1. International Mural Wall Divis Street
You will visit places not offered by other tour operators with access to Private Museums and Collections.You will travel to the Falls Road where your guide will tell you all about the longest conflict in Modern European History began. Your local qualified guide will deliver a tour from the Irish Republican perspective and how the conflict evolved for Republicans up to the present day and the current peace process as well as a current political analysis. Since the onset of the Conflict/Troubles in 1969, Nationalist and Loyalist communities throughout Northern Ireland have been divided by Peace Walls, the largest cut through the divided city of Belfast. Here you will learn how the conflict began as well as visiting the world famous politically charged murals painted by ex-prisoners (POWS).
10 minutes
2. Peace Wall
The peace lines or peace walls are a series of separation barriers in Northern Ireland that separate predominantly Republican and Nationalist Catholic neighbourhoods from predominantly Loyalist and Unionist Protestant neighbourhoods.
You will visit both sides of the Peace Wall where you will learn why the wall was built as well as signing your name and writing a message of peace! You will see first hand how the two communities are still divided to this very day.
10 minutes
3. Shankill Road
We will visit the Loyalist Shankill Road which is the heartland of Ulster Loyalism and which is still controlled by the various Loyalist paramilitaries the UDA/UFF and UVF. Here you can take pictures of the murals of these organisations of masked men wielding weapons and learn how Loyalism developed and evolved and the part that they played during the conflict.
10 minutes
4.
Address: Bombay Street, Clonard.
Commemorating: Fallen Volunteers of "C" Company, 2nd Battalion, Belfast Brigade, Oglaigh na hEireann. Civilian casualties from the Greater Clonard area. Deceased Republican prisoners from the Greater Clonard area 1916-1970.
Commissioned by: Greater Clonard Ex-Prisoners' Association.
Date unveiled: 20 August 2000
Notes: Plaques in memory of all Republican prisoners from the area who have died since 1916 were unveiled on 11 March 2001. Annual commemorative march held around 11th March.The first of the peace walls were built in 1969 after a series of sectarian riots rocked Belfast, whole streets in Nationalist areas where burnt out by Loyalists, Bombay street in particular suffered the most. You will visit the Clonard Martyrs Memorial Garden Black iron gates with black and red rising iron phoenix, "Out the Ashes Arose The Provisionals". This is around the time of the inception of the Provisional Irish Republican Army. Signs at the main entrance, one on each side of the gate, reading: “Clonard Martyrs Memorial Garden” and “Gairdin Cuimneacain Mairtiris Cluain Ard”. Garden divided into three separate yards. Central yard – black and white Celtic cross in the middle, with the inscription “Clonard Martyrs i gcuimhme na mairbh dilis”. On the wall behind it – granite plaque featuring a male and a female Volunteer with bowed heads on each side; on top runs the inscription: “i measc laocra na ngaedeal go rab siad go ndeana dia trocaire ar a n-anamaca”; two panels are enframed within a Celtic design with the shields of the four provinces of Ireland, one at each corner; left panel – “Clonard Martyrs C Coy 2nd Battalion Belfast Brigade Oglaigh na hEireann Roll of Honour (list stating name and date of death follows). We also remember all the civilians from the Clonard area who were killed by Crown forces and loyalist murder gangs”. Right panel – “Civilians murdered by loyalists and British forces during the course of the conflict (list stating name, date and age of death follows)”. Right yard – on the boundary walls there are a series of plaques running from left to right as follows: 1)”1921-1922 (list of names follows)”. 2)”In loving memory of the deceased Republican prisoners from the Greater Clonard area 1916 (list of names follows) 1920′s (list of names follows)”. 3)” 1930′s/40′s (list of names follows)”. 4)”1956-62 (list of names follows) 1970 (list of names follows)”. Along the walls there are a series of benches, each one accompanied by a small golden plaque “Dedicated to the memory of” – clockwise – Seamus (Shay) Sullivan, Frank Moyna, Lily, Sam and Tony Lewis; next to the gate small golden plaque reads: “This gate was donated by the Roddy McCorley Club”. Stone pavement depicting a Celtic cross. Left yard – plaque on the wall reads: “This plaque is dedicated to the people of the Greater Clonard who have resisted and still resist the occupation of our country by Britain. We acknowledge with pride the sacrifices they made throughout every decade. Their names would be too numerous to mention, and their deeds of bravery and resistance are un-equalled in the history of our struggle. We, the Republican ex-prisoners of the Greater Clonard, salute you, and your reward will only be a united Ireland.”; shields of the four provinces of Ireland, one at each corner. Along the walls there are a series of benches, each one accompanied by a small golden plaque “Dedicated to the memory of” – counter-clockwise – Renee & Marie Rosbotham, Alex Comerford, Helena Kelly. Next to the gate – small golden plaque “This gate was donated by the Michael Dwyers G.A.C. (1798)” and small golden plaque “Dedicated to the memory of Maura Meehan”. Stone pavement depicting a Celtic cross.
