Drumcree Church

Last updated

Drumcree Parish Church
The Church of the Ascension
Drumcree Church 2018-07-26 - 2.jpg
Drumcree Parish Church
Drumcree Church
54°26′25.6″N06°27′34.2″W / 54.440444°N 6.459500°W / 54.440444; -6.459500
LocationDrumcree Road, Portadown
Country Northern Ireland
Denomination Church of Ireland
Website www.drumcree.org
History
Consecrated 28 October 1856
Architecture
Groundbreaking 17 May 1855
Administration
Parish Drumcree
Clergy
Rector Rev Gary Galway
Drumcreeparishlogo.png

Drumcree Parish Church, officially The Church of the Ascension, is the Church of Ireland parish church of Drumcree in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It sits on a hill in the townland of Drumcree, outside Portadown. It is a site of historic significance and is a listed building. [1]

Contents

There has been a church on the site since the Middle Ages. The foundation stone of the present church was laid on Ascension Day in 1855, and the church was consecrated the following year. The current rector is the Reverend Gary Galway, previous curate of St. Marks Parish in Portadown. The Church of Ireland parish of Drumcree has the same boundaries as the Roman Catholic parish of Drumcree.

For several years in the 1990s, the church drew international attention as the scene of the Drumcree standoffs. Each year, the Protestant Orange Order marches to-and-from a service at the church on the Sunday before 12th July. Residents of the nearby Catholic district prevented the march from continuing through their neighbourhood. Thousands of Orangemen and loyalists gathered at Drumcree and violently tried to force their way through, but were held back by the security forces, who built large steel and barbed wire barricades. These yearly "sieges" of Drumcree ended in the early 2000s.

History of the site

Drumcree is the townland in which the church is located. Its name comes from Irish Droim Crí meaning "boundary ridge", most likely referring to the River Bann marking the boundary between the old districts of Clancann and Clanbrassil. [2]

There had been a church on the site since the Middle Ages. The parish of Drumcree was formed in 1110, comprising sixty-six townlands lying to the west of the Bann. The first recorded vicar was David MacRalagen, who died in 1414. [3]

In September 1563, the powerful Irish chieftain Shane O'Neill of Tír Eoghain met the English Crown's representative Thomas Cusack at Drumcree. They agreed the 'Treaty of Drumcree', whereby the English would lawfully acknowledge Shane as Earl of Tyrone [4] and chief of the O'Neill dynasty, but this never came to pass. [5]

The church and parish remained Catholic until after the Protestant Reformation and the English conquest of the area in the early 1600s. It is unclear what happened to the church during the Reformation, but a map of 1609 shows the church in ruins. [3]

Following the Ulster Plantation in 1610 a new and Protestant church was built. This was described as "a plain stone building rough cast and whitewashed". In 1812 a tower was built and in 1814 a church bell was installed. In 1826 the rector, Charles Alexander, had a new rectory built. [3]

History of the present church

In 1854, it was decided to build a new church. Its foundation stone was laid on Ascension Day, 17 May 1855. The church so built is the one that stands today and is on the same site as the former church. [3] It was consecrated by the Bishop of Down, Connor and Dromore, Robert Bent Knox, on 28 October 1856. [3]

The Church of Ireland was disestablished in 1871 and as a result Drumcree lost most of its land, known as the glebe. [3]

In 1901 a new burial ground was established on the north side of the church. In the following year the Parochial Hall was built. A pipe organ was installed in the church in 1907 and a memorial to the Great War was built in 1921. A further burial ground known as the Terrace Burial Ground was created on the east side of the church in 1922. In 1989 a war memorial to commemorate those lost in World War II was erected. Then in 1992 major renovation work was carried out to repair the fabric of the building. [3]

Drumcree and the Orange Order

The Orange Order was founded in and around the County Armagh town of Portadown in 1795. The first Orange service and 'church parade' from Drumcree was on 1 July 1795. [6] That parade was instigated by Protestant ministers in the Portadown area. One of them, a Reverend George Maunsell gave a sermon in June 1795. Maunsell called on his congregation: " to celebrate the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne in the true spirit of the institution" by attending a sermon to be given by a Rev. Devine of the Established Church at Drumcree on Sunday 1 July. And that 1st first Sunday church parade, like so many since, was celebrated with 'wrecking' and bloodletting in the parish of Drumcree. On page 17 of his History of Ireland (Vol. I), published in 1809, the historian Francis Plowden described the events that followed the Rev Devine's sermon:

