Project Update - County Armagh Grand Orange Lodge

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Spring 2010 | Issue 2
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The Official Newsletter of The Friends of Sloan’s House
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W
elcome to this,
the second
edition of the
“Friends of Sloan’s House”
Newsletter – this is the
quarterly forum whereby
we will keep our members
informed and updated on
developments in relation to
the new Interpretive Centre
at Sloan’s House, Main
Street, Loughgall. This is
your Newsletter and we
would welcome articles
for publication related to
the project; such can be
submitted to any Committee
member.
Congratulations!
The Friends Group would
wish to congratulate the
Loughgall Improvement
Committee on the village
being the winner of the 2009
Northern Ireland Amenity
Council Best Kept Awards, in
the Small Village category –
well done to all concerned!!
Project Update
W
e are very pleased to report that at the monthly
meeting of Armagh City and District Council on
Monday evening, 7 December 2009, the project
received formal planning approval. It has been a long road
to get to this stage, but at last this major hurdle has been
overcome. We would wish to thank the Project Architect,
Eddie Quinn, for all his work in this regard, and indeed all
others who have assisted thus far, especially those Lodges,
Brethren, Sisters and Community Groups who submitted letters of support to the Planning Office.
Information Day
Sloan’s House
LO U G H GALL
R E D E V E L O P M E NT P R O J E C T
The Sloan’s House Management Committee is planning
to have an Information Day or Open Day for the project on
Saturday, 8th May 2010. Members of the Friends Group
will receive an invitation to attend, along with locals from
the village, to hear at first hand of the proposals for the new
Centre. Please do come along – further details later
Many Friends have already advised of their email address; if
you have not done so, please let us know, as this is obviously
the fastest and most efficient method of communication with
members.
T
Management Committee Members
he former
Sloan’s
House
Development
Group has
now been
reconstituted as
the “Sloan’s House
Management
Committee”
in order to take the project forward. New
members have joined the Committee in
recent weeks to make the composition
representative of the entire County. If anyone
wishes to volunteer their services, please
contact any of the Committee members listed
across.
Denis Watson (Chair); Joseph
Campbell (Vice-Chair); Roger Gardiner
(Correspondence & Friends Membership
Secretary); Olive Whitten (Minute Secretary);
Jim Copeland (Treasurer); Robert Oliver;
Roger Gill; Barry McQueen; Nigel Lutton;
Julie Allen, Lyn McCrea; Leslie McNeill;
Hilda Winter; Richard Whitten; Mark Diffin;
Kyle Quinn; George Patton; Jeffrey Lawson;
Clarence Livingstone; Colin Hopps; Trevor
Geary; and Trevor Kinnin.
Friends of Sloan’s House
Business Case
If you have any query on the Interpretive
Centre project or the Friends Group,
please contact any of the above and they
will endeavour to help or bring your query
to the Management Committee.
Become a Friend of Sloan’s House
Enjoy your visit to Sloan’s House?
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Membership Application
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Name:
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✂
Friends of Sloan’s House
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At present, we now have
119 members and we would
again encourage the current
Friends to recruit others
– let us strive to have 200
members by 21 September
2010!! This can be
achieved with a little effort
on all our parts.
postcard and other items.
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When the Friends Group
was launched at The
Diamond on 21 September
2009, a target of recruiting
100 members in the first
year was set. We are
very pleased to report that
our 100th member was
recruited in early December
2009, and it was very
appropriate that this should
be one of the Winter family!!
SE
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Friends Update
S HOU
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SLOAand Schomberg
The Joint Business Case for the Sloan’s House
House
Projects
wasofsubmitted
Why not
become
a member
the Friends
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to the funding body, SEUPB, on 13 November 2009. Initial of
feedback
has been
very positive,
Sloan’s House
Membership
Scheme.
with the projects being viewed as “iconic”. The Joint ProjectFor
has
through the
stage
anpassed
annual subscription
of first
£1.9
of the appraisal and is now to be subject to ecomonic appraisal. Meetings
areentry
ongoing
you will
receive free
for thewith
yearthe
to
House Interpretive
and
Heritage
Management Consultant, who has been appointed to reviewSloan’s
the document.
Thanks
are
due to
In addition
to this
youpages,
will receive
all those involved in compiling what became a very lengthy Centre.
document
of almost
150
in a
membership
certificate,
exclusive
pin
badge,
particular the staff at Schomberg House, Belfast.
Address:
Postcode / Zip Code:
For office use only:
Telephone:
Member Number
Mobile:
Email:
Please make cheques payable to : Co Armagh Dev Ctte Ltd
Post to: Friends of Sloan’s House, Orchard Credit Union Ltd,
The Old Savings Bank, 1 Victoria Street, Armagh. BT0 SL
Valid From
James Sloan - A short history
A
By Nigel Lutton
s we are now aware the Orange
Order was born out of a long
process stretching back to the Exeter
Association in the 1680’s. The mantle then
passed to the Armagh Association (1688), the
Aldermen of Skinners Alley (1689), Dublin, the
Royal Boyne Society (1691), the Orange Boys
(1791), the Orange Order (1795).
system and Sloan secured Number 28 for the
Club he formed.
James Sloan was an Inn Keeper from
Loughgall who was well educated and very
politically aware. Before the Orange Order was
formally organised he became involved in the
Orange Boys an organisation formed by James
Wilson of the Dyan, Co Tyrone.
