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76-464: The estate is open to the public for recreational activities and weddings. The ruins of the old castle , a bowling green and garden are tourist attractions. Several cottages are available to rent on the estate. Like many Ulster country estates, the first house at Crom was built by a Scottish Planter at the beginning of the 17th century. In 1611, as part of the Plantation of Ulster , Michael Balfour,

152-560: A barn which was then set alight, with the Catholic and Protestant rebels ensuring none escaped, not even a child who it is claimed managed to break out only for a rebel to kill with his pike. In the trials that followed the massacres, evidence was recorded of anti-Orange sentiments being expressed by the rebels at Scullabogue. Partly as a result of this atrocity, the Orange Order quickly grew and large numbers of gentry with experience gained in

228-506: A battle when the priest who accompanied the Defenders persuaded them to seek a truce, after a group called the "Bleary Boys" came from County Down to reinforce the Peep o' Day Boys. When a contingent of Defenders from County Tyrone arrived on 21 September, however, they were "determined to fight". The Peep o' Day Boys quickly regrouped and opened fire on the Defenders. According to William Blacker ,

304-505: A debate about protests against Protestant woman Letitia Dunbar-Harrison being appointed as County Librarian in County Mayo . Two years later he stated: "I have always said that I am an Orangeman first and a politician and a member of this parliament afterwards ... All I boast is that we have a Protestant Parliament and a Protestant State ". At its peak in 1965, the Order's membership

380-569: A landowner who had represented Cavan as a Liberal and who had ridiculed the order's "big drums", donned an Orange sash . Saunderson, who went on to lead the Irish Unionist Alliance at Westminster, had concluded that "the Orange society is alone capable of dealing with the condition of anarchy and rebellion which prevail in Ireland". After Gladstone 's first Home Rule Bill was defeated in

456-512: A massive police / army operation, and threatened to derail the peace process . The situation in Portadown was likened to a "war zone" and a "siege". During this time, supporters of the Orangemen murdered at least six Catholic civilians. In 1995 and 1996, residents succeeded in stopping the march. This led to a standoff at Drumcree between the security forces and thousands of loyalists . Following

532-404: A more violent and jingoist vehicle for the promotion of Unionism. Some anti-Masonic evangelical Christian groups have claimed that the Orange Order is still influenced by freemasonry. Many Masonic traditions survive, such as the organisation of the Order into lodges. The Order has a similar system of degrees through which new members advance. These degrees are interactive plays with references to

608-654: A name that recognized the landing of William of Orange in England and the start of the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Its flag, known as the Boyne Standard and Orange Standard , has a field of orange with a purple star and a St. George's Cross in the upper left corner. Orange represents the monarchs in the House of Orange. The basis of the modern Orange Order is the promotion and propagation of "biblical Protestantism " and

684-712: A new Independent Orange Order (IOO). Within the year, the Independents had nine lodges in Ballymoney alone. The split had first occurred in Belfast. In laying the foundation stone of the Working Men's Institute in Belfast in 1870, William Johnston had welcomed Catholics and Protestants uniting "around the flag of 'The United Working Classes of Belfast' determined to show that there are times and circumstances when religious differences and party creeds must be forgotten". Others within

760-538: A pair of Colleens. Racing took place on Upper Lough Erne within sight of the castle, and the boats moored each evening off the boathouse in Crom Bay. 54°09′57″N 7°26′47″W  /  54.16595°N 7.4465°W  / 54.16595; -7.4465 Crom Castle Crom Castle ( Irish : Caisleán na Croime ) is a country house on the shores of Upper Lough Erne in County Fermanagh , Northern Ireland ,

836-583: A part in framing the laws of the land. The likelihood of Irish Catholic members holding the balance of power in the Westminster Parliament further increased the alarm of Orangemen in Ireland, as O'Connell's 'Repeal' movement aimed to bring about the restoration of a separate Irish Parliament in Dublin, which would have a Catholic majority, thereby ending the Protestant Ascendancy. From this moment on,

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912-549: A persecution is now raging in this country ... the only crime is ... profession of the Roman Catholic faith. Lawless banditti have constituted themselves judges ... and the sentence they have denounced ... is nothing less than a confiscation of all property, and an immediate banishment. A former Grand Master of the Order, also called William Blacker, and a former County Grand Master of Belfast, Robert Hugh Wallace have questioned this statement, saying whoever

