tricolour, and "Provisionals For Freedom". The first slogan obviously commemorates the 1916 Rising although I'm not sure why 72 was included. The latter, sounding almost like an advertising slogan, espouses support for the Provisional IRA. In the background is the <a href="http://www.derryjournal.com/news/siege-hero-walker-felled-in-midnight-blast-1-2147025" target="_blank">Walker Monument which was blown up</a> by the aforementioned Provisional IRA in 1973. All that remains of it in public view is the plinth. </div>
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Belfast, 1970s, I am not sure of the locale.</div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">The presence of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanguard_Unionist_Progressive_Party" target="_blank">Vanguard Unionist</a> graffito indicates this photo was probably taken in 1972 or shortly thereafter. The three most prominent slogans are "Paisley For P.M.", "UVF", and "We Are The People". The first slogan is somewhat prescient with Ian Paisley having served as First Minister of Northern Ireland over 30 years later. The second stands for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulster_Volunteer_Force" target="_blank">Ulster Volunteer Force</a>, a Protestant Loyalist paramilitary group. The last one had me perplexed for a minute as I had only ever heard "We Are The People" in the song Free The People by the Dubliners, an anti-internment ballad. However, it seems in this context it is a popular Glasgow Rangers slogan, a team associated with Northern Irish Protestant culture.</span></div>
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Armagh City, again I don't know what street/area this is, early 1970s. </div>
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This last example of graffiti in Northern Ireland features a grocer's apostrophe. First there's "Pig's Out", an anti-police sentiment voiced by many people in many different places over the years, but clearly understandable in the context of Catholic Republican animosity as regards the then <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Ulster_Constabulary" target="_blank">RUC</a>. The second part is calling for a "Worker's Republic" which is a term most associated with James Connolly. Many Irish Republican groups called for a 32-county Workers' Republic to be formed, that is not only an independent Ireland, free of British rule, but also organised on socialist principles. </div>
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All of the above examples display touchstones of the sociopolitical culture of their respective communities. One thing they all have in common is they're very basic. That is, white paint and a simple font is used in each example. A simple Irish Tricolour in the second example is the only graphic to be seen. In this sense these examples of graffiti diverge greatly from later luridly coloured political murals and indeed modern day graffiti which is often colourful and sophisticated in a visual sense.</div>
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*I am fully aware that there are Republicans who aren't Catholic and that there are Unionists who aren't Protestant but for the sake of brevity I have used Catholic Republican and Protestant Unionist. </div>
Fingal Rapareehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293475853657061602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1866219250494180545.post-59579303131442534962014-01-10T21:47:00.000+00:002014-01-10T21:55:04.463+00:00Ré Nua (1990)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Ré Nua (meaning New Era) was a series of Irish language books for kids from Junior Infants to Sixth Class, that were published by Folens in 1990. If you attended primary school in Ireland between the mid-1980s and the mid-1990s it is possible you used these books in school. It's probably self-evident why I've posted these scans from the books. I think they're gorgeous, beautifully illustrated, and were perhaps the best schoolbooks I ever used. If I can string a sentence together in Irish nowadays it is in no small part thanks to them.<br />
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The books were illustrated by Emil Schinkel, who I am happy to say is still working today and<a href="http://www.emilschinkelart.com/" target="_blank"> has a site containing other beautiful work</a>. Schinkel did a lot of illustration for Folens including on the Siamsa and Spraoi magazines that you may recall, which were sent out to primary school classes periodically. The illustrations have a colourfulness, busyness, and humour I find very endearing and which remind me of the Richard Scarry books that were another fixture of my childhood.<br />
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I am not sure how widely studied these books were in Irish schools and it seems that even those only a few years older than me never encountered them. The series has never attained a standing in the popular memory comparable with the likes of say Ann and Barry and the rest of the Rainbow series. Nor do I imagine they'll ever be reprinted for the Christmas nostalgia market like Soundings and other secondary schoolbooks have been in recent years. However, there is at least one Irish band named for one of the books (<a href="http://www.breakingtunes.com/diosconambo" target="_blank">Dioscó na mBó</a>) which is perhaps some indicator that these books are fondly remembered by people other than me.<br />
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Fingal Rapareehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293475853657061602noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1866219250494180545.post-18030610837122142642014-01-08T08:05:00.003+00:002014-01-08T08:13:29.461+00:00Young Dublin, Old Dublin (1960s and 1970s)When I was a young lad the bookshelves in our home were packed with reams of material related to my dad's work as a careers guidance counsellor. He had numerous worthy and wordy tomes by child psychologists from fascinating sounding locales like Kenosha, Wisconsin or Montreal in Canada. These described in terminology I couldn't understand then, nor scarcely would be interested in understanding now, child development and the many issues adolescents face.<br />
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Several of these books were illustrated and included images of children and young adults at school, at play, and at home. To my young brain these images were like transmissions from an alternate universe. These children were like me but not like me, they wore strange attire and haircuts and played games I had never heard of. It was only when I was a bit older it dawned on me why I found the photos perplexing. These were North American kids and the stock photos of them had been taken years before I was born.<br />
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Similarly, the Childcraft encyclopaedias my parents bought contained snapshots of children in every corner of the globe. These images were at once elegiac and exotic. I recall being intrigued by an image of kids in Vermont eating maple syrup, doughnuts, and pickles, with snow. Lots of other images come to mind from the encyclopaedias, like a kid using a public telephone in the Soviet Union, a Ghanaian child playing with a handcrafted toy lorry, and a gaggle of children in a Kindergarten in East Germany.<br />
