Long walk on Belfast’s Black Mountain

FOR the many people across the country – including many from Belfast itself – who have never walked the city’s Black Mountain, it is a treat they should give themselves sooner rather than later.

With its spectacular views of the city and the surrounding counties to the north and the span of Belfast Lough, east to Bangor and Scrabo Tower before the sweep of the horizon takes in the Mountains of Mourne then arcs back to the harsh landscape of the Black and Divis Mountains.

The rough carpet of heather and moss, mixed with long reedy grass sprouting from the boggy ground, cascades down towards the conflict-scarred streets of Belfast below.

Ballymurphhy, Turf Lodge, Andersonstown and the Falls are all built in the shadow of the Black Mountain.

It shouldn’t, therefore, be a surprise to anyone that Belfast republicans chose a spot on the mountain, above the famous ‘Hatchet Field’, to plant 12 oak trees in memory of those 12 Irish republican hunger strikers who died at the hands of the British in the course of the recent conflict to mark the 35th anniversary of the 1981 H-Block Hunger Strike.

Former Armagh women prisoners Jennifer McCann and Mary Doyle (pictured below) jointly chaired the event.

As well as those ten men who gave their lives in Long Kesh, trees were also planted in honour of Mayo men Michael Gaughan and Frank Stagg, who died in English prisons in 1974 and 1976 respectively.

The events began when a group of former ‘Blanketmen’ and Armagh women prisoners proceeded to the clearing where the trees were to be planted.

● Ian Milne MLA, friend and comrade of Francis Hughes, with Galway youth activist Conor Dowling and Blanketman Ginger McCoubrey

The moving ceremony, held on 13 August, saw members of Sinn Féin’s youth organisations plant the oak while friends and comrades of the Hunger Strikers spoke of the men.

Tommy Quigley and Tony Clarke, who served time in English prisons in the 1970s and 1980s, spoke of Gaughan and Stagg. John Pickering, who was 27 days on hunger strike spoke, recalled in emotional terms his friend and comrade Kieran Doherty.

Jim McCann (pictured above), shared a cell with Joe McDonnell.

Jim recounted how, after a series of particularly brutal wing moves when prisoners were “battered and bruised and freezing cold as we had no blankets”, Joe got up to the cell door and shouted out “There’ll be bad days for these good ones.” 

Smiling at the recollection, Jim said: “All we could do was laugh – it was an insight into the man that Joe was.”

● Brendan McFarlane, O/C H-Blocks prisoners, with Sinn Féin Youth activist Dermot Brown from Fermanagh

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