988-655: A senior Orange fraternity. Since the Fenian -organised funeral in Dublin for Terence McManus in 1861, Johnston had been asking: "If Nationalists are allowed such mobilisation, why are loyal Orangemen not allowed to march freely". On the Orange Twelfth 1867, he forced the issue by leading a large procession of Orangemen from Bangor to Newtownards in County Down . The contravention of the Party Procession Act earned him

1064-602: A two-month prison sentence. The following year, as the standard bearer of United Protestant Working Men's Association of Ulster, Johnston was returned to Parliament for Belfast. By the late 19th century, the Order was in decline. However, its fortunes were revived in the 1880s after its embrace by the landlords in opposition to both the Irish Land League , presided over by nationalist leader Charles Stuart Parnell , and Home Rule . In response to Gladstone 's first Irish Home Rule Bill 1886 , Colonel Edward Saunderson ,

1140-506: A wave of loyalist violence, the march was allowed through. In 1997, security forces locked down the Catholic area and forced the march through, citing loyalist threats. This sparked widespread protests and violence by Irish nationalists. From 1998 onward the march was banned from Garvaghy Road and the Catholic area was sealed-off with large barricades. For a few years, there was an annual major standoff at Drumcree and widespread loyalist violence. Since 2001, things have been relatively calm, but

1216-1146: Is a tribute to the Dutch-born Protestant king William of Orange , who defeated Catholic king James II in the Williamite–Jacobite War (1689–1691). The Order is best known for its yearly marches , the biggest of which are held on or around 12 July ( The Twelfth ), a public holiday in Northern Ireland. The Orange Order is a conservative, British unionist and Ulster loyalist organisation. Thus it has traditionally opposed Irish nationalism / republicanism and campaigned against Scottish independence . The Order sees itself as defending Protestant civil and religious liberties, whilst critics accuse it of being sectarian , triumphalist , and supremacist . It does not accept non-Protestants as members unless they convert and adhere to its principles, nor does it accept Protestants married to non-Protestants. Orange marches through Catholic neighbourhoods are controversial and have often led to violence, such as

1292-702: The Battle of the Boyne . Since the 1690s commemorations had been held throughout Ireland celebrating key dates in the Williamite War such as the Battle of Aughrim , Battle of the Boyne , Siege of Derry and the second Siege of Limerick . These followed a tradition started in Elizabethan England of celebrating key events in the Protestant calendar. By the 1740s there were organisations holding parades in Dublin such as

1368-582: The Drumcree conflict . The Orange Order celebrates the civil and religious privileges conferred on Protestants by William of Orange , the Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic who became King of England , Scotland , and Ireland in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. The Order regularly commemorates the victories of William III and his forces during the Williamite War in Ireland in the early 1690s, especially

1444-537: The House of Commons on 8 June 1886, Irish Home-Rule MPs in the House accused the Order's Belfast Grand Master, the Church of Ireland rector Richard Rutledge Kane of fomenting the violent rioting in Belfast that took 32 lives. RIC constables had been brought in from other parts of Ireland, many of them Catholic, when revellers, celebrating the defeat, had begun attacking Catholic homes and businesses. Kane did not counter

1520-575: The Irish Free State in 1922 and then in 1949 a Republic . The Orange Order had a central place in the new state of Northern Ireland. From 1921 to 1969, every prime minister of Northern Ireland was an Orangeman and member of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP); all but three Cabinet ministers were Orangemen; all but one unionist senators were Orangemen; and 87 of the 95 MPs who did not become Cabinet Ministers were Orangemen. James Craig ,

1596-666: The Irish Transport and General Workers' Union leader, James Larkin . The Grand Master of the Independents, R. Lindsay Crawford outlined the new order's democratic manifesto in Orangeism, its history and progress: a plea for first principles (1904). However, his subsequent call in the Magheramorne Manifesto (1904) on Irish Protestants to "reconsider their position as Irish citizens and their attitude towards their Roman Catholic countrymen" proved too much for Sloan and most of

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1672-704: The Irish language , he was in company of Henry Henry , the Catholic Bishop of Down and Connor , but also Thomas Welland , the Church of Ireland Bishop of Down, Connor and Dromore , and George Raphael Buick, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church and branch vice president. The Branch president was Kane's parishioner, Dr. John St Clair Boyd . There was a time, historian Brian Kennaway remarks, when Orangemen, still regarding themselves as Irish patriots, "had no problem with