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There's no particular overarching theme to this post. It contains images of Dublin from the 1960s and the 1970s which I found interesting and I hope you find interesting too. When I saw these images, particularly the black and white ones, I was reminded again of those books and those images I had tried to comprehend as a child. The images below provide glimpses of the depths of poverty people lived in in Dublin during those years as well as the resourcefulness and joi-de-vivre of the children of the city at that time.<br />
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These images originally appeared in Edna O'Brien's Mother Ireland, Young Ireland by Jack Manning, and Ireland Through The Looking Glass by Ted Smart. Unfortunately I can't find the source right now for the last couple of the images but if I find it again I'll edit this post to include it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM9yCOHMHtCe9Qi7AOkbIbjBH2f8tJ7UlCH2Z91vXTLAo9lEfj6aTiITbQ29C86XmG3Mg06TsN2HOk362dkwYbsaX-Y_Vj_gnG4iHpC8UhUVED30JJYDsnlO39pQiCa7VeLdxjzF3ELWpG/s1600/Boot+boys,+Dublin,+1970s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM9yCOHMHtCe9Qi7AOkbIbjBH2f8tJ7UlCH2Z91vXTLAo9lEfj6aTiITbQ29C86XmG3Mg06TsN2HOk362dkwYbsaX-Y_Vj_gnG4iHpC8UhUVED30JJYDsnlO39pQiCa7VeLdxjzF3ELWpG/s1600/Boot+boys,+Dublin,+1970s.jpg" height="320" width="219" /></a></div>
This one was captioned "Boot Boys", Hardwicke St, Dublin, 1970s.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin7fV8DYvWd-Cx-5H7nL72LA6Zw5AYb_TWaLjuizIXw6iZeT1emCd7q32DUJEPtY9LXGtyp5LhrloxtTT7KHCY7-_ACMtBiAmOGrjHSWKXSS7hKiVeC_AlvyTZODGzP4xSoCSwVTVlks7H/s1600/Cattle+Great+Denmark+Street+early+1960s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin7fV8DYvWd-Cx-5H7nL72LA6Zw5AYb_TWaLjuizIXw6iZeT1emCd7q32DUJEPtY9LXGtyp5LhrloxtTT7KHCY7-_ACMtBiAmOGrjHSWKXSS7hKiVeC_AlvyTZODGzP4xSoCSwVTVlks7H/s1600/Cattle+Great+Denmark+Street+early+1960s.jpg" height="272" width="320" /></a></div>
Driving cattle down Great Denmark St, Dublin, 1960s.<br />
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14 year old lad just joined CIÉ, Dublin, 1960s.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBQxMo1fCqBDwqJleXJMXyWEKZwuxzhAzELUG2p5h7auKA1h0DH_4mGqwRatSNdF2m68WjbOyXBHlVGWxkAi-y5805_n2hPTLSeaCORMrJdGQ-Izfl0mTCvOSLN-nOdz3kwrtN5BNP8-03/s1600/Dublin+paper+seller.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBQxMo1fCqBDwqJleXJMXyWEKZwuxzhAzELUG2p5h7auKA1h0DH_4mGqwRatSNdF2m68WjbOyXBHlVGWxkAi-y5805_n2hPTLSeaCORMrJdGQ-Izfl0mTCvOSLN-nOdz3kwrtN5BNP8-03/s1600/Dublin+paper+seller.jpg" height="320" width="254" /></a></div>
Young lady selling newspapers in Dublin, 1960s, the caption for which states that girls didn't typically do that job. The Irish Press she's selling is headlined "Ship Blaze In Dublin Port" so it may be possible to pinpoint the exact day this photo was taken on.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKbjn_Tnm4EkbDOaPWMcvLrA80eHcZTeN4s_jlfubKXwiiCqd2KqC6UjFqEC6ohRk567dnHcHIsLtMmM-noO4O_2BlGPn2i_5EzOT_t-YvErduh5DyPy9223hrb_b4cqcBeb17bt-3p28B/s1600/Dublin+street+unknown+early+1960s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKbjn_Tnm4EkbDOaPWMcvLrA80eHcZTeN4s_jlfubKXwiiCqd2KqC6UjFqEC6ohRk567dnHcHIsLtMmM-noO4O_2BlGPn2i_5EzOT_t-YvErduh5DyPy9223hrb_b4cqcBeb17bt-3p28B/s1600/Dublin+street+unknown+early+1960s.jpg" height="320" width="237" /></a></div>
Young lads kicking a ball around, somewhere in Dublin. Can anyone suggest where this might have been taken? It looks to me like somewhere around Thomas St but that's a guess. 1960s.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTfTOcZGlkkDZ8ith3F4xzC8h7jxSbuwC_Mxi_Vdux_TGw1ZIok4Z2P5F1WeA60kcENRz5ad4RHfilSNjTk3vX_AdHDEOkkyjSyDBIuNqqDKtmlk5HGJcmg1PaY1YNQoES9jASlWtclc8F/s1600/Dublin+unknown+street+1960s+again.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTfTOcZGlkkDZ8ith3F4xzC8h7jxSbuwC_Mxi_Vdux_TGw1ZIok4Z2P5F1WeA60kcENRz5ad4RHfilSNjTk3vX_AdHDEOkkyjSyDBIuNqqDKtmlk5HGJcmg1PaY1YNQoES9jASlWtclc8F/s1600/Dublin+unknown+street+1960s+again.jpg" height="320" width="276" /></a></div>
Young man on a bike, Fownes St Lower, Dublin, 1960s. This street, in the heart of Temple Bar, has changed as much as any part of Dublin except maybe the Docklands. The concrete fortress that is the Central Bank now looms in the background and the whole row of buildings on the right of the shot appear to have been completely replaced. My eagle eyed brother is to thank for finding where the photo was taken.<br />
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Young girls playing games, 1960s, in what looks to me to be Summerhill in Dublin, but again if anyone has a better idea of where this was taken please comment on the post.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkuDM-rqdGV47pM93AQ5shER27c3Lb3SAbuk6evNdoOnFNUqUmH-NY_VQ73TEDAmco-bt0bHvkuwMxYphcI31imlnsQt5X7MGok9Wwe1HSe38P9ZV1w9uQsyYnVNro6FdKK9bQZ9_0MDQD/s1600/kids+ag+staidear.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkuDM-rqdGV47pM93AQ5shER27c3Lb3SAbuk6evNdoOnFNUqUmH-NY_VQ73TEDAmco-bt0bHvkuwMxYphcI31imlnsQt5X7MGok9Wwe1HSe38P9ZV1w9uQsyYnVNro6FdKK9bQZ9_0MDQD/s1600/kids+ag+staidear.jpg" height="236" width="320" /></a></div>
Boys paying close attention, or at least feigning close attention, to their Irish lesson, Dublin, 1960s.<br />
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This shot and the next one confused me. Because of the colours and the year the book was published I assumed they were taken in the 1970s. However, it quickly became apparent that the pillar is present in both photos which of course dates them to 1966 at the latest. There's a John Hinde postcard that has a similar quality which I featured in a previous post. The shots are very reminiscent of the house style of National Geographic at the time. It's of course, O'Connell Bridge and O'Connell St.<br />
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This lady waits on O'Connell Bridge, Dublin, 1960s, for someone or something. A sign exhorts all passersby to "Smoke Bendigo". </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_MdXciS2vcS2CN4M-jjyVii5gxQxqeilcVgu8yfdp_NmFeospFDwAzv2Cfi88vyLrEkAmIOPMfhjTnnQNotz2zGCtMpEbdSWng5LO8jYqwDPVe6O3bybJTUVkvCkZugA41tV8Na3Fk5UN/s1600/pickaroon+dublin+docks+1970s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_MdXciS2vcS2CN4M-jjyVii5gxQxqeilcVgu8yfdp_NmFeospFDwAzv2Cfi88vyLrEkAmIOPMfhjTnnQNotz2zGCtMpEbdSWng5LO8jYqwDPVe6O3bybJTUVkvCkZugA41tV8Na3Fk5UN/s1600/pickaroon+dublin+docks+1970s.jpg" height="241" width="320" /></a></div>
This melancholy image was captioned the "Pickaroon". The girl is collecting coal that has fallen off trucks. I can't say for certain but I believe this image is from the 1970s. Sadly, it looks like it could have been taken any time in the previous hundred years. It was taken in Dublin's Docklands, an area that has seen huge change in its built environment in recent decades.<br />
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Old ladies in the Liberties, 1970s. This beautiful image clearly shows the extent to which many parts of Dublin were let fall to rack and ruin in the 20th century.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjJmdrbRxq6_8sos9RYGYWkR_vQdQRMfBEJLuBP11rOz9kz7FZ2x9XYEnwNQZaRpmTv-kDcRZn9Q8z4jF1PVeFYv1g4hIVvyI_qcNjwtUPRv_CCMqPoxTPNhSXMDwlqocw9o7WkVccKgF2/s1600/lads+Dublin,+1970s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjJmdrbRxq6_8sos9RYGYWkR_vQdQRMfBEJLuBP11rOz9kz7FZ2x9XYEnwNQZaRpmTv-kDcRZn9Q8z4jF1PVeFYv1g4hIVvyI_qcNjwtUPRv_CCMqPoxTPNhSXMDwlqocw9o7WkVccKgF2/s1600/lads+Dublin,+1970s.jpg" height="320" width="247" /></a></div>
The lads, hanging out, somewhere in Dublin, 1970s.<br />