This evangelical labourer in the vineyard of the Lord of peace so worked up the minds of his audience, that upon retiring from service, on the different roads leading to their respective homes, they gave full scope to the antipapistical zeal, with which he had inspired them, falling upon every Catholic they met, beating and bruising them without provocation or distinction, breaking the doors and windows of their houses, and actually murdering two unoffending Catholics in a bog. This unprovoked atrocity of the Protestants revived and redoubled religious rancour. The flame spread and threatened a contest of extermination... [7]

Plowden tells of a similar assault on Catholics in Lurgan where influential Catholics and Protestants living east of the river Bann convened a meeting and succeeded in maintaining the peace in that area. But in Portadown the Catholic Defenders: "remained under arms for three days successively, challenging their opponents to fight it out fairly in the field rather that harass them with murderous nocturnal visits". Seven weeks later, on 21 September a party of Defenders was routed by a smaller but better armed coalition of 'wreckers' at the Diamond, 4 miles from Drumcree. The 'wreckers' were under the command of a Captain Giffard from Dublin. William Blacker, a member of the landed gentry and commander of the Seagoe Yeomanry, was later attributed a role in the affray. He is said to have stripped lead from the roof of his house to make ammunition in preparation for the ambush of Catholic Defenders at the Diamond. However, we could find nothing to support this and it may be no more than a piece of Orange legend that helped establish an affinity with the aristocracy in the minds of the Protestant peasantry. It was after the Diamond skirmish that the name 'Orange Boys' was adopted. This was changed to 'the Orange Order' as the ‘wreckers’ became more organised under the leadership of Blacker and James Verner, an attorney and agent for the Armagh estates of absentee landlord, Lord Charlemont. [8]

Traditionally the Orangemen parade from the centre of Portadown, returning after the church service. The service and accompanying parades are now often represented by Orangemen as being held to commemorate the men of the 36th (Ulster) Division who died during the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

Portadown is a predominantly Protestant town. The small area surrounding the Garvaghy Road is a small Catholic community within Portadown. That community has long been subjected to sectarian discrimination, marginalisation, and abuse. [9] The Orange Order insist it is their right as citizens to march down the Garvaghy Road, a route they claim to hold traditional and communal value. The residents of Garvaghy Road insist it is their right not to be subjected to marches perceived by many as sectarian and intimidating. The stand-off between the Orangemen and the RUC Royal Ulster Constabulary, which previously colluded in facilitating the Orange demonstrations of strength, has become symbolic of the intractable sectarian divide that poisons relations between the two communities in Northern Ireland. And a local anthropologist, Peter Mulholland, has argued that Orange parades effectively deny the human rights and dignity of the minority community through annually reviving and fanning the flames of sectarian hatred. [9]

The aforementioned Plowden report and many other instances of Orange parade-related violence during the two centuries since 1795 were documented by a small group of Portadown Nationalists in the early 1980s and circulated to journalists in 1996-7 under the title 'Two Hundred Years in the Orange Citadel'. Their research was also included in Nationalist submissions to the British government's 'North' commission of inquiry into sectarian parades. [8]

In 1998 the Northern Ireland Parades Commission banned the Orangeman's parade. Every year since then the parade has been prevented from parading down the Garvaghy Road. In an attempt to defuse the situation the General Synod of the Church of Ireland has requested the Reverend John Pickering, Rector of Drumcree Church, to refrain from holding the Orangemen's service. The Primate of the Church of Ireland, Dr. Robin Eames, stated that "It is a form of blasphemy if, following a religious service, those who have attended it engage in behaviour which makes a mockery of such a service." Pickering has, however, refused the request, maintaining that "the doors of my church are open to anyone, including Orangemen".

In 2007, following the Northern Ireland power-sharing agreement, the Orange Order parade passed peacefully. The Order is still blocked from marching down the Garvaghy Road.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loyalist Volunteer Force</span> Former Ulster loyalist paramilitary group

The Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) is a small Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed by Billy Wright in 1996 when he and his unit split from the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) after breaking its ceasefire. Most of its members came from the UVF's Mid-Ulster Brigade, which Wright had commanded. In a two-year period from August 1996, the LVF waged a paramilitary campaign in opposition to Irish republicanism and the Northern Ireland peace process. During this time it killed at least 14 people in gun and bomb attacks, almost all of them Catholic civilians killed at random. The LVF called off its campaign in August 1998 and decommissioned some of its weapons, but in the early 2000s a loyalist feud led to several killings. Since then, the LVF has been largely inactive, but its members are believed to have been involved in rioting and organized crime. In 2015, the security forces stated that the LVF "exists only as a criminal group" in Mid-Ulster and Antrim.