1748-682: 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

1824-640: The Ulster Unionist Council decided to bring these groups under central control, creating the Ulster Volunteer Force , an Ulster-wide militia dedicated to resisting Home Rule. There was a strong overlap between Orange Lodges and UVF units. A large shipment of rifles was imported from Germany to arm them in April 1914, in what became known as the Larne gun-running . However, the crisis was interrupted by

1900-503: The Williamite War in Ireland . The Crichton family under Colonel Abraham Crichton held out against the Jacobites until reinforcements from Enniskillen arrived. The local events concluded at the Battle of Newtownbutler when a Williamite force of less than 1500 Enniskillen troops captured and killed as many as 3000 of James II's troops. The battle took place at the townland of Kilgarrett, 1 mile south of Newtownbutler . In 1764,

1976-682: The Bible. There is particular concern over the ritualism of higher degrees such as the Royal Arch Purple and the Royal Black Institutions . The Order considers important the Fourth Commandment , and that it forbids Christians to work, or engage in non-religious activity generally, on Sundays. When the Twelfth of July falls on a Sunday the parades traditionally held on that date are held

2052-578: The Boyne Club and the Protestant Society, both seen as forerunners to the Orange Order. Throughout the 1780s, sectarian tension had been building in County Armagh , largely due to the relaxation of the Penal Laws . Here the number of Protestants and Catholics (in what was then Ireland's most populous county) were of roughly equal number, and competition between them to rent patches of land near markets

2128-548: The Governor believed were the "lawless banditti", they could not have been Orangemen as there were no lodges in existence at the time of his speech. According to historian Jim Smyth: Later apologists rather implausibly deny any connection between the Peep-o'-Day Boys and the first Orangemen or, even less plausibly, between the Orangemen and the mass wrecking of Catholic cottages in Armagh in

2204-809: The Irish language". (Kane's memorial at the Clifton Street Orange Hall over whose opening he had presided in 1885, commends him as a "Loyal Irish Patriot"). Famously, when in 1880, as part of its campaign for the Three Fs (fair rent, fixity of tenure, and free sale) and of resistance to evictions, the Land League organised the withdrawal of labour from Captain Charles Boycott , a land agent in County Mayo , Orangemen from County Cavan and County Monaghan , under military and police protection, helped bring in

2280-566: The Laird of Mountwhinney, constructed a house on the lough shore opposite Inishfendra Island. Following the usual pattern for a Plantation castle, it was built of lime and stone and enclosed within a bawn. The castle was invaded twice by believers of the Jacobitism before it was burnt down in the early 1760s. The ruins of this castle still survive today. In 1840 a new neo-Tudor Crom Castle was built, designed by Scottish architect Edward Blore . It remains

2356-643: The Old Castle was destroyed by a domestic fire. In 1840, the present day Crom Castle was built, designed by the English architect Edward Blore . In 1997, Henry Crichton, 6th Earl Erne , gave the estate to the National Trust to manage. The castle remains the private property of John Crichton, 7th Earl Erne , but can be hired. Crom Estate was the location of a great classic yacht and steamboat regatta in August 2010 when

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2432-733: The Orange Institution of Great Britain, advised the Marquess that following "a death of importance" (the passing of the King), the Orangemen would abandon their policy of "non-resistance" to the present "Popish Cabinet, and democratical Ministry" (the parliamentary reform ministry of Earl Grey ) and that "it might be political to join" them. Londonderry demurred: he had no doubt that the Duke of Cumberland would be persuaded that "the present state of liberal Whig feeling in this very Whig county ... entirely preclude

2508-439: The Orange Order re-emerged in a new and even more militant form. In 1835 Parliament conducted an enquiry into Orangeism and declared the oaths of the Orange Order to be illegal and prohibited their demonstrations and parades. In 1836 the Order was accused of plotting to place Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland and Imperial Grand Master of the Orange Order, on the throne in place of Victoria when King William IV died; once

2584-556: The Order regarded such unity as tantamount to religious and national ecumenism . Such differences came to a head in 1902, in the contest to succeed Johnston as MP for Belfast South (and at time when four fifths of lodge masters in the city were workingmen). Thomas Sloan established the Independent lodges after he had been expelled by the Order for running as the nominee of the Belfast Protestant Association against

