Drumcree Church

The Orange Order was founded in 1795 in and around the County Armagh town of Portadown. 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. That 1st first Sunday church parade, like so many since, was celebrated by Protestants with 'wrecking' and bloodletting in the parish of Drumcree.

Historian Francis Plowden described the events that followed the sermon in his History of Ireland (Vol. I, p. 17), published in 1809:

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 recounts a similar assault on Catholics in Lurgan, but there influential Catholics and Protestants living east of the river Bann convened a meeting and succeeded in maintaining the peace in that area. in Prtadown 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".^[7]

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. This may have been a legend among Orange men that helped establish an affinity with the aristocracy in the minds of the Protestant peasantry. After the Diamond skirmish, Protestant leaders adopted the name 'Orange Boys'. 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. Since the late 20th century, the Orangemen now often characterize the church service and accompanying parades 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 holds traditional and communal value.

The residents of Garvaghy Road have insisted 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. 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]

In the early 1980s, when such parades still took place, catalyzing violence, a small group of Portadown Nationalists documented the aforementioned Plowden report and many other instances of Orange parade-related violence during the two centuries since 1795. They circulated this material 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 Orangemen's parade. Every year since then the parade has been prevented from proceeding 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.

• The Parish of Drumcree