Lurgan is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, near the southern shore of Lough Neagh. Lurgan is about 18 miles (29 km) south-west of Belfast and is linked to the city by both the M1 motorway and the Belfast–Dublin railway line. It had a population of about 28,634 at the 2021 UK census and is within the Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon district. For some purposes, Lurgan is treated as part of the "Craigavon Urban Area" along with neighbouring Craigavon and Portadown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portadown</span> Town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland

Portadown is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about 24 mi (39 km) southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population of about 22,000 at the 2011 Census. For some purposes, Portadown is treated as part of the "Craigavon Urban Area", alongside Craigavon and Lurgan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robin Eames</span> Anglican Primate of All Ireland

Robert Henry Alexander Eames, Baron Eames, is an Anglican bishop and life peer, who served as Primate of All Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh from 1986 to 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Twelfth</span> Ulster Protestant celebration

The Twelfth is an Ulster Protestant celebration held on 12 July. It began in the late 18th century in Ulster. It celebrates the Glorious Revolution (1688) and victory of Protestant King William of Orange over Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne (1690), which ensured a Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. On and around the Twelfth, large parades are held by the Orange Order and Ulster loyalist marching bands, streets are plastered with union jacks and bunting, and large towering bonfires are lit in loyalist neighbourhoods. Today the Twelfth is mainly celebrated in Northern Ireland, where it is a public holiday, but smaller celebrations are held in other countries where Orange lodges have been set up.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loughgall</span> Village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland

Loughgall is a small village, townland and civil parish in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the historic baronies of Armagh and Oneilland West. It had a population of 282 people in the 2011 Census. Loughgall was named after a small nearby loch. The village is surrounded by orchards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peep o' Day Boys</span>

The Peep o' Day Boys was an agrarian Protestant association in 18th-century Ireland. Originally noted as being an agrarian society around 1779–80, from 1785 it became the Protestant component of the sectarian conflict that emerged in County Armagh, their rivals being the Catholic Defenders. After the Battle of the Diamond in 1795, where an offshoot of the Peep o' Day Boys known as the Orange Boys defeated a force of Defenders, the Orange Order was instituted, and whilst repudiating the activities of the Peep o' Day Boys, they quickly superseded them. The Orange Order would blame the Peep o' Day Boys for "the Armagh outrages" that followed the battle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orange Order</span> Protestant fraternal order originating in Northern Ireland

The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protestants. It also has lodges in England, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland, as well as in parts of the Commonwealth of Nations and the United States. The Orange Order was founded by Ulster Protestants in County Armagh in 1795, during a period of Protestant–Catholic sectarian conflict, as a fraternity sworn to maintain the Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. The all-island Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland was established in 1798. Its name is a tribute to the Dutch-born Protestant king William of Orange, who defeated Catholic king James II in the Williamite–Jacobite War (1688–1691). The Order is best known for its yearly marches, the biggest of which are held on or around 12 July, a public holiday in Northern Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maghery</span> Village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland

Maghery is a small village and townland in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It lies on the southwest shore of Lough Neagh, near Derrywarragh Island, in the northwest corner of the county. As it sits between the estuaries of the rivers Blackwater and Bann, Maghery was of strategic significance in the past.

The Battle of the Diamond was a planned confrontation between the Catholic Defenders and the Protestant Peep o' Day Boys that took place on 21 September 1795 near Loughgall, County Armagh, Ireland. The Peep o' Day Boys were the victors, killing some 6 Defenders, with some wounded Peep o day boys in return. It led to the foundation of the Orange Order and the onset of "the Armagh outrages".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Troubles in Portadown</span>

This article recounts the violence and other effects related to The Troubles in Portadown, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Much of it has been related to the Drumcree parade dispute.

Events during the year 1986 in Northern Ireland.

Breandán Mac Cionnaith is an Irish politician and a prominent residents' group leader. He is a member of Éirígí, a socialist republican party. He used to be an adviser to Sinn Féin members of the Northern Ireland Assembly. He came to prominence in the 1990s as the spokesman for the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition. In the early 1980s, Mac Cionnaith was jailed for six years for his involvement in the IRA bombing of Portadown's town centre.

