17 May 2019

Bogside Murals tell
stories of a half
century of conflict

Free Derry Corner was repainted last month following the murder of Lyra McKeee (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

The General Synod of the Church of Ireland is taking place this week in the Millennium Forum in Derry. This is such a compact city that it is easy during breaks to take a walk from here to many interesting points, including the Guildhall, the City Walls, Saint Columb’s Cathedral, ‘Free Derry Corner’ and the Bogside Murals on Rossville Street.

‘Free Derry Corner’ is a well-known landmark in the Bogside area, standing at the junction of Lecky Road, Rossville Street and Fahan Street. This free-standing gable wall recalls Free Derry, an autonomous area that existed in 1969-1972.

In January 1969, a local activist, long believed to be John ‘Caker’ Casey, but who may have been Liam Hillen, painted graffiti on a gable wall at the end of a terrace of houses, declaring: ‘You are now entering Free Derry.’

When the then British Home Secretary and future Prime Minister Jim Callaghan visited Derry in August 1969, the ‘Free Derry’ wall was painted white and the sign proclaiming ‘You are now entering Free Derry’ was professionally repainted in black lettering by John ‘Caker’ Casey. The area in front of the wall became known as Free Derry Corner.

This part of Derry and the surrounding streets were the scene of the Battle of the Bogside in 1969 and Bloody Sunday in 1972. The houses on Lecky Road and Fahan Street were later demolished, but the ‘Free Derry Wall’ was retained.

Despite demolition, and new roads, the wall still stands and has been repainted at frequent intervals. It now stands in the central reservation of a dual carriageway on Lecky Road, and is constantly the focus for large numbers of tourists on walking tours of the Bogside.

Last month, following the murder of Lyra McKee late on Maundy Thursday [18 April 2019], Free Derry Corner was repainted to include the words ‘not in our name – RIP Lyra’ to reflect community revulsion at her murder.

The Bogside walking tours also introduce tourists to the Bogside Murals, a series of outdoor murals also known as the ‘People’s Gallery.’ They are the work of three mural painters from Derry, brothers Tom and William Kelly, and Kevin Hasson.

The Bogside Artists began working together in 1993. With supplies donated from local residents, they painted several murals on the walls of Rossville Street buildings commemorating the Battle of Bogside and Bloody Sunday.

From 1994 to 2008, they painted 12 murals on Rossville Street, which runs through the centre of the Bogside, and they named it the ‘People’s Gallery.’ Thousands of visitors come each day to see this unique visual display and an entire street devoted to the history in art form of over three decades of political conflict in Northern Ireland.

The murals were officially inaugurated in August 2007 and an additional mural dedicated to Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and retired leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, John Hume was completed in 2008.

The Bogside Artists see their work as humanitarian and human, as ‘men speaking to men,’ according to Tom Kelly, and say they have little time or interest in contemporary art. ‘All real art is contemporary as it has its origins in the truthful state of mind which is timeless,’ he has said.

The ‘Blood Sunday’ mural depicts events in Derry on ‘Bloody Sunday’ on 30 January 1972 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The ‘Blood Sunday’ mural depicts events in Derry on ‘Bloody Sunday’ on 30 January 1972, when the army opened fire on a Civil Rights protest and killed 14 people. The mural shows a group of men, led by a local Catholic priest, later Bishop Edward Daly, carrying the body of Jackie Duddy from the scene of the shooting.

In the background, marchers are carrying a civil rights banner. This banner became bloodstained when it was used to cover the body of one of the victims. The mural was painted in 1997 to mark the 25th anniversary of ‘Bloody Sunday’ on 30 January 1972.

The ‘Operation Motorman’ mural on Rossville Street (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The ‘Operation Motorman’ mural on Rossville Street was completed in July 2001, depicting some of the events during ‘Operation Motorman’ on 31 July 1972.

The ‘Civil Rights’ Mural on Rossville Street was unveiled in 2004 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The ‘Civil Rights’ Mural on Rossville Street, unveiled in 2004, marks the beginning of the Civil Rights movement in Derry. These early marches were inspired by the civil disobedience campaigns of Martin Luther King, but the march on 5 October 1968 ended in bloodshed in Duke Street when the RUC began beating up the protesters.

