‘All Acts of Sedition Originate in this Town’

So said General Gerard Lake of Belfast. He was the British general sent here to quash the 1798 Rebellion. So I made a punk T-shirt out of it. Hope his ghost knows about it,

I’ve always loved this side of Belfast (now known as the Cathedral Quarter) When I lived here on Donegall street 2000-06 it was very different. Ours was the punk flat that everyone hung out in and crashed at. We drank carry outs in Writers Square (then my back yard) and went to gigs in the Front Page & Giros (at the far end of Donegall Street. It was an amazing moment in time. I’d hear from earlier generations of punks about their time in the same area, in the Harp Bar, the Delta & the Plaza & gigs in the Art College. Although there wasn’t much else in the area… a few other bars & newspaper offices mostly, there was something about it.

Twenty years later, I’m back in my old stomping ground but in rather different circumstances, in my shop in the Merchant. The area has changed massively but the vibe remains the same.

When I lived here I knew little of the history of the area, I was more interested in the history of fashion and spent hours on end in the library at the art college researching it. Now my love of history has broadened to political and social history and I’m obsessed with the older radical history of this area… that of the United Irishmen and Maryanne McCracken. When I arrived at the Merchant at the end of last year, my pop up shop was on the site of her textile shop. That was such a buzz.

My shop is now on the Skipper St side of the hotel, and I often look out the window and squint to the end of the street, imagining the Farset uncovered and ships docked at the end of the street, including the McCrackens’ ship ‘Hibernia’. (As I write this I’m sitting in the Great Room in the Merchant, on the site of Frank McCracken’s ropeworks) As you know I’m mildly obsessed with the history of the United Irishmen and landing slap bang in the middle of their stomping ground, centuries later the Belfast punk stomping ground has been hugely inspiring.

Now, let’s remember that this is a hugely inconvenient history. The United Irishmen wanted an Ireland free of Britain. And they were Presbyterian. They pledged to ‘unite Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter under the common name of Irishmen in order to break the connection with England.’ This isn’t the ‘two sides’ story we’ve been told all our lives. So researching it has taken a bit of effort, the details aren’t easily accessible. But look, for me dusty aul books in the Linenhall library are what recreational drugs are to other people. And when I found that quote from General Lake (and listen NEVER in my life did I think a British army general would be my muse but here we are with this perfect quote) it all fell into place. In a way I can’t even fully describe yet. But it was so perfect. He didn’t mean it as a compliment but I take it as one on our behalf. I love that we are rebellious, outspoken and subversive. Thran. Hard to control. I want us to claim that and wear it proudly. So I made it into a shirt. A slogan shirt inspired by the merch stalls at punk gigs. I hope aul Gerard Lake is turning in his grave at this wee fenian punk Bean Ultach finding inspiration in his words.

T-shirts coming very soon!