The walls, established as a temporary measure, were a very simple solution to the problem of keeping Republicans and Loyalists apart. However, due to their effectiveness, they never came down. Indeed, as time went on, the walls got longer and more numerous. While most of the walls were constructed during the early years of the Troubles, around one-third have popped up since 1994 when the IRA declared an effective ceasefire.
One of the most famous peace walls sits between the Loyalist Shankill Road and the Irish Republican Falls Road. Tensions between the two streets have existed since the 1800s, and the Troubles saw a rise in violence in this already violent area. As a solution, the peace wall separating the two popped up. This wall stretches for 800 metres (2,624.6 feet), an imposing multi-level concrete structure.
30 minutes
5. Milltown Cemetery
We will visit the Republican Plot in Milltown Cemetery where all of the Republican Patriot dead are buried. The most notable is Robert (Bobby) Gerard Sands was a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army who died on hunger strike while imprisoned at HM Prison Maze after being sentenced for firearms possession. He was the leader of the 1981 hunger strike in which Irish republican prisoners protested against the removal of Special Category Status. He was an elected MP at the time of his death on hunger strike after 66 days.
Graves
The vast majority of work done by the National Graves Association, Belfast, is carried out in Milltown Cemetery. These graves, under the direct care of the association, include the three main republican plots and the graves of IRA volunteers who were killed during the 1920s and the Northern Campaign in the 1940s. The graves are marked with the Red Hand. The New Republican Plot contains the remains of 77 IRA Volunteers including Óglach Mairéad Farrell.
25 minutes
6. Bobby Sands Mural
Visit the Republican Heart-land and Learn how the Irish Republican Army fought a 30 year Guerilla War against the British. A visit to the 2nd Battalion IRA Garden of Remembrance otherwise known as D Company aka "The Dogs".
You will learn of the "Battle of the Falls" which took place in 1970 and the Falls Road Massacre 1920.
Other Sights include 12 of the 22 Hunger Strikers Including their Photographs.
15 minutes
7. Irish Republican History Museum
Learn about the struggle Against British Occupation and Resistance of the last 800 years in Ireland. Your Guide is an Irish History Specialist. Meet Ex-Prisoners of War who will share their experiences of the Conflict.
Museum Only Opens 10-2 Tuesday -Saturday.
If Closed we will show you around Ballymurphy.
25 minutes
8.
Visit and photograph the iconic mural of IRA Volunteer and Republican Hunger Striker Bobby Sands. Learn about the Blanket and Dirty Protests which ultimately led to the Hunger Strikes of 1981.
10 minutes
9. Clonard Monastery
Clonard Monastery and The Troubles
Clonard has been on the front-line of the troubles which erupted in Belfast in 1969. The monastery is located at an Interface area between the mainly Catholic Falls Road district and the mainly Protestant Shankill Road district. At the rear of the monastery was located Bombay Street and Cupar Street which led on to the Shankill Road. On 14 August 1969, loyalist mobs from the Shankill Road launched a series of attacks on the houses owned by Catholics in those streets. The residents were forced to flee and many of the houses were burnt to the ground including the whole of Bombay Street.
The priests from Clonard were actively involved from the outset in attempting to safeguard the local residents.
Two of Northern Ireland's most significant clergy who worked for peace Frs. Alec Reid and Gerry Reynolds lived here.
Clonard Monastery is a Catholic church and monastery, located off the Falls Road in Belfast, Northern Ireland, home to a community of the Redemptorists religious order.
10 minutes
10.
D Company 2nd Battalion Belfast Brigade I.R.A. Garden of Remembrance
The Belfast Brigade of the Provisional IRA was the largest of the organisation's command areas, based in the city of Belfast. Founded in 1969, along with the formation of the Provisional IRA, it was historically organised into three battalions: the First Battalion based in the Andersonstown/Lenadoon/Twinbrook area of Southwest Belfast; the Second Battalion based in the Falls Road/Clonard/Ballymurphy district of West Belfast; and the Third Battalion organised in nationalist enclaves in the north (Ardoyne, New Lodge, Ligoniel), south (the Markets, Lower Ormeau) and east (Short Strand) of the city.
10 minutes
11.
The Famous Divis Tower overlooking The Falls Republican Stronghold where the British Army had a Snipers Nest and Spy Post up until 2005.
See the Names and Murals of the First Two Victims of the Troubles.
5 minutes
12.
See the Murals to An Gorta Mor, drive through the Streets of Republican Ballymurphy including the Amazing Murals to the Local Volunteers including Jim Bryson and his "Big Louie" Machine Gun that he used to Terrify the British Army.
5 minutes
13. Divis
See the Welcome Wall and the Heartland of the Irish Republican Army.
5 minutes
14. Peace Wall
Drive by and See the Biggest Peace Wall in Belfast
5 minutes
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