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This image taken in the Docklands in the 1970s works as a colour companion piece to the pickaroon image above. A lone figure, lost in a Dickensian wasteland.<br />
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<br />Fingal Rapareehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293475853657061602noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1866219250494180545.post-38488460968309317292013-12-11T00:34:00.000+00:002013-12-11T00:34:39.766+00:00Corkcentric Print Ads (1956)<i>The ads below come from Blarney Magazine, Summer, 1956. It's not a publication I know anything about other than what I can glean from the sole issue I found in my possession. The advertisements in it have a simple elegance. These ads, mainly for Cork based companies, also give an insight into what consumer items were available in Ireland in the middle of the last century. Not being overly familiar with the People's Republic I can't tell if any of the advertised local firms still exist although of course Paddy Whiskey and Smithwick's Ale are still available in Cork as elsewhere. The most peculiar ad, to my mind, has to be for The Leprechaun cafe, illustrated as it is with a seemingly angry, malevolent leprechaun.</i><br />
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<br />Fingal Rapareehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293475853657061602noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1866219250494180545.post-51849177062376817872013-12-03T08:38:00.002+00:002013-12-03T08:39:30.492+00:00Discovering Northern Ireland (1950 and 1971)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Here's an advertisement for the Ulster Tourist Development Association from 1950. It featured in a guide book to Dublin and environs published in Britain. It's probably obvious why I posted this advertisement, but in case it isn't, I shall explain. The slogan "Ulster opens her doors to all" is replete with irony as the Northern Irish state at the time, while perhaps welcoming to tourists, wasn't all for opening doors to a substantial swath of its population. Catholics, who comprised around 1/3 of the population at the time, were in many significant ways treated as second class citizens. Similarly, a generation later nobody was describing the "quiet serenity" of the place.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnf-PUUT7c5-S9L3qL8875PZc5nCC2VXNizVZVAS-0B_PubqV883yX2XN_bCaB7oFLpDkK7ZDuMxw7pYoOAUCS5yke4QjZEEtVWuPEsykBwkVYEaKQ5wm8Lc_gF6ZIxGBXmKKHGl5FPyFp/s1600/NITB+Brochure+1971+HR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnf-PUUT7c5-S9L3qL8875PZc5nCC2VXNizVZVAS-0B_PubqV883yX2XN_bCaB7oFLpDkK7ZDuMxw7pYoOAUCS5yke4QjZEEtVWuPEsykBwkVYEaKQ5wm8Lc_gF6ZIxGBXmKKHGl5FPyFp/s320/NITB+Brochure+1971+HR.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
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(Source: <a href="http://clydesburn.blogspot.ie/2010/10/promoting-northern-ireland-in-1971.html">http://clydesburn.blogspot.ie/2010/10/promoting-northern-ireland-in-1971.html</a>)</div>
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Since the Troubles commenced in the late 1960s, promoters of tourism in the north have had a uniquely difficult job. Even today, fifteen years after the Good Friday Agreement, there's a stigma with some potential visitors associating the north, and in particular Belfast, with sectarian division and violence. Indeed, Belfast exploits its <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_tourism" target="_blank">dark tourist</a> potential with <a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/ireland/northern-ireland/belfast/activities/other/original-belfast-black-taxi-tours" target="_blank">black taxi tours</a> of political murals on both sides of the divide being a popular tourist activity.Fingal Rapareehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293475853657061602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1866219250494180545.post-5632433984803383452013-11-13T17:39:00.003+00:002013-11-13T17:40:17.915+00:00A Song Of Swords (1916)<i>This poem relates to labour-related goings-on in my home town in 1913 which are elaborated upon <a href="http://www.theirishstory.com/2013/07/15/the-principal-rallying-ground-for-the-larkinites-the-swords-riot-of-1913/#.UoO2ePnxpy0" target="_blank">here</a>. </i><i>The poem was written by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._K._Chesterton" target="_blank">GK Chesterton</a>, the English polymath who is perhaps best remembered in Ireland these days for the oft-recited lines, "For the great Gaels of Ireland, are the men that God made mad, for all their wars are happy, and all their songs are sad" which feature in his epic poem, the Ballad Of The White Horse. </i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYfXZSHaewM5YRGTY-MqGm3YXhjPCANSEasEQdKQjcAYhSyjsTh_P_INb692Cdj3mYrXbAZcNUU4MF-htlplvbnUtTqlkJJzNj2zsWYWxMDBKWfQTXVOI5x8XXKppLviAiS62LMDYXbmHt/s1600/mainstreet1900web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYfXZSHaewM5YRGTY-MqGm3YXhjPCANSEasEQdKQjcAYhSyjsTh_P_INb692Cdj3mYrXbAZcNUU4MF-htlplvbnUtTqlkJJzNj2zsWYWxMDBKWfQTXVOI5x8XXKppLviAiS62LMDYXbmHt/s320/mainstreet1900web.jpg" width="320" /></a> </div>
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Main Street, Swords, c.1900</div>
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<i>(Image courtesy of <a href="http://swordsheritage.com/" target="_blank">Swords Historial Society</a> via <a href="http://gaelart.net/" target="_blank">Gaelart</a>)</i></div>
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A SONG OF SWORDS<br />
<br />
"A drove of cattle came into a village called Swords;<br />
and was stopped by the rioters."—Daily Paper.<br />
<br />
In the place called Swords on the Irish road<br />
It is told for a new renown<br />
How we held the horns of the cattle, and how<br />
We will hold the horns of the devils now<br />
Ere the lord of hell with the horn on his brow<br />
Is crowned in Dublin town.<br />
<br />
Light in the East and light in the West,<br />
And light on the cruel lords,<br />
On the souls that suddenly all men knew,<br />
And the green flag flew and the red flag flew,<br />
And many a wheel of the world stopped, too,<br />
When the cattle were stopped at Swords.<br />
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Be they sinners or less than saints<br />
That smite in the street for rage,<br />
We know where the shame shines bright; we know<br />
You that they smite at, you their foe,<br />
Lords of the lawless wage and low,<br />
This is your lawful wage.<br />
<br />
You pinched a child to a torture price<br />
That you dared not name in words;<br />
So black a jest was the silver bit<br />
That your own speech shook for the shame of it,<br />
And the coward was plain as a cow they hit<br />
When the cattle have strayed at Swords.<br />
<br />
The wheel of the torrent of wives went round<br />
To break men's brotherhood;<br />
You gave the good Irish blood to grease<br />
The clubs of your country's enemies;<br />
you saw the brave man beat to the knees:<br />
And you saw that it was good.<br />
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The rope of the rich is long and long—<br />
The longest of hangmen's cords;<br />
But the kings and crowds are holding their breath,<br />
In a giant shadow o'er all beneath<br />
Where God stands holding the scales of Death<br />
Between the cattle and Swords.<br />
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Haply the lords that hire and lend<br />
The lowest of all men's lords,<br />
Who sell their kind like kine at a fair,<br />