2660-519: The Order since 1921. On the Sunday before 12 July each year, Orangemen in Portadown would traditionally march to-and-from Drumcree Church . Originally, most of the route was farmland, but is now the densely populated Catholic part of town. The residents have sought to re-route the march away from this area, seeing it as "triumphalist" and " supremacist ". There have been intermittent violent clashes during

2736-410: The Order still campaigns for the right to march on Garvaghy Road. The dispute led to a short-lived boycott of businesses owned by Orangemen and their supporters elsewhere in the region. Membership of the Order was historically lower in areas where Protestants are in the majority, and vice versa. In County Fermanagh , where the Catholic and Protestant populations are close to parity, membership in 1971

2812-466: The Protestant people by the Catholics". Historian Richard R Madden wrote that "efforts were made to infuse into the mind of the Protestant feelings of distrust to his Catholic fellow-countrymen". MP Thomas Knox wrote in August 1796 that "As for the Orangemen, we have rather a difficult card to play ... we must to a certain degree uphold them, for with all their licentiousness, on them we must rely for

2888-675: The Union. In the early nineteenth century, Orangemen were heavily involved in violent conflict with an Irish Catholic secret society called the Ribbonmen . One instance, publicised in a 7 October 1816 edition of the Boston Commercial Gazette , included the murder of a Catholic priest and several members of the congregation of Dumreilly parish in County Cavan on 25 May 1816. According to the article, "A number of Orangemen with arms rushed into

2964-468: The battle was short and the Defenders suffered "not less than thirty" deaths. After the battle had ended, the Peep o' Days marched into Loughgall, and in the house of James Sloan they founded the Orange Order, which was to be a Protestant defence association made up of lodges. The principal pledge of these lodges was to defend "the King and his heirs so long as he or they support the Protestant Ascendancy ". At

3040-686: The church and fired upon the congregation". On 19 July 1823 the Unlawful Oaths Bill was passed, banning all oath-bound societies in Ireland. This included the Orange Order, which had to be dissolved and reconstituted. In 1825 a bill banning unlawful associations – largely directed at Daniel O'Connell and his Catholic Association , compelled the Orangemen once more to dissolve their association. When Westminster finally granted Catholic Emancipation in 1829, Roman Catholics were free to take seats as MPs (and take up various other positions of influence and power from which they had been excluded) and play

3116-413: The conflict, the Order had a fractious relationship with loyalist paramilitary groups, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the Independent Orange Order and the Free Presbyterian Church . The Order urged its members not to join these organisations, and it is only recently that some of these intra-unionist breaches have been healed. The Drumcree dispute is perhaps the most well-known episode involving

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3192-428: The country and encouraged Defender recruitment, creating a proto-army for the United Irishmen to utilise. The United Irishmen launched a rebellion in 1798 . In Ulster, most of the United Irish commanders and many of the rebels were Protestant. Orangemen were recruited into the yeomanry to help fight the rebellion and "proved an invaluable addition to government forces". No attempt was made to disarm Orangemen outside

3268-404: The current rules use the wording "non-reformed faith" instead. Converts to Protestantism can join by appealing to Grand Lodge. James Wilson and James Sloan, who issued the warrants for the first Lodges of the Orange Order along with 'Diamond' Dan Winter, were Freemasons , and in the 19th century many Irish Republicans regarded the Orange Order as a front group established by Unionist Masons as

3344-405: The entire of its Roman Catholic population", with notices posted warning them "to Hell or Connaught". Other people were warned by notices not to inform on local Orangemen or "I will Blow your Soul to the Low hils of Hell And Burn the House you are in". Within two months, 7,000 Catholics had been driven out of County Armagh. According to Lord Gosford , the governor of Armagh: It is no secret that

3420-463: The fictional Blandings Castle in Shropshire . 54°09′44″N 7°26′39″W  /  54.16233°N 7.44427°W  / 54.16233; -7.44427 Orange Order Defunct 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 , Wales and

3496-405: The first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, maintained always that Ulster was in effect Protestant and the symbol of its ruling forces was the Orange Order. In 1932, Prime Minister Craig maintained that "ours is a Protestant government and I am an Orangeman". This was in response to a speech the year before by Éamon de Valera in the Irish Free State claiming that Ireland was a "Catholic nation" in

