Drumcree Church
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Drumcree Church is the parish church of Drumcree, a rural Church of Ireland parish to the north of Portadown in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. In recent times it has become noted for the Orange Order service held annually on the Sunday before 12 July. The service, or more precisely the Orangemen's march both to and from the service, has been the catalyst for sectarian unrest between the Protestant marchers and the Catholic residents of the area.
The present church, known as The Church of the Ascension, was consecrated by the Bishop of Down and Dromore and Connor, Robert Brent Knox, on 28 October 1856. Its foundation stone was laid on 17 May 1855, which in that year was Ascension Day.
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[edit] History of the site
Drumcree means "Ridge of the Branch", referring to a branchy tree. The site has been used for Christian worship since the time of the celts. The Irish Church parish of Drumcree was formed in 1110 and had sixty-six townlands lying to the west of the River Bann. In 1172, following the Synod of Cashel, Drumcree parish, together with the rest of the Irish Church, was subsumed by the Church of Rome. Historical records list the first vicar as David Macralagen. He died in 1414. The parish remained a Catholic entity until the Reformation in the mid 1500s.
It is unclear what happened to the church during the time of the Reformation, but a map of 1609 shows the church in ruins within the churchyard. Following the Ulster Plantation in 1610 a new 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. Almost thirty years later, in 1854, it was decided to build a new church. The church so built is the one that stands today and is now the oldest church in Portadown. It occupies a position roughly the same as the former church.
[edit] History of the present church
The Church of Ireland was disestablished in 1871 and as a result Drumcree lost most of its land, known as the Glebe Land.
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 more recent times a war memorial to commemorate those lost in World War II was erected in 1989. Then in 1992 major renovation work was carried out to repair the fabric of the building.
[edit] Drumcree and the Orange Order
The Orange Order was founded in Portadown in 1795. The first Orange service to be held in Drumcree Church took place in 1807. At that time there was no parish church in the centre of Portadown and Drumcree was the nearest. Traditionally the Orangemen parade from the centre of Portadown, returning after the church service. The service and accompanying marches are held to commemorate the men of the 36th (Ulster) Division who died during the Battle of the Somme.
The original route of the procession from Portadown centre to Drumcree went via Cocrain Way. The Orangemen returned via Obins Street, close to a Catholic area in Portadown. This tradition continued until 1985 when successful lobbying by the Catholic community forced subsequent marches to be re-routed via the Garvaghy Road. However, the housing estates developed along the Garvaghy Road during the early 1970s are now predominantly occupied by Catholic families. This situation caused further sectarian conflict during the Orangemen's march. The inter-communal violence, and the stand-off between the Orangemen and the Northern Ireland Police in the fields adjacent to Drumcree church, has become symbolic of the intractable religious divide in Northern Ireland.
In 1998 the Northern Ireland Parades Commission banned the Orangeman's march. Every year since then the parade has been prevented from marching 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 Orangeman'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." The Reverend Pickering has, however, refused the request, maintaining that "the doors of my church are open to anyone, including Orangemen".