Will find no head of their cattle there;<br />
But faces of men where cattle were:<br />
Faces of men—and Swords.Fingal Rapareehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293475853657061602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1866219250494180545.post-68091570602088148002013-10-23T04:20:00.000+01:002013-10-23T08:43:01.209+01:00John Hinde Postcards Of Ireland (1950s - 1980s)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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John Hinde (1916-1997) was an English photographer who set up shop in Ireland in the 1950s, after a stint in the circus. Hinde produced postcards of the Irish landscape and city streets. He favoured a lurid style often with posed, explicitly nostalgic subject matters. His postcards became immensely popular with tourists and locals alike and are fondly recalled to this day. In Britain, Hinde is best remembered for producing postcards of <a href="http://www.johnhindecollection.com/butlins.html" target="_blank">Butlins</a> but his company produced postcards from all over these islands. Although Hinde sold his company in 1972 it continued to produce postcards into the 1980s, most of which were in his very particular house style.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJRwI3vcfwuMuTV1NrBzUBYg5m6b-ED-Yg5Ohtq_kZnblkqB7Z5J5FQc5w_oarbL2VYCk4N41j4BjZp9BRrgQ9k34pCSqeDUcZuZGH2KCKTw61JyvFqt9e2KDpKcB-O2ZtKgfeEge0SQBT/s1600/connemara.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJRwI3vcfwuMuTV1NrBzUBYg5m6b-ED-Yg5Ohtq_kZnblkqB7Z5J5FQc5w_oarbL2VYCk4N41j4BjZp9BRrgQ9k34pCSqeDUcZuZGH2KCKTw61JyvFqt9e2KDpKcB-O2ZtKgfeEge0SQBT/s320/connemara.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I've posted two samples from the Hinde postcard collection. The first one is to my mind atypical of Hinde, featuring an almost futuristic nightscape of Dublin with the ghostly trails of traffic and the illuminated advertising for Club Orange, Texaco etc. It's a beautiful postcard and one I'm trying to find a physical copy of. The second is much more typical of the style Hinde became famous for. It's a presumably posed, kitsch and colourful representation of the Irish landscape featuring an archetyal buachaill and <span class="Latn headword" lang="ga" style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;" xml:lang="ga"><span style="font-family: inherit;">cailín</span></span> rua as well as a trusty donkey, carrying turf from the bog. More of Hinde's Irish postcard collection can be viewed <a href="http://www.johnhindecollection.com/ireland1.html" target="_blank">here</a>.Fingal Rapareehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293475853657061602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1866219250494180545.post-57936919683197090022013-09-26T01:19:00.001+01:002013-09-26T01:21:43.314+01:00Dalkey, Co. Dublin (1834)<i>This article was published in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin_Penny_Journal" target="_blank">Dublin Penny Journal</a> issue number 85, Volume II, dated February 15th, 1834.</i><br />
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The Island of Dalkey, of which the foregoing is a view taken from Bullock, is divided from the mainland by a channel called Dalkey Sound, in which ships may safely ride at anchor in eight fathoms of water, sheltered by the island from the north-east wind, to which every other part of Dublin Bay lies exposed. This island is said to contain eighteen acres, and, although covered with rocks, is esteemed an excellent pasturage for cattle of all kinds. It is curious to see the people conveying black cattle hither from the mainland. They fasten one end of a rope about the beast's horns, and then tie the other end to the stern of a boat, which is pulled with oars in the direction of the island. By this means they drag the animal into the sea, and force it to swim after the boat across the sound, a distance of about a quarter of a mile. Besides good pasturage, Dalkey island produces some medicinal plants, and there is a ruin on it, said to be that of a church, but (the belfry excepted) no lineament survives that would induce a person to suppose it the remains of a place of worship. I much doubt its having ever been used for one. The side of the structure where some traces of an altar might be sought for, presents no such appearance ; but, on the contrary, a fire-place and chimney are to be seen where the altar should stand, had the building been for ecclesiastical uses. There are also visible in it vestiges of its having been lofted. It is therefore probable that the fabric, which is small and in the form of a parallelogram, was used for domestic or commercial and not for religious purposes.<br />
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Tradition informs us, that when the city of Dublin was limited by a plague in former days, some of the citizens retired to this island as an asylum from its desolating effects. It is certain that Primate Usher retired with his family from the same calamity to Lambay, and that he introduced a clause into the leases of that island, that, in case Ireland should again be visited by plague, the Lambay demises should be void, in order to ensure a safe retreat for his family.<br />
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There is a battery mounting three twenty-four pounders
on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalkey_Island" target="_blank">Island of Dalkey</a>, whose highest point is crowned
by a martello tower that differs from any I recollect to
have seen elsewhere. The entrance to the tower is at the
very top of the building, while the doors of most others
stand no more than twelve or fourteen feet from the
ground. Dalkey Island is uninhabited, save by the military stationed in the batteries. </div>
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The engraving which accompanies this article also exhibits a view of part of Dalkey common, which extends
from the village of the same name on the west, and the Government quarries on the south side to the sea. There
is a dwelling house of a most extraordinary kind now being
completed on a portion of this common. It is seen in
our drawing, two stories in height, standing alone, with the
front door opening within a few feet of a craggy mountain-
precipice, and its rere (sic) wildly hanging over a dreadful
rocky steep washed by the boisterous sea. The erection
of this extraordinary edifice was a strange vagary of the
projector. The first glance of it at once suggests to the
imagination, ideas of the amphibious retreats of desperate
smugglers, or cruel pirates of bygone times, rather than of
the rural summer haunt of a peaceful citizen. The occupier might repose in it as it is said the celebrated <i>Granuaile </i>used to do in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockfleet_Castle" target="_blank">Carrickahooly castle</a>, where her shipping was moored to her bedpost, for the purpose of preventing surprise. </div>
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The name of Dalkey common is perpetuated in the
convivial song called the <a href="http://www.irelandbyways.com/ireland-history/irish-music-song/the-kilruddery-hunt/" target="_blank">Kilruddery Hunt</a>, written in 1774 by Father Fleming, of Adam and Eve Chapel, and of which
a copy is said to have been presented by the Earl of Meath
to King George the Fourth, when he visited Ireland.
The expression, " Dalkey-stone common," in that song,
leads me to remark that there was formerly a druidical
rocking-stone in the neighbourhood of Bullock or Dalkey.
