Forgotten Troubles memorial painstakingly restored by tour guide with nail varnish remover, cotton wool and a toothbrush after being subject to graffiti

At first it is not obvious as a memorial – a mosaic of green and brown terracotta numbered tiles in a variety of sequences – but Mark explained how it lists every digit from one to 1,500 to commemorate the 1,500 people who had lost their lives during the Troubles up to 1976 when the memorial was installed.

He said: “For a few years we led our walking tours right past it, never realising its importance – until one day we walked a little closer and realised what it was.

“At the bottom right is the name of Dublin artist Robert Ballagh who had done paintings depicting the violence of the Troubles.

"It was commissioned by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, designed by Ballagh, and created by the Irish ceramicist Stephen Pearce.”

He added: “It includes everyone who died from July 1969 to April 1976 but in number format rather than by name. The numbers represent everyone who died during the Troubles up until then. It includes civilians, members of the security forces, paramilitaries. The digits mean that it doesn’t give rise to debate about the inclusion of certain people.”

Mark said that the tour company had noticed at the end of last year that the memorial – believed to be the only outdoor public memorial related to the Troubles in Belfast – had been defaced by graffiti.

He said: “It’s very possible that whoever did it had no idea of the significance of the piece – from a distance it looks like a bricked-up doorway in the old perimeter wall of St George’s Church.”

Having contacted Belfast City councillors about the memorial they were disappointed that by February nothing had been done to clean it.

Mark said: “We couldn’t help thinking that if the Titanic Memorial in the grounds of the City Hall had been spray painted, it would have been cleaned immediately. Months went by and we waited.

"Then I just thought, ‘Sod it, I’ll do it myself’.

“I checked with a few ceramics experts to make sure I wasn’t risking doing any damage to the piece. They advised that nail varnish remover and cotton wool would be a safe approach.

"It took a few hours and a few trips to Gordon’s Chemists ... where the assistant raised an eyebrow at the industrial quantities of stuff I was getting through.”

Having finished off the clean up with a toothbrush Mark remarked that it was “looking good in the Belfast summer sun”.

Asked about the memorial, Belfast City Council said: “Council did not receive any formal request to remove graffiti from the Troubles memorial at Jubilee Gardens.

“Any further graffiti at this location can be reported directly to our Customer Hub team for action, via our website – belfastcity.gov.uk/report - or by calling 028 9027 0230.”

Mark said that he has now made a formal request that the memorial be properly cleaned, restored and protected.