He also set the Parlour up as if the Orange
Boys were opening a meeting, complete with
officers and ritual in place. The Orange Boys
present included, James Wilson founder of
the Orange Boys, John Dilly (Derryoughill),
Thomas Sinclair (Canary), Robert Irwin
(Kinego), and a Mr. Lockhart (Knocknacloy).
They demonstrated to Dan Winter and an
Army officer from Dublin named Giffard how
their meetings were conducted.
In the Loughgall area sectarian attacks had
occurred for many years between the Peep-oDay Boys and the Defenders. These attacks
were not new as Loughgall had been at the
crucible of the 1641 Rebellion in Co Armagh,
during this uprising thousands of Protestants
were murdered by their Roman Catholic
neighbours and fellow countrymen.
This is why Sloan and others saw fit to
encourage the growth of an organization for
the mutual defence of Protestants. The Orange
Boys grew out of an attack on the village of
Benburb, Co Tyrone. The attack happened as a
result of the burial of a Defender leader in the
Roman Catholic graveyard of Clonfecale.
After the funeral the Roman Catholic party
attacked Protestant homes in Benburb and
the local Masonic Hall where Masons were
meeting at the time. Because of the inaction of
the Masons in defence of the village, James
Wilson a member of the Masonic Order
jumped onto his horse and declared to his
fellow Lodge members he would, “Light a star
in the Dyan that would eclipse the Masonic
Order for ever”.
This is the organization James Sloan became
a member of, one of the Orange Boys
Clubs sat in the front parlour of Sloan’s Inn,
Loughgall. This Organisation had a numbering
After the Diamond fight was over the
protagonists withdrew from the area to the Inn,
as Sloan wanted to show them the methods
already in place for the Orange Boys, a good
template for any new organization to follow.
Sloan organized a second meeting and two
more Army officers were in attendance, Capt.
Cramp and Col Sheldrake, the others present
were those previously named. The Army
officers and most of the others were Masons
and the obvious outcome of the meeting was
that the new Orange Order should follow the
pattern of the older Masonic Order. Some of
the Masonic emblems were used in the new
Order but the emblems now had a completely
different meaning, all-relating to different
biblical stories and scriptural teaching.
James Sloan’s contribution to the growth of
the Orange Order was significant, it could be
said Winter fought the battle but Sloan, Wilson
and Giffard helped to mould the Order into the
largest Protestant organization in the world.
The Orange Boys already in existence kept the
old numbers issued to them as Orange Boys
and only dormant or new numbers were issued
to the Orange Order.
Sloan then acted as the Orange Order’s first
secretary and a warrant given to new Orange
Lodges was not accepted anywhere in Ireland
unless it carried the signature of James Sloan
of Loughgall.
Membership Certificates and Commemorative Postcards
M
embership Certificates and Commemorative Postcards
have been distributed and costs have been obtained
for the special commemorative badges; these should
be distributed in the very near future, as part of the initial
Membership Package. In addition, costs are to be obtained for
a special Limited Edition Jewel, available at a discounted rate
for Friends of Sloan’s House.
A reminder that the membership fee is £17.95 for the first
year; consideration is to be given to the annual subscription
thereafter. All subscriptions will be due at 21 September each year and
members will receive a reminder nearer the date.
Friends Projects
W
ith the monies already received
from the Friends Group (and some
have been very generous, paying
more that the subscription amount), it has
been decided to proceed with 2 projects
immediately:Firstly, Tannaghmore
Purple Star LOL 312,
Tandragee District, has
unearthed a portrait of Col
William Blacker, the first
County Grand Master of
Co Armagh Grand Orange
Lodge and indeed of the
Institution. This is a very
rare portrait and as it needs
some restoration, the Friends have entered
an agreement with the Lodge to pay half the
cost of such. When restored, the portrait will
be displayed, on loan from the Lodge, at the
new Interpretive Centre.
Secondly, it has been agreed that there
should be a permanent memorial to the 66
members of the Orange Institution in Co
Armagh who were murdered during the years
of the Troubles. Initial suggestions are that
a granite Memorial Stone should be erected
in the garden, at the back of Sloan’s House
and again, the Friends Group have agreed to
assist with the funding.
HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE !
The next Newsletter will be available in the
Summer of 2010.
Contributed by a “Friend”
Hilda was showing an American visitor
around Dan’s Cottage on the third Sunday
in September. The American says, “Quite
a quaint little cottage you have here; sure in
America, we have dog-houses bigger than
this!” Then he says “Quite a quaint little car
you have there; sure in America, we have toy
cars bigger that that!”
Then he says “I’ve heard of your little Orange
parades on 12th July, I guess much smaller
than our big parades on 4th July”. Just then
the Annual Diamond Anniversary Parade
comes towards the cottage and Hilda says
“Oh, the parade in Co Armagh is huge –
sure that’s the last of them just getting home
now!!!”
Artefacts
S
everal Lodges,
Brethren, Sisters
and individuals
have indicated their
willingness to make
available items for
display in the new
premises. If you or
your Lodge has anything, please
contact a Committee member. All such items
will remain as a loan and can be returned as
and when required; a Loans Policy is being
developed at present. Old banners would be
particularly welcome.
Meantime, Sloan’s House remains open to
visitors; anyone wishing to visit should please
contact either Nigel Lutton or Joe Campbell.