The events that day were filmed by television crews and were broadcast across the world.

The Peace Mural on Rossville Street was completed in 2004 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The Peace Mural on Rossville Street was completed on 30 July 2004 and was unveiled by the then Mayor of Derry.

The ‘Saturday Matinee’ mural on Rossville Street (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The ‘Saturday Matinee’ mural on Rossville Street was started in August 2001. The scene depicted is typical of many riots in the Bogside from 1969 through the early 1970s. The riots were commonplace with many happening on Saturday afternoons, hence the title ‘The Saturday Matinee.’

The ‘blood on their hands’ protest has been wiped away in Chamberlain Street (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

A very different type of mural was created nearby on Chamberlain Street by friends of Lyra McKee during their protest last month at the headquarters of the dissident republican group Saoradh, linked to the ‘New IRA.’

Lyra McKee’s friends gathered at ‘Junior McDaid House,’ placed their hands in red paint and imprinted them on the walls of the building.

One of Lyra’s friends, Sinead Quinn, said at the time: ‘We have used red paint because they have blood on their hands for what has happened.’

Another friend said: ‘We have had enough. There is a younger generation coming up in the town and they don’t need guns put in their hands. They need jobs, they need a better health service and education. They need a life, not a gun put in their hands.’

Since then, however, this latest act of political street art has been wiped off the walls by supporters of Saroadh and the ‘New IRA,’ and the walls of the house have been freshly painted in defiance of the community revulsion at this latest murder on the streets of Derry.

A very different type of mural in Derry offers a taste of Italy (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

A lecture on the Architectural
Heritage of Charleville

This news item is published in the Corkman on Wednesday 17 May 2019:

Community news: Charleville

Charleville Heritage Society’s May talk will be held on Thursday, May 23 at the E Centre, Baker’s Road, Charleville.

Following on from the excellent talk delivered by Sr Bernadette Maria on the Croke Family in April, this month we present Rev Canon Patrick Comerford, Rector Askeaton, Co Limerick, who will give ‘An Outsider’s View on the Architectural Heritage of Charleville.’

The Rev. Comerford is Dublin born and a former journalist. He spent over 30 years of his working life as a journalist, first with the Lichfield Mercury in England, then the Wexford People and The Irish Times. “I was Foreign Desk Editor of The Irish Times for my last eight years there, and I have been a lecturer at the Church of Ireland Theological Institute for 15 years. I moved to the Rathkeale Group of Parishes in January 2017,” he said.

He studied theology at Trinity College Dublin, the Irish School of Ecumenics, Maynooth and in Cambridge.

A regular Facebook blogger, Canon Comerford's talk on Charleville will be based on the blogs he has published on Facebook on the buildings in the town, which he will also illustrate with the photographs he has taken.

This promises to be another excellent evening of interesting information about the built environment of Charleville and should not be missed.

Admission is €5 and there will be light refreshments available.

An evening reception
in Derry’s Guildhall for
General Synod members

The Guildhall, Derry … the venue for last night’s reception for members of the General Synod (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

I am in Derry of Londonderry – the city Lyra McKee creatively called Legenderry – for three days this week for the General Synod of the Church of Ireland, which opened yesterday [16 May 2019] with the Synod Eucharist in Saint Columb’s Cathedral, and closes tomorrow.

Last night, members of the General Synod were guest of the Mayor of Derry, Councillor John Boyle, at a reception in the Guildhall, a beautiful building in the heart of the city, just outside the city walls.

The Guildhall is one of the most striking buildings in the North West and was built in 1887 by the Honourable the Irish Society, and cost £19,000 to build. The red sandstone building is designed in the neo-gothic style, with Tudor overtones. It contains stunning examples of stained glass windows, many representing the Guilds of the City of London, the history of London, dominions throughout the former British Empire, and former regiments from World War I.

Other impressive features of the Guildhall include the staircase, the organ in the main hall organ and the panelled corridors.