I find mention made of it by some old writera and also by
Wright, in the <a href="http://www.askaboutireland.ie/reading-room/digital-book-collection/digital-books-by-county/wicklow/wright-a-guide-to-the-cou/" target="_blank">Guide to the County of Wicklow</a> : but
although I have devoted several days to searching for it, I
am with regret obliged to say, I have not been able to
find it. </div>
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The Government quarries on the common are at present worked by the respectable firm of Henry, Mullins,
and Mc Mahon, who have contracted for the completion
of Kingstown harbour. The largest blocks of granite,
raised in the quarries by the force of gunpowder, are lowered (to the long level of the railway where the horses are
yoked to the trucks) by a succession of three inclined
planes, in the following manner. A large metal wheel
with a groove in it, and revolving freely on an upright
axis, is fixed at the head of each inclined plane. Over
the groove a strong endless chain is passed, and from
thence carried down a railway to the bottom of the inclination, where, running over friction-rollers, it returns up
another rail road, parallel to the former, back to the
wheel first mentioned. When a laden truck has to be
lowered, it is brought to the verge of the descent, and
there attached to the chain. At the same time, an empty
track is fastened at the bottom of the descent to the
ascending portion of the same chain. The laden truck is
then pushed down the sloping rail-road, and by reason of
its weight (from five to seven tons) proceeds rapidly down,
drawing at the same time the empty truck up from the
bottom of the parallel railway. There are generally three
laden and as many unladen carriages moving up or down
the steep in this manner at the same moment. Should
the motion become too rapid, a man at the top has the
power of regulating it by means of a friction-band, which,
with the help of a compound lever, he can close upon the
grooved metal wheel. The same contrivance serves to stop the descent altogether, the instant the trucks have
arrived at their destination. Thus, by the aid of a simple
combination of mechanic powers, a single man is enabled
to move and controul (sic) the motion of six heavy carriages,
bearing an aggregate weight of granite of about twenty
tons, a task which it would require twenty-seven horses,
with the ordinary modes of conveyance on common roads
to accomplish. </div>
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The village of Dalkey stands about seven miles from
Dublin, at the northern side of Dalkey hill, on which was formerly a telegraph, now dismantled, and nearly undermined by the quarrymen in the neighbourhood. The village was formerly a place of great importance. During
the reign of Queen Elizabeth, it was a repository for the
goods imported or to be exported by the merchants of
Dublin. The ruins of several castles are still remaining
here; they were built for the protection of trade against
the hordes of land and sea robbers that infested the country at a remote period. </div>
Fingal Rapareehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293475853657061602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1866219250494180545.post-5235913942619867682013-08-11T21:45:00.002+01:002013-08-11T21:45:21.786+01:00"No Connection With The Jews" advert, The Leader Newspaper (1905)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This advert appeared in The Leader newspaper, in December 1905. The Leader was the mouthpiece of one <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._P._Moran" target="_blank">D.P. Moran</a>. In the paper's pages he espoused his views on the form an independent Ireland should take. I have a collection of issues of the paper and there are ads throughout. Most of these ads trumpet Irish made products and their superiority to imported alternatives. Many of the ads are for Catholic literature and for things like Irish language lessons. The above ad caught my late father's eye a number of years ago for its declaration that the firm has "No connection with the Jews." My brother pointed out that the general Camden St. area was the centre of Jewish life in Dublin (often referred to as "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portobello,_Dublin#Little_Jerusalem" target="_blank">Little Jerusalem</a>") and indeed at the time there was a synagogue a short distance away at 52 Camden Street.<br />
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Although the firm was called Sinn Féin Ltd., I don't know what, if any, association it had with the political organisation of that name and would appreciate any information any reader has about it. The Sinn Féin political party only got going weeks before this advertisement was published so presumably the term enjoyed some currency at the time beyond the nascent party. It's probably worth pointing out though that the party's founder, Arthur Griffith has <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Griffith#Charges_of_Anti-Semitism" target="_blank">often been accused of being an anti-semite</a>. It's also worth noting for context that the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limerick_Pogrom" target="_blank">Limerick Pogrom </a>was ongoing at the time this was published.Fingal Rapareehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293475853657061602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1866219250494180545.post-65589344129636987682013-07-23T20:28:00.001+01:002013-10-24T14:30:46.039+01:00The Destruction Of Dublin As A Great European City (1988)<i>I found this article in The Canberra Times, dated March 17th, 1988. It's a state of Dublin piece related to that year's "Millennium" celebrations. That year Dublin went Viking mad, we had 50ps galore and <a href="http://comeheretome.com/2009/12/25/johnny-logan-ronnie-drew-christy-moore-the-fureys-and-a-rare-7-vinyl/" target="_blank">this</a> single was released. It refers to the then Lord Mayor Of Dublin <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmencita_Hederman" target="_blank">Carmencita Hederman</a> and the writer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_McDonald_(journalist)" target="_blank">Frank McDonald</a>. McDonald has been a long time advocate for more considered planning of our urban environment and is the author of books such as The Construction Of Dublin and Chaos At The Crossroads. The article also includes a contribution from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Norris_(politician)" target="_blank">Senator David Norris </a>, erstwhile Irish Presidential candidate, most recently notable for the <a href="http://www.thejournal.ie/fannygate-norris-doherty-statement-994736-Jul2013/" target="_blank">Fannygate imbroglio</a>. The article was written by Carol Craig. I'm happy to report that number 26 Fishamble Street is still extant. Despite the passage of a quarter century many of the issues raised in this piece still resonate, hence my posting it here. Since this article didn't come replete with too many images I've found some Dublin 1988 images to augment this post.</i><br />
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Getting the year wrong is the not the worst thing facing Dublin's millennium celebrations. Among the razzmatazz and the genuine outpouring of affection is a chorus of voices crying that what was once one of Europe's most beautiful capitals is fast losing the right to claim that it is even a shadow of its former self.<br />
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Dublin's Lord Mayor, Alderman Carmencita Hederman, underlined the point this month when she awarded the first of the "Millennium Medals" to those who tried, and failed, to save the site of the thousand-year-old heart of the city, the first Viking settlement at Wood Quay.<br />
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Some who have already made the millennium tour comment that the fabric of the historic city centre is badly frayed, but add, thank God, traditional Dublin warmth is still alive and talking in the pubs.<br />
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Irish journalist Frank MacDonald, author of the book The Destruction of Dublin, says "We don't really have a city to celebrate. A total of 160 acres in the centre of Dublin are derelict, in addition to a host of tumble down buildings and vacant and potentially vacant buildings. The inner city has essentially been abandoned. The population of the inner city has been halved in the last 25 years."<br />
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City Manager Frank Feely was a guest at the millennium medal ceremony. As the city's chief bureaucrat, Feely is frequently blamed for the activities of the city's road engineers. According to Ireland's respected conservation group, <i>An Taisce</i>, road widening is now the single biggest cause of the destruction of the city's historic buildings.<br />
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At the beginning of the year, Lord Mayor Hederman led the city council to defeat a highly unpopular scheme to run a six-lane ring road past Dublin's second oldest cathedral. However, the 800-year-old St. Patrick's is still going to have to endure four lanes almost at its front door if the engineers have their way.<br />
