Paddy Duffy Collection

By The Gas Works Wall

The gas-works in Derry moved to the Bogside in 1865 (CAIN) and the site operated for more than a decade, burning coal to generate gas, and producing the smell and pollution that led Ewan McColl to write ‘Dirty Old Town’ (about the Salford gas-works), later covered by The Dubliners and The Pogues (among many others). There are images of the Derry gas-works on community Fb pages: black & white | colour | black & white. The refurbished site is now home to the Gasyard Development Trust (web) (and the Baby Jake mural).

This new street-art was painted by Peaball (web) just a little way further down Lecky Road, at the junction with St Columb’s Walk.

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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Welcome/Galleries

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Thank you visiting the Paddy Duffy Collection!

The galleries below provide a quick way to view the more than 7,800 images added to Paddy’s collection so far. Write-ups with descriptions and background information for many individual images are also available – click on each image in the galleries for individual entries or use the search tools in the side-bar on the right (or simply keep scrolling).

Village Bonfire

2026-09-062026-09-11Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The Village Bonfire (Fb) proved controversial last year because of asbestos in an old factory roof lying near the site. The Council recommended that the bonfire be removed but the police refused to intervene; instead, the owners of the land secured the hazardous materials (BBC | BBC). This year, organisers were selling badges showing a person at the bonfire in a haz-mat suit (Reddit | image at Irish News Fb).

This writing is by Art With Park (ig), Alex Reed (ig), and Owen Watts (ig) in Maldon Street, Village, south Belfast

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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Por Vuestra Libertad Y La Nuestra

2026-08-312026-09-09Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“I ndíl [sic] chuımhne ar Eamon McGrotty 1911-1927, republican, socialist, anti-fascist. Killed fighting fascism in the Jarama Valley. Eamon attended the Brow Of The Hill school. ¡No Pasarán!” Derry man Eamon McGrotty was honoured with a plaque and a tree-planting during this year’s (2026) féıle (Derry Journal). McGrotty was one of about 320 Irishmen who fought with the International Brigades – specifically the Connolly Column of the XV brigade (DIB) – against Franco during the Spanish Civil War; there were also about 700 Irishmen fighting on Franco’s side during the war, in a brigade led by Eoin O’Duffy.

The new plaque is next to the memorials to “An Chéad Chathlán/1st Battalion Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann – Bogside, Brandywell, Bishop Street”.

Lecky Road, Brandywell, Derry

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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Life Hack

2026-08-312026-09-08Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This street-art is by/for Life Hack (Fb) and Peaball (web) near the Rath Mór offices of the former, on Bligh’s Lane, Derry.

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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An Uncompromised Republican

2026-08-312026-09-06Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This entry updates An Attitude Of Revolt from 2022, which showed the same four plaques as in the image below – to Tommy Roberts, Stevie Mellon, Veronica Taylor, Ruaırí (Roddy) Carlin – but a different board featuring Roberts and Mellon and an oak leaf with crossed rifles. In addition to the generic IRPWA board, the entire wall was been painted grey and a knotwork surround added, with the Saoradh (web) sunburst in the corners.

Westland Street, Derry

You Have No Power To Make Me A Criminal

2026-08-312026-09-05Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“”You have the power to send me to gaol but you have no power to make me a criminal” – Seán Milroy, IRB” The words were reportedly (ig) spoken by Milroy in June, 1915, as he was being sentenced to three months hard labour for an inflammatory speech. He fought in the Easter Rising (see p. 27 ff of his testimony in the Military Archives) but voted in favour of the Treaty, believing that Northern Ireland could not survive politically or economically (DIB | RTÉ).

This is the latest work by Saoradh (web) and Éıstıgí Dhoıre on the wall of the Lecky Road flyover, adding on to the pieces seen in Our Present Fight.

Things Can Only Get Better

2026-08-312026-09-04Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Peter Cunnah was the singer of D:Ream, who had a number-one hit in 1994 with “Things Can Only Get Better” (youtube). He was born in Belfast but adopted by parents in Derry (BBC). This new mural was painted (by Karl Porter of UV Arts (web)) at the junction of Northland and Clarendon streets (in the Clarendon Conservation Area (pdf)), next to Cunnah’s home at 46 Clarendon Street, where he formed his first band, Tie The Boy (Derry Journal).

Apartheid-Free Zone

2026-08-312026-09-02Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“You are now entering Derry, an apartheid-free zone.”

Placards like this one have been mounted in Derry by the Pat Finucane Centre (web) and the Bloody Sunday Trust (web) – whose emblems are the top corners – in connection with their work with local businesses and organisations in conducting a “BDS audit” to ensure that they are not working with Israeli companies (Bloody Sunday Trust | Fb).

The words are in the triangular shape of Free Derry Corner (Visual History), though the word “free” is missing”.

Lone Moor Road, Derry