Belfast, once the home town of Francis Biggar, Irish Nationalist of
Protestant persuasion, historian, antiquarian, archaeologist and writer, has
interested me ever since I first visited that city 42 years ago. I well remember the cultural shock of walking
around the deserted streets of the North’s capital on a Sunday morning when sabbatical observance meant that all
activities, cultural, social or commercial, were barred on the Lord’s day. The drabness and dreariness of that Sunday
has never left me and until recently had always marked my memories of Belfast
city.
Biggar interested me after I came across a report of his presenting an
Irish poplin flag bearing the ancient arms of the Borough of Athy to Athy’s
Pipers band in 1917. A Presbyterian who
did not follow his co-religious in matters of political allegiances, Biggar
actively supported, and indeed initiated, Irish Feiseanna in his native city,
as well as encouraging the development of the Irish language. The legacy of those days was to be found on
my recent visit to the Falls Road in Belfast where Cultúrlann McAdam O’Fiaich
is a visible reminder of the Gaeltacht quarter which embraces part of the Falls
Road area. This Irish cultural oasis is not
far from the city centre and adjoins the peace wall which separates the divided
communities of the Shankill and the Falls Road.
Located in what was once a Presbyterian Church Cultúrlann is named after
Roibeard McAdam, a Presbyterian who in 19th century Belfast led an Irish
language revival. It also recalls the
late Cardinal Thomas O’Fiaich. Gael Scoils
are very much an important part of education for children in this part of the
Falls Road and the result of that was very evident in the bilingual abilities
of the Centre staff. The Centre had a
limited range of books on Irish history and a somewhat more comprehensive
holding of Irish language books. A
restaurant staffed by bilingual waitresses, all from the local area, provide
welcoming sustenance while the hall in the centre caters for cultural events
which on the evening I was there featured a choir from Donegal.
Further down the Falls Road as I retraced my steps heading towards
the centre of Belfast I found the Sinn Fein office. Throughout the Falls Road area murals
decorate gable ends of houses and walls in a display of Nationalist fervour to
match the Loyalists of the Shankill area.
The Sinn Fein office screens visitors before admission, no doubt a
necessary precaution giving the killing of three local men on these very premises
in 1992. The material on sale in the
Sinn Fein shops includes an array of presumably locally produced pamphlets
which in terms of content and production are not always of the best
quality. However, insofar as they give
accounts of local events and individuals from a Nationalist perspective which
might not otherwise be recorded, they are a useful addition to the literature
of the Northern Ireland troubles.
From there I went to the Irish Republican Museum. This is located behind a disused mill in a
building which once served as the Mill Workers Social Club. It provides a unique insight, understandably
from a Republican perspective, into the Nationalist struggle in Belfast. An interesting exhibit for me was a religious
picture which was damaged by gunfire during the atrocious attack on the McMahon
family pub in Belfast in April 1922.
Even in the history of the vicious Belfast troubles of 1920-22 the
shooting of the McMahons and their colleague stood out as the most brutal
assassination of that time. The attack
on a Catholic family home ended in the killing of Owen McMahon, four of his
sons and his bar manager.
The Museum which opens for a few hours each day is curated by a most
helpful man whose name unfortunately I did not note. I learned later that he was the husband of
the late Eileen Hickey who was responsible for starting the Museum before she
died three years ago. She had been the
leader of the Republican women imprisoned in Armagh Jail between 1973 and 1977
and the Republican Museum has replicated an Armagh jail cell using a cell door
from the now demolished jail. The Museum
curator took particular pride in showing me the cell which contained many items
used by female prisoners 30 years ago. I
was not to know until long afterwards that he was showing me a cell similar to
that in which his late wife had spent some years incarcerated and that the
items he showed me probably once belonged to her. The Museum is an impressive place to visit
and includes a library with computer facilities for anyone wishing to undergo
research.
The Falls Road visit was followed by an early morning visit on the
following day to the Shankill Road.
Getting off the bus at the Co-op I walked up the Shankill which was
festooned with Union Jacks and Red Hand of Ulster flags, while wall murals were
again a very visible indication of the politics of the area. King Billy, the Battle of the Boyne and Loyalist
victims of the more recent period of Northern Ireland violence were recorded on
gable walls in a colourful display of Loyalist pride.
I sought out a Loyalist Centre where one might expect to find books
and emphera highlighting the Loyalist version of events in Northern
Ireland. Again as in the earlier
mentioned Sinn Fein Centre the printed material was not of the highest quality
but nevertheless of some interest. What
surprised me was the vast array of compact disc and DVD’s devoted to Loyalists
and Apprentice Boys parades, orange ballads and such like. My southern accent elicited some surprise,
while at the same time prompted a virtual torrent of information on the history
of events in Northern Ireland as observed from a Loyalist viewpoint. I was reminded of the importance of the marching
tradition to the Shankill folk and how they regard the so called peace wall
(which must be at least 25 ft. high steel and wire fencing) as a necessary safeguard
for the preservation of peace.
Following my morning walkabout on the Shankill Road I travelled
across the city to the Newtonards Road.
Another Loyalist area, its Loyalist profile was obvious in a display of
Union Jacks, wall murals and memorial gardens where Loyalists killed during the
troubles are remembered. The Union Jack
shop is well known throughout Belfast and I visited it in my continuing quest
to see and hear both sides of a centuries old problem.
Flags, compact discs, DVDs, Loyalist emphera and pamphlets were the
mainstay of the Union Jack shop where conversation involving this Southern did
not seem to be a wise option given the burly tattooed individuals who seemed to
use the place as a drop-in centre.
Strangely in the confined space of this Union Jack shop I felt an
unease which at no time I experienced in either the Shankill or the Falls
Roads. Maybe the bold statement inherent
in the shop title ‘The Union Jack’
made me uneasy but more likely it was the tattooed muscles, so reminiscent of
Johnny Adair types, which made me realise that the sedentary lifestyle I enjoyed
for so long is not sufficient preparation for a test of self preservation. I withdrew, but not before purchasing a few
Loyalists pamphlets.
West Belfast tourism has produced an extremely interesting map of
Republican wall murals. These murals are
part of the political and cultural history of Belfast and provide visitors and
locals alike with an open air art gallery which enhances and certainly
brightens up the streetscape. I did not
come across a map of the Loyalist wall murals.
On the Falls Road there were several excellent examples of this unique
Belfast public art, with Irish fiddler Sean Maguire figuring in a splendid
tribute, while not far from the Sinn Fein offices is a very extensive mural
documenting the Belfast Dockers and Carters strike of 1907. The Labour leader Jim Larkin, who organised
the local carters and dockers, led them in that strike. Troops were brought onto the Falls Road and in
the resulting conflict two people were killed and several more injured. The Falls Road community never forgot the
events of that time which are now captured in quite a unique wall mural.
Belfast is a welcoming city.
On occasions in the past I have used the facilities at the Linen Hall
Library in the centre of the city and the Public Record Office on its outskirts
and found the officials and staff in these repositories extremely helpful. Everywhere one goes in the heart of Belfast,
and until last week’s visit the city centre was generally my base, I found
nothing but courtesy and assistance readily available. It’s a city worth
visiting, not least to see for oneself the Republican and Loyalist areas of a
city whose history Francis Biggar for so long tried to document as a
romanticised version of Ireland’s past.
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