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It is not that Feely, a large man with charm and a sense of humour, has no concern for the city. It was his idea to hold the millennium celebration in the first place.<br />
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"I saw it has having three threads, literature, history, culture, stimulating interesting in Dublin and something harder to put your finger on, something abstract. To inspire confidence, a bit of pride."<br />
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Having missed the chance to celebrate the founding of the city, now put at 841 AD, and having almost a decade to go before the 1000-year anniversary of the granting of the first city charter, Feely suggested celebrating the year in which an Irish king defeated the Viking king of Dublin and forced each household to pay him tribute of an ounce of gold.<br />
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Historians have now pointed out that because of a change in the calendar this actually happened 999 years ago. Commenting on the mistake, Irish Senator David Norris said, "like all these things there is an element of fiction, no city ever started on a particular day. I rather like the idea of celebrating the one year in which nothing happened." Norris adds, the central idea is to "harness the energy for the good of the city."<br />
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Feely claims the corporation is doing that, pointing to the construction of badly needed pedestrian malls, the revamping of the shop fronts on Dublin's main thoroughfare and the planting of thousands of trees. But, warns <i>An Taisce</i>, too much attention to these could cover up the real problem of the city - the fact that there are a number of historic areas still under threat.<br />
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An Taisce's spokesperson for Dublin, Ian Lumley, puts a warren of narrow streets leading from the south side of the River Liffey in the centre of the city at the top of the list. Called Temple Bar after its main street, a modern map of the area is almost the same as the one from the 18th century shown on the back of the Irish £10 note. The buildings are a mix, houses built in the 1700s, turned into shops in the eighteen hundreds, a few early 20th-century factories thrown in. Many of the streets are still cobbled and the sidewalks still made of granite blocks.<br />
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In the past five years it has become the closest thing Dublin has to New York's Greenwich Village or a Parisian Left Banks. Rents are cheap and, says Christine Bond, chairman of the board at Temple Bar Studios, the only low rent studio space for artists in the city, "It is a place where lots of younger people could get in and get something going."<br />
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The area was scheduled for road widening but plans have changed. Now the threat is the fact that the government transportation company which owns 8 per cent of the buildings in the area is being urged by the central government to sell them off to deal with the cash crisis caused by Ireland's huge national debt. Agents for large developers are already looking over the area.<br />
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On the edge of Temple Bar is one of the oldest houses in the city. Number 26 Fishamble Street probably dates from the early 1700s. Its owners, the Casey family who have had the house for at least 190 years, received one of the "Millennium Medals" for maintaining their house against the odds. Last year it almost fell down when the corporation demolished a house next door it claimed was unsafe, apparently destabilising number 26 in the process.<br />
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Commenting on the corporation action, Mrs Enda Casey said, "Really and truly it is maddening what they have done to the city." Frank MacDonald thinks the attitude towards the preservation is a "cultural problem". Dublin's golden age was the 18th century. Dublin Georgian architecture is largely domestic rather than monumental. It is houses, shops, pubs. It was built largely for the enjoyment of the British-linked Protestant rulers of Ireland while the majority of Catholic Irish lived in hovels and slums. For many Irish the buildings of the period are a symbol of the colonial past. "It is tied up with the idea of 800 years of oppression and the like. The Georgian heritage wasn't really seen as Irish despite the fact that it was all built in Ireland by Irish workmen."<br />
By the early 20th century many of the old Georgian buildings had become slums. "For years since [Irish playwright] Sean O'Casey's time the perception of the inner city was that it was just a slum. The idea has been that people, for the good of their health, need to be cleared out of it."<br />
Describing the situation at the end of English rule, Feely refers to "rich town houses being turned into tenements."<br />
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"It made us into the disgrace of Europe in terms of disease and infant mortality," he said. "It made housing a top priority. The first thing you've got to do in any city is give people the basis of living."<br />
The argument between the corporation and conservationists is how much of the basis comes from history and heritage. Frank MacDonald says he has seen students in tears over what is now happening in the city.<br />
"I think there is a sense that the younger generation of this city feel they have been robbed of something very precious - the possibility of living in a great European city," he said..<br />
Senator Norris, who has almost single-handedly saved an entire Georgian street and who believes Dublin can return to something of its former glory, hopes the millennium celebrations may have an effect: "The 360 odd days of 1988 will be used to change attitudes, to go into the next decade with something of hope rather than pessimism."Fingal Rapareehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293475853657061602noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1866219250494180545.post-59678629640827899972013-07-10T03:29:00.002+01:002013-07-10T22:39:05.331+01:00Ireland from the Life archives. (1940s-1970s)Not life as in real life but <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_(magazine)" target="_blank">Life</a> as in the American photo journalism weekly whose heyday spanned from the late 1930s until the 1970s. The publication really came into its own during World War II and was the source of the seminal <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2276366/Times-Square-kiss-Statue-famous-moment-end-World-War-II-installed-San-Diego.html" target="_blank">WW2 kiss photo</a>, which <a href="http://now.msn.com/kissing-sailor-photo-from-world-war-ii-called-sexual-assault" target="_blank">may or may not have been sexual assault</a>. Here is a selection of interesting images depicting Ireland that I gleaned from the magazine's archives. They date from the 1940s until the 1970s and as can be seen, vary widely in tone.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqqEEdTrX905AtncMEpZN0J2l7kSniGbm5qTbMnEgMM4RqyrIJxZYDKvLyOJcFat5JSrAUmSHYFqBw3s-lk-uRXjri3ghdCrh19vzROhNvWof3Sswa79iOLmOYJqDWsGioO0Ag2el8hanL/s1600/barmaidatshannonairport1948.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqqEEdTrX905AtncMEpZN0J2l7kSniGbm5qTbMnEgMM4RqyrIJxZYDKvLyOJcFat5JSrAUmSHYFqBw3s-lk-uRXjri3ghdCrh19vzROhNvWof3Sswa79iOLmOYJqDWsGioO0Ag2el8hanL/s320/barmaidatshannonairport1948.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Here's a comely barmaid at the bar in Shannon Airport, 1948. This photo was taken at a time when Shannon was becoming an important refueling stop in transatlantic aviation. In the year of the Gathering I'm sure images echoing this one abound.<br />
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A 30 year old Mr. Brendan Behan taking a wee sup sometime in 1953.<br />
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British soldiers in Newry, Co. Down, c.1972. A reader kindly identified the church in the background as Newry Cathedral.<br />
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Here's the picturesque harbour at Carna, Co. Galway, in 1946.<br />
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This is the Falls Road, on the corner of Waterford Street, in 1941. In the archives it is described as a "Catholic Ghetto".<br />
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Ormond Quay, Dublin, 1943.<br />
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This image has probably been reproduced a lot in recent weeks since the 50th anniversary of JFK's visit to Ireland occurred recently. It's John F Kennedy being snogged by his cousin in Dunganstown, Co. Wexford and of course dates from 1963.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidmHZx3eNHMeREx9VwFZUnpyBFbBRvYg6X6t-JQMiLN1FXycpcWfi-12mNxSogBS-cS2hmLHnGARKjG0J_xqKt3xct19pH4O_LL0UUClZY4ZeXFwuK5tny5yFA7YC9I6PVuoLxGSotvPhb/s1600/ladiesindublinpub1953.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidmHZx3eNHMeREx9VwFZUnpyBFbBRvYg6X6t-JQMiLN1FXycpcWfi-12mNxSogBS-cS2hmLHnGARKjG0J_xqKt3xct19pH4O_LL0UUClZY4ZeXFwuK5tny5yFA7YC9I6PVuoLxGSotvPhb/s320/ladiesindublinpub1953.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Auld wans in a Dublin pub, c1953. This image as well as the image above of Brendan Behan were part of a series that accompanied an article on the playwright Sean O'Casey.<br />
