Neither myself nor my sleuthing friend Dub had any initial inkling that our somewhat hastily assembled quest to divine the exact location of “the Killing Joke Wall” –- i.e. the particular edifice depicted in Don McCullin’s 1971 photograph from the Bogside in Derry (a.k.a Londonderry), Northern Ireland of a gang of rioters fleeing a gas attack -– was going to come together so quickly. As I explained in the original post, I’d started writing about something else entirely, only to get sidetracked by the notion of pinpointing it, and then to have the industriously resourceful Dub pick up that baton and sprint away with it like one of the hardscrabble youths on the cover.
He posted his updates to The Gathering, and then I consolidated them here and whoosh … off we went.
Here’s the thing, though. In our haste and enthusiasm, it seems myself and Dub might have jumped the gun. About a day after I posted, he got back to me. It goes without saying, at this point, that Dub has a pointedly scrupulous eye for detail. As such, he believes his initial calculations were off BY A FEW FEET (cue gasps of shock and horror and the requisite declaration of “Off with His head!”). I’ll let our man take it from here…
Hi Alex,
I took a break at work today and decided to scan through some old photographs in the RTÉ archives, and to my surprise, I came across the following two images..
Stitched together they make a third image...
These images are dated March 1972, so within 6 months of Don McCullin's original photograph.
The old aerial photograph ('72), I was now able to overlay on a Google satellite image, like so...
These new pictures lead me to believe, my first guess at where the wall was/is, was out by a few meters/feet. Instead of inside the gate as I thought, it looks like the wall is outside the gate to the left (lame joke lol). So near enough on the corner of the junction with the road from the inner sleeve. The position for the inner sleeve shot, is more or less on the button.
With that in mind I did these images...
Again due to limitations of Google Street images, I just can't quite get the right angle, to get the correct field of view, but you get the idea.
This is now the "Then & Now"
As you can no doubt see, PhotoShop (or GIMP 2, in this case), is not my forte ...lol . Hopefully someone on the Gathering email list or one of the Facebook groups can offer a better version. All the images required are available on your blog now and should one need it Google Street link here.
Also I found an old picture of City Cabs, William Street, in the archives too. Here.
Anyway, my apologies for the mistake, but all good now. I can rest easy. I guess I could have said nothing, but it would have played on my mind : )
All the best, dub
So, yes.... once again, there we have it. I now put it onto you, enterprising Gatherers, to go mount a pilgrimage to this spot and adorn the wall as you see fit (a nice plaque, perhaps?)
Actually, one more thing. In doing my own reconnaissance for these posts, I came across this striking mural from the same neighborhood, which I found here...
Maybe this is just me projecting, but doesn't the third runner in the background look like one of the original youths from the McCullin/Coles image .... notably this one on the right....?
Lastly, herewith my own homage from a few years back, when I fleetingly flirted with the idea of doing a bit of appropriation of my own ....
Anyway, I hereby declare CASE CLOSED!!!
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