3572-453: The first house at Crom was built by a Scottish planter at the beginning of the 17th century. In 1611, as part of the Plantation of Ulster , Michael Balfour, the Laird of Mountwhinney, constructed a house on the lough shore opposite Inishfendra Island. Following the usual pattern for a Plantation castle, the Old Castle at Crom was built of lime and stone and enclosed within a bawn. In 1689, the Old Crom Castle survived two Jacobite sieges during

3648-477: The first to contribute to repair funds for Catholic property damaged in the rebellion. One major outcome of the United Irishmen rebellion was the 1800 Act of Union that merged the Irish Parliament with that of Westminster, creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland . Many Catholics supported the Act, but the Orange Order saw it as a threat to the "Protestant constitution" and 36 lodges in counties Armagh and Monaghan alone passed declarations opposing

3724-437: The former laundry. It dates from the time of John Crichton, 4th Earl Erne , Grand Master of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland from 1886 until his death in 1914. The castle has a boathouse on the shore of Lough Erne, rebuilt by George Sudden in 1841 in a Tudor style. It has arched doors and windows at ground-floor level. Upstairs is a room which overlooks the lake. Before the 20th century, much travelling in County Fermanagh

3800-447: The government hoped to thwart it by backing the Orange Order from 1796 onward. Irish nationalist historians Thomas A. Jackson and John Mitchel argued that the government's goal was to hinder the United Irishmen by fomenting sectarianism , thereby creating disunity and disorder under pretence of "passion for the Protestant religion". Mitchel wrote that the government invented and spread "fearful rumours of intended massacres of all

3876-495: The harvest on his employer's estate. But among Orangemen there was tenant-farmer support for reform. One reason the majority Irish Conservatives at Westminster did not oppose Gladstone's 1881 Land Act conceding the three F's was their recognition that "the land grievance had been a bond of discontent between Ulster and the rest of Ireland and in that sense a danger to the union". Quite apart from participation in local tenant-right associations, they had reports of Orangemen in

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3952-508: The march since the 19th century. The onset of the Troubles led to the dispute intensifying in the 1970s and 1980s. At this time, the most contentious part of the march was the outward leg along Obins Street. After serious violence two years in a row, the march was banned from Obins Street in 1986. The focus then shifted to the return leg along Garvaghy Road. Each July from 1995 to 2000, the dispute drew worldwide attention as it sparked protests and violence throughout Northern Ireland, prompted

4028-440: The membership, and Crawford was eventually expelled. From the outset, the Orange Order was instrumental in the formation of a distinct Ulster unionism. In 1905, when the Ulster Unionist Council was established to bring together unionists in the north including, the Order was given 50 of 200 seats, It was a position within the constitution of the Ulster Unionist Party that the order was to maintain until voting to sever ties with

4104-514: The months following 'the Diamond' – all of them, however, acknowledge the movement's lower-class origins. The Order's three main founders were James Wilson (founder of the Orange Boys), Daniel Winter and James Sloan. The first Orange lodge was established in nearby Dyan, and its first grandmaster was James Sloan of Loughgall. Its first-ever marches were to celebrate the Battle of the Boyne and they took place on 12 July 1796 in Portadown , Lurgan and Waringstown . The Society of United Irishmen

4180-416: The official unionist candidate, one of the city's largest millowners. For at least some of his supporters, the split was a protest against what they saw as the co-optation of the Orange Order by unionist political leaders and their alignment with the interests of landlords and employers (the "fur coat brigade"). With other independents, in the great Belfast Lockout of 1907 Sloan was to speak on platforms with

4256-449: The other twenty-six counties became Southern Ireland . This time period saw intense cross community conflict/violence which took place intermittently and mostly in Belfast. (see The Troubles in Ulster (1920–1922) ) This self-governing entity within the United Kingdom was confirmed in its status under the terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, and in its borders by the Boundary Commission agreement of 1925. Southern Ireland became first

4332-468: The outbreak of " the Troubles " in 1969, the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland encouraged Orangemen to join the Northern Ireland security forces , especially the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and the British Army's Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR). The response from Orangemen was strong. Over 300 Orangemen were killed during the conflict, the vast majority of them members of the security forces. Some Orangemen also joined loyalist paramilitary groups. During

4408-459: The outbreak of the World War I in August 1914, which caused the Home Rule Bill to be suspended for the duration of the war. Many Orangemen served in the war with the 36th (Ulster) Division , suffering heavy losses, and commemorations of their sacrifice are still an important element of Orange ceremonies. The Fourth Home Rule Act was passed as the Government of Ireland Act 1920 ; the six northeastern counties of Ulster became Northern Ireland and