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This image shows advertising for contemporary live entertainment in Dublin in 1943. Can anyone tell me which church that is in the background?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDDpyd9DOrWxSC5QbECMwSDy09ggkbdmNasPi7wtkGgSlZRNALFMX7RjGW9ayTFB9uIMB-WND5rmfo2xkYP7iG7GzQTychoWfEOVOEOoj0jxrnpaPL9GBrHDbxX6CPBxpMNsN829IENYZI/s1600/newarmyrecruitscurragh1940.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDDpyd9DOrWxSC5QbECMwSDy09ggkbdmNasPi7wtkGgSlZRNALFMX7RjGW9ayTFB9uIMB-WND5rmfo2xkYP7iG7GzQTychoWfEOVOEOoj0jxrnpaPL9GBrHDbxX6CPBxpMNsN829IENYZI/s320/newarmyrecruitscurragh1940.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
These lads were new army recruits, at the Curragh, Co. Kildare in 1940. Although the Irish Free State was neutral during World War II, many young soldiers, including perhaps some of those photographed above, <a href="http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0507/390710-soldier-amnesty/" target="_blank">deserted in order to join the British Army</a> and fight against the Nazis.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_b-DZUtPrgM8sRFtjAvKe-QdQ-By8MiDAQewBnosfxT9M_RHJXReaQ82efcfyJoxAi1zJkJGi-Gxf0YOo5qi6jV9XItUR-ULieylj_n2E_kf_6mH2tD3HH5qQ88B4BG0OvUsURJY2J7tR/s1600/ormondquay48.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_b-DZUtPrgM8sRFtjAvKe-QdQ-By8MiDAQewBnosfxT9M_RHJXReaQ82efcfyJoxAi1zJkJGi-Gxf0YOo5qi6jV9XItUR-ULieylj_n2E_kf_6mH2tD3HH5qQ88B4BG0OvUsURJY2J7tR/s320/ormondquay48.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Bachelor's Walk, Dublin, 1948. It's worth noting the relative paucity of vehicular traffic as well as the road being two way at the time. The Ha'Penny Bridge can be seen in the background to the left.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCkh1UW68CcLw6WexMM6hivJnHObVs0hR03hLar9TzyoeSvI5yoJWKOqYOKhGh8KRKX1TlTZ0BHr4DS4-IMUYHsOlgg6e8OKlum8ZgHoHcL1OGLktRkFjG54RFAu0Ye8KiSkKLrnFH1s7N/s1600/soldierandinterrogant1972.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCkh1UW68CcLw6WexMM6hivJnHObVs0hR03hLar9TzyoeSvI5yoJWKOqYOKhGh8KRKX1TlTZ0BHr4DS4-IMUYHsOlgg6e8OKlum8ZgHoHcL1OGLktRkFjG54RFAu0Ye8KiSkKLrnFH1s7N/s320/soldierandinterrogant1972.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
A British soldier, interrogating a stylish individual, outside a butcher shop somewhere in Northern Ireland, 1972. The graffito says "McShane wants to ---- anywhere." I doubt it is referring to Ian McShane. Next door there's a boutique.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhm9c-lzMMHP8GPYVt-cUteemq_lrxgkXN7KpgYcwKhmmDZchKIjfK58351ngGePh_26IesH1NcMyNqkoBCsLWdyH3BXqsfGSQ-PCuoGBANaSKzdfFnDMU12yfuMGDmmYsmQyfZUdvkJrX/s1600/soldierscleaningoffarmouredcarcurraghcamp1941.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhm9c-lzMMHP8GPYVt-cUteemq_lrxgkXN7KpgYcwKhmmDZchKIjfK58351ngGePh_26IesH1NcMyNqkoBCsLWdyH3BXqsfGSQ-PCuoGBANaSKzdfFnDMU12yfuMGDmmYsmQyfZUdvkJrX/s320/soldierscleaningoffarmouredcarcurraghcamp1941.jpg" width="246" /></a></div>
Irish Soldiers cleaning an armoured car at the Curragh Camp, 1941. This vehicle would have been all that stood between freedom and Nazi domination had <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Green_(Ireland)" target="_blank">Operation Green</a> ever come into effect.<br />
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Trinity College Dublin, 1946. This was in the twilight days of the old trams.<br />
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulster_Defence_Volunteers" target="_blank"> Ulster Defence Volunteers</a>, being trained by the B-Specials, somewhere in Northern Ireland, 1941.<br />
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Lady hanging washing in a Dublin "slum", sometime in 1948. I'm not sure where this was taken.<br />
<br />Fingal Rapareehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293475853657061602noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1866219250494180545.post-20180452282862447812013-06-19T03:34:00.003+01:002013-06-19T14:43:03.047+01:00Postcards Of Belfast (Early 1900s)I've found that the postcard posts have thus far been my most popular so here's a selection of postcards depicting Edwardian Belfast. They show the city's oft-lauded industrial might, its grand architecture, its commerce, and scenic spots. These postcards bring to mind the fascinating photographs in the book <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Made-Belfast-Trevor-Parkhill/dp/0750940328" target="_blank">Made In Belfast</a> by Trevor Parkhill and Vivienne Pollock which describes the industrial and commercial vibrancy of Belfast at the time. I found the book somewhat of a revelation. I had been so used to seeing Ireland at the time, north and south, depicted as agrarian, bucolic or just plain primitive.<br />
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This post card shows <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belfast_Castle" target="_blank">Belfast Castle</a> looking slightly eerie.<br />
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This grand looking building, completed in 1906, was the home of Belfast Tech, aka the Black Man Tech, until 2011. If you'd like to find out more about this educational institution <a href="http://northernvisions.droon.web.tibus.net/archive/related/belfast-tech-artisans-dreamers/" target="_blank">here</a>'s a documentary I found that goes into its history.</div>
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I have no idea if the charming looking building still stands, perhaps a local reader can enlighten me, but I can safely say that the people enjoying themselves in the boat are long gone unless one of them happens to be Highlander.</div>
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This colourful postcard shows the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botanic_Gardens_(Belfast)#The_Palm_House" target="_blank">Palm House</a> in Belfast's lovely Botanic Gardens. It looks pretty much the same today, social media notwithstanding.</div>
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belfast_City_Hall" target="_blank">Belfast City Hall</a> took 8 years to construct and was completed in 1906. It's a beautiful building and to this day serves as a fantastic focal point for Belfast. When I sat outside it a few years ago eating lunch a man offered to sell me a volume of Marvel comics that he produced from under his shirt.<br />
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Harland and Wolff's famous shipyards, what can I say that hasn't already been said? They're still a point of pride amongst many in Belfast. At the time depicted they were a if not <i>the</i> major employer in Belfast. Its most famous ship was of course the Titanic, which some contemporary visitors to Belfast expect to see there. Thankfully now their disappointment can be allayed by the recently constructed <a href="http://www.titanicbelfast.com/" target="_blank">Titanic Museum</a>. Other famous ships to come from the yards include the Titanic's sister ship, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Olympic" target="_blank">Olympic</a>, and the HMS Belfast which under the pretense of being a museum ship protects London from Cybermen and Daleks.<br />
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High Street, Belfast, with Belfast's answer to Big Ben or the Leaning Tower Of Pisa, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Memorial_Clock,_Belfast" target="_blank">Albert Memorial Clock</a>, in the background.</div>
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Queen's University in 1910. I can't think of anything else to write other than my dad attended the university roughly 50 years later and he and his pals used to congregate in the Student Union in order to huddle around a television to watch the Flintstones.<br />
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Queen's Bridge around 1900 showing some of the city's industrial activity at the time.<br />
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This postcard shows Belfast's main shopping thoroughfare, Royal Avenue. All the shops shown are now KFCs, McDonald's and <a href="http://www.carrollsirishgifts.com/" target="_blank">Carroll</a>'s tricolour inflatable hammer dealers. The trams are in tram heaven.<br />
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Shaw's Bridge still stands, although it has long since been superceded by a snazzier more modern affair nearby. <a href="http://www.nmni.com/images/CollectionImages/record_photos/HOYFM/archival/WA_Green/0001-1000/0001-0100/WAG9_INT.jpg" target="_blank">Here</a>'s the bridge from another angle.<br />