Parades are a prominent cultural feature of Northern Ireland. The overwhelming majority of parades are held by Ulster Protestant, unionist or Ulster loyalist groups, but some Irish nationalist, republican and non-political groups also parade. Due to longstanding controversy surrounding the contentious nature of some parades, a quasi-judicial public body — the Parades Commission — exists to place conditions and settle disputes. Although not all parading groups recognise the Commission's authority, its decisions are legally binding.

The Orange Institution, better known as the Orange Order, is a Protestant fraternal organisation based in Northern Ireland. It has been a strong supporter of Irish unionism and has had close links with the Ulster Unionist Party, which governed Northern Ireland from 1922 to 1972. The Institution has lodges throughout Ireland, although it is strongest in the North. There are also branches throughout the British Commonwealth, and in the United States. In the 20th century, the Institution went into sharp decline outside Northern Ireland and County Donegal. Observers have accused the Orange Institution of being a sectarian organisation, due to its goals and its exclusion of Roman Catholics and close relatives of Catholics as members. The Order has a substantial fraternal and benevolent component.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drumcree conflict</span> Northern Ireland dispute over parades

The Drumcree conflict or Drumcree standoff is a dispute over yearly parades in the town of Portadown, Northern Ireland. The town is mainly Protestant and hosts numerous Protestant marches each summer, but has a significant Catholic minority. The Orange Order insists that it should be allowed to march its traditional route to and from Drumcree Church on the Sunday before the Twelfth of July. However, most of this route is through the mainly Catholic/Irish nationalist part of town. The residents, who see the march as sectarian, triumphalist and supremacist, have sought to ban it from their area. The Orangemen see this as an attack on their traditions; they had marched the route since 1807, when the area was mostly farmland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oneilland West</span> Barony in County Armagh, Northern Ireland

Oneilland West is a barony in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is also called Clancann, after the Mac Cana clan. It lies in the north of the county on the south-western shore of Lough Neagh and the border of County Tyrone. Oneilland West is bordered by five other baronies: Armagh to the west; Dungannon Middle to the north-west; Oneilland East to the north-east; Orior Lower to the south-east; and Kinelarty to the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orange walk</span> Series of parades held by the Orange Order

Orange marches are a series of parades by members of the Orange Order and other Protestant fraternal societies, held during the summer months in various Commonwealth nations, most notably Ulster. The parades typically build up to 12 July celebrations marking Prince William of Orange's victory over King James II & VII at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1997 Northern Ireland riots</span> Mass protests during the Troubles

From 6 to 11 July 1997 there were mass protests, fierce riots and gun battles in Irish nationalist districts of Northern Ireland. Irish nationalists/republicans, in some cases supported by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), attacked the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and British Army. The protests and violence were sparked by the decision to allow the Orange Order to march through a Catholic/nationalist neighbourhood of Portadown. Irish nationalists were outraged by the decision and by the RUC's aggressive treatment of those protesting against the march. There had been a bitter dispute over the march for many years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armagh disturbances</span>

The Armagh disturbances was a period of intense sectarian fighting in the 1780s and 1790s between the Ulster Protestant Peep o' Day Boys and the Roman Catholic Defenders, in County Armagh, Kingdom of Ireland, culminating in the Battle of the Diamond in 1795.

References

  1. ↑ Church of the Ascension, Drumcree: Historic Building Details. Northern Ireland Buildings Database. Northern Ireland Environment Agency.
  2. ↑ Drumcree, County Armagh Archived 24 November 2021 at the Wayback Machine . Place Names NI.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Pickering, John (1993). "Parish of Drumcree". Journal of the Craigavon Historical Society, Vol. 6 No. 3.
  4. ↑ Connolly, S. J.. Contested Island: Ireland 1460-1630. Oxford University Press, 2009. p.144
  5. ↑ Brady, Ciaran. British Interventions in Early Modern Ireland. Cambridge University Press, 2005. pp.31-32
  6. ↑ Garvaghy: A Community Under Siege (1999). p. 117
  7. ↑ Plowden, F. (1809) History of Ireland: Vol. 1, p. 17.
  8. 1 2 A modified version of the Nationalist pamphlet entitled 'Two Hundred Years in the Citadel' can be viewed online at https://www.scribd.com/doc/26105917/Two-Hundred-Years-in-the-Citadel
  9. 1 2 Mulholland, P. (1999) ‘Drumcree: A Struggle For Recognition’ Irish Journal of Sociology. Vol. 9
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.