Derry’s first 17th-century Guildhall stood in the Diamond area of the Walled City. Its name reflected the status of the city that was founded by Guilds of the City of London. This building was destroyed by fire in Victorian times and it was decided to turn the site of the former Guildhall into a city square.

Work started on building a new Guildhall in 1887 and it was opened in 1890. The new building was first known as Victoria Hall, in a fashion at the time of naming landmarks after Queen Victoria. Other landmarks in the city from that time include Victoria Market, the Queen’s Quay and Queen’s Street.

The stained-glass windows throughout the Guildhall are impressive features (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The Guildhall was designed by the architect John Guy Ferguson (1829-1901). He was in practice by 1861 as a member of the firm of Frazer, Ferguson and Frazer. He was appointed architect to the Church of Ireland Diocese of Derry and Raphoe in 1868, and restored and enlarged Saint Columb’s Cathedral in 1885-1887. By 1868, he had set up his own practice in Shipquay Street, Derry. From there he moved to East Wall in 1875 and to Pump Street in 1891.

Ferguson, who was a prominent Freemason and Orangeman, died ‘at a very advanced age’ in early 1901. He designed Saint Augustine’s Church in Derry, and other Church of Ireland parish churches in Burt, Aghadowney, Coleraine, Culmore, Draperstown and Ramelton. His other works include Waterside Methodist Church, Derry (1862), Waterside Presbyterian Church (1863-1866), and Presbyterian churches in Buncrana, Moville, Raphoe, Sion Mills and Strabane.

The City Hall was badly damaged by fire in Easter 1908, with only the clock tower, which is modelled on Big Ben in Westminster, surviving intact. The whole building was rebuilt and renovated after the fire and reopened in 1912. The architect for this project was William Edward Pinkerton.

Looking up Shipquay Street from the Guildhall (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

During the ‘Troubles,’ the Guildhall was the victim of many terror attacks. The building was badly damaged by two bombs in 1972, but was restored at a cost of £1.7 million and reopened in 1977. In 1980, the Field Day Theatre Company presented its first production, the premiere of Brian Friel’s Translations here.

The square in front of the Guildhall is Derry’s main city square and regularly plays host to important events. It was the site of President Bill Clinton’s address when he visited Derry in 1995.

A major restoration began in 2010 with the contractors H & J Martin, the firm that built Belfast City Hall, overseen by Derry City Council and a special conservation design team led by Consarc.

The external work, costing £3 million, included the restoration of the stonework, roofs, windows and stained glass, as well as the clock. New steps and a ramp were built at the entrance at Guildhall Square. The restoration of the stained glass windows was overseen by Stephen Calderwood, who had worked on them with his father Jack when they were damaged in the 1972 bombings.

The internal work, costing about £5 million, involved the full internal reorganisation and restoration of the Guildhall as a key tourist attraction and arrival point for the City as part of the Walled City Signature Project.

The restoration was completed in 2013. The building now boasts a new multifaceted tourism experience providing a central hub for visitors. The huge undertaking included external restoration works to the stonework, roof, windows, stained glass and the clock.

During the second phase of the project, work was carried out on the internal restructure to offer further facilities:

● An interactive tourist information point.
● An exhibition exploring how the Plantation of Ulster shaped the city’s history.
● Cultural spaces.
● A new cafe area.
● Interpretation panels.

Since its restoration, the Guildhall has received awards in a number of prestigious regional and national architectural and construction competitions.

The Guildhall includes a large hall that is the venue for social and political events, including the Mayor’s reception last night. It has been home to the Feis Doire Colmcille, celebrating Irish culture, and was also home to the Saville Inquiry into events in Derry on Bloody Sunday, 30 January 1972.

The square in front of the Guildhall is also the home for many city events, such as Hallowe’en carnivals, switching on the Christmas lights and the Christmas European Market. Recently, the square has played host to LGBT events such as Foyle Pride and it has seen protests organised by Occupy Derry.

The Square was renovated and restructured to reflect Derry’s metropolitan feel and includes seating areas, fountains, improved cross-city transport links and night-time lighting.

John Guy Ferguson (1829-1901), architect of the Guildhall, restored and enlarged Saint Columb’s Cathedral in 1885-1887 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)