<br />Fingal Rapareehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293475853657061602noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1866219250494180545.post-33809875463146378912013-06-18T00:40:00.002+01:002013-06-18T00:40:56.851+01:00Political Murals of Northern Ireland (1970s - 2010)<h2 class="title icon" style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; font-family: Tahoma, Calibri, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0px;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><i>This is a modified version of a post I did on a messageboard in 2010. It was written primarily for people from outside Ireland. The images used were gleaned from various sources online.</i></span></h2>
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Political Murals of Northern Ireland</h2>
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There is a rich tradition in Northern Ireland of painting political murals. As far as I am aware, prior the Troubles, some murals did exist, usually depicting William of Orange (e). However since 1969 their popularity has increased and there have been several thousand painted by artists on both sides of the community. These murals are generally, though not exclusively on the gable ends of houses, in working class areas of the main cities. Although murals can be seen elsewhere the majority exist in these locales. They deal with a variety of themes, generally related to the sociopolitical identity of the local community. Some commemorate fallen comrades (a), some celebrate paramilitary factions (b), others mark historic events, others still, especially in more recent years celebrate the local culture in non-divisive ways by emphasising mythology, community progress etc.<br />
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a)<br />
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2763/4488442126_5b56822be6_o.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 800px;" /><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4070/4487777699_da0259ba3c_o.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 800px;" /><br />
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b)<br />
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2767/4487779539_bf0a4ce477_o.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 800px;" /><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2712/4487815529_fb26271485_o.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 800px;" /><br />
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The murals typically include some of the iconography associated with one or other of the communities but also sometimes incorporate pop cultural references. Murals have been documented that have incorporated Eddie the Iron Maiden mascot, Bart Simpson and other cartoon characters(d).<br />
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d) <img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4043/4487793257_074f72442c_o.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 800px;" /><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4020/4488442182_765a8825a2_o.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 800px;" /><img alt="" border="0" height="291" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2711/4487890401_7718a37625_o.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 800px;" width="400" /><br />
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One of the main differences between Loyalist/Unionist murals and Republican/Nationalist ones is that the latter are often willfully multicultural, depicting solidarity with other national struggles throughout the world (d). This internationalist approach is a legacy of Irish radical Republicanism's traditional left wing ethos and international support base. Murals have been painted that include statements of support for Palestine, the Basque Country, FARC in Colombia, Cuba, and other left-wing national struggles. In recent years, as the violence has subsided more and more of these murals display political commentary on the international scene. Those Loyalist/Unionist murals that look abroad tend to look to the Ulster-Scots elsewhere, in Scotland or America (e). For example, a number of murals portray American Presidents of Ulster-Scots heritage, of which there are quite a few.<br />
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d)<br />
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e) <img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4006/4488442352_8403f695fe_o.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 800px;" /><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2689/4487780795_330e40f89b_o.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 800px;" /><br />
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Talking purely about aesthetics some are beautifully done, using either graphic design style work or just a nice attention to detail (f). While many seem the competent work of trained or practiced painters others are quite folksy are badly drawn. Some are cartoonish or kitsch in an unintended way (g). The menace or gravitas of some murals is deflated by the amateurishness of the rendition.<br />
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f)<img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2756/4487792651_96a3d4ce6c_o.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 800px;" /><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4048/4488463856_6600fcb98d_o.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 800px;" /><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4009/4488441952_bee10e5371_o.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 800px;" /><br />
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g)<img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4058/4487791603_a4184da927_o.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 800px;" /><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2721/4488429868_577d836690_o.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 800px;" /><br />
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Some murals are done with humorous intent albeit a political underpinning and are often blackly comic (g). Indeed some subvert the ideas and ideals of the communities for other purposes in a humorous way (h).<br />
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g)<img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4070/4488442228_70a7ac93e3_o.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 800px;" /><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4046/4487792717_f3664f6ff2_o.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 800px;" /><br />
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h)<img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4030/4488442042_5fa38d712f_o.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 800px;" /><br />
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For obvious reasons, there are a number of murals that lionise convicted murderers, in the mural below (i) "His only crime was loyalty" would more accurately read "His only crime was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milltown_Cemetery_attack" target="_blank">murdering people at a funeral</a>."<br />
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i) <img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4027/4488449882_da3b442a0e_o.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 800px;" /><br />
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Not all murals are overtly divisive in a political sense. Many, especially recent ones describe events in Northern Irish and wider world history such as the Titanic (j)which was constructed in the Belfast shipyards. Some murals convey commentary on contemporary international events such as the Iraq invasion of 2003 (k).<br />
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j)<img alt="" border="0" height="640" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4009/4487792583_e46256c556_b.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 800px;" width="480" /><br />
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k)<img alt="" border="0" height="274" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4065/4488429942_7dd22386cd_o.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 800px;" width="400" /><br />
<img alt="" border="0" height="300" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2784/4488428006_02e497c8d2_b.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 800px;" width="400" /><br />
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These type of murals by and large don't exist in the Republic of Ireland, nor to the best of my knowledge in Britain. I have heard that in some Irish communities like South Boston in the US you can see some of these murals. There is a mini-industry in Northern Ireland currently of mural tourism. You can get a taxi tour or view them from a tour bus. I recommend such a tour to a visitor to Belfast or Derry as the drivers can provide stories and context for the murals.<br />
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To view more murals and find out more information please visit this site: <a href="http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/mccormick/" style="color: #3d5a2a;" target="_blank">http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/mccormick/</a></blockquote>
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Fingal Rapareehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07293475853657061602noreply@blogger.com0