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Joys Entry, BELFAST, BT1 4DR

See Image A similar view but with the Christmas lights switched on.

See Image Almost four years later the place looks just the same but, with most bars now opening for Sunday lunch, staff in early and an increase in the number of people wandering about, a bit less intimidating. The view is from the Ann Street end. Continue to Image

A new mural being painted at the High Street end of Joy’s Entry.

See Image Almost four years later and still more than a bit grim. Back in 1852 it had Ann Jane McCracken, milliner, Thomas McCracken & Co., engravers, Charles Hunter, Crown Tavern, William Gracey, oyster house, R & D. Read, printers and publishers and John Nimack, cabinet maker of Arthur Street. Now really just a bookies and cigarette butts.

A small piece at Wilson's Court by Peter Strain https://www.instagram.com/peterstrain/?igshid=xkt4picvm4rb . The writer and advocate for worker’s rights Robert Arthur Wilson wrote for the Belfast Morning News under the pen name Barney McGlone in the mid 19th Century. The paper later merged with the Irish News which is still published today from nearby Donegall Street.

A plaque, in Joy’s Entry Image, giving a short history of the thoroughfare. It records that it was named after Francis Joy – founder of the “News” Letter” Image and grandfather of Henry Joy McCracken Image It includes two references which might not be entirely accurate – one a spelling and the other a date.

A new piece by DREPH https://www.instagram.com/dreph_/?hl=en at Joy's Entry, Belfast. This was created as part of the Daisy Chain Inc. https://www.instagram.com/daisychaininc/ entries project in Belfast. The image depicts Olaudah Equiano and the following is taken from https://www.instagram.com/dreph_/?hl=en [accessed 3rd December 2020]: "Olaudah Equiano was one of the first black abolitionists to visit Ireland, travelling to the country in May 1791. He was regarded as a leading spokesperson on enslavement and was also a gifted writer and lecturer. In 1789 he published his autobiography, ‘The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African’. He travelled widely promoting the book, which became immensely popular, helping the abolitionist cause. It is one of the earliest books published by a black African writer. He arrived in Ireland at a time of heightened revolutionary activity in Europe in the wake of the French Revolution of 1789. During his visit to Belfast, Equiano stayed with Samuel Neilson, a member of the Charitable Society, founder and editor of the radical, abolitionist newspaper the Northern Star and a founding member of the United Irishmen. Although primarily remembered as Irish separatists, it was the United Irishmen’s promotion of equality and abolitionism that most interested me. It was members of this society who hosted Equiano during most of his visit. Consequently, African-born Equiano, a former slave, unwittingly found himself at the centre of radical Irish politics. Belfast is a city with a century long mural tradition, primarily a means to mark territory for Loyalists or Nationalists, the two opposing factions there. Over the last few years contemporary murals have thrived there because the city understands the importance of walls and art on walls – it’s a language the locals from Belfast have been speaking for generations, they understand its power in the most visceral way. It’s a city that debates, memorialises and celebrates through murals. This mural is based on a black and white portrait painted by William Denton and engraved by Daniel Orme. It was commissioned by Equiano as a frontispiece to The Interesting Narrative."

The Pottinger’s Entry side (looking towards Ann Street) of the “Hi park”.

See Image (April 2011). Joy’s Entry, with hanging baskets, from the Ann Street end.