4484-492: The party in 2005. In 1912, the Third Home Rule Bill was introduced in the House of Commons . However, its introduction would be delayed until 1914. The Orange Order, along with the British Conservative Party and unionists in general, were inflexible in opposing the bill. The Order helped to organise the 1912 Ulster Covenant – a pledge to oppose Home Rule which was signed by up to 500,000 people. In 1911, some Orangemen began to arm themselves and train as militias. In 1913,

4560-462: The plot was revealed the House of Commons called upon the King to disband the Order. Under pressure from Joseph Hume , William Molesworth and Lord John Russell , the King indicated measures would have to be taken and the Duke of Cumberland was forced to dissolve the Orange lodges. Hume laid evidence before the House of Commons of an approach in July 1832 to Lord Londonderry . A letter from Lieutenant-Colonel W. B. Fairman, Deputy Grand Secretary of

4636-411: The possibility of successful efforts at this juncture". In 1845 the ban was again lifted, but the notorious Battle of Dolly's Brae between Orangemen and Ribbonmen in 1849 led to a ban on Orange marches which remained in place for several decades. This was eventually lifted after a campaign of disobedience led by William Johnston of Ballykilbeg , Sovereign Grand Master of the Royal Black Institution ,

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4712-413: The preservation of our lives and properties should critical times occur". The United Irishmen saw the Defenders as potential allies, and between 1794 and 1796 they formed a coalition. Despite some seeing the Defenders as "ignorant and poverty-stricken houghers and rick-burners", the United Irishmen were indebted to the Armagh disturbances as the Orangemen had scattered politicised Catholics throughout

4788-446: The principles of the Reformation . As such the Order only accepts those who confess a belief in a Protestant religion. As well as Catholics, non-creedal and non- Trinitarian Christians are also banned. This includes members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ( Mormons ), Jehovah's Witnesses , Unitarians , and Quakers . Previous rules specifically forbade Roman Catholics and their close relatives from joining but

4864-432: The property of the Earl of Erne and is not open to the public. The estate was given to the National Trust by The 6th Earl of Erne (often known as Harry Erne) in 1987. Crom Estate was the location of a great Classic yacht and steamboat regatta in August 2010 when the races of the 1890s were recreated in Trial bay using Norfork Broads One-Designs (brown boats), Lough Erne Fairies, Fife One Designs from Anglesey , and

4940-412: The races of the 1890s were recreated in Trial Bay using Norfolk Broads One-Designs (brown boats), Lough Erne Fairies, Fife One Designs from Anglesea and a pair of Colleens. Racing took place on Upper Lough Erne within sight of the castle, and the boats moored each evening off the boathouse in Crom Bay. Crom Castle Loyal Orange Lodge 1219 is a lodge of the Orange Order based at the Crom Estate, occupying

5016-404: The rumour that they were on a punitive mission for the Liberal government , declaring that, unless they were disarmed, 200,000 armed Orangemen would relieve them of their weapons. At the same, in 1895 Kane was a patron of the branch in Belfast of the Gaelic League , which in the decade to follow was to become indissolubly linked with Irish nationalism . As a patron of the League's promotion of

5092-473: The seat of the Earls Erne . Standing within the 1,900-acre (7.7 km ) Crom Estate , and within a formal garden, the castle is built in stone. A central battlemented tower includes the main entrance, and there are also smaller towers to one side. It stands apart from the ruins of Old Crom Castle, of which two towers, some walls, and a ha-ha survive, and near them two ancient yew trees, believed to be at least 800 years old. Like many Ulster country estates,

5168-400: The start the Orange Order was a "parallel organisation" to the Defenders in that it was a secret oath-bound society that used passwords and signs. One of the very few landed gentry who joined the Orange Order at the outset, William Blacker, was unhappy with some of the outcomes of the Battle of the Diamond. He says that a determination was expressed to "driving from this quarter of the county

5244-435: The west (in counties Armagh , Cavan , Fermanagh and Tyrone ) actually joining the national League. Tension between tenants and landowners, nonetheless, continued within the Order, the focus shifting from tenant right to "compulsory purchase" (the right of tenants to buy out their landlords at fixed valuations). Particularly in north Antrim , where their organisation was strong, from 1903 tenant farmers began to defect to

5320-467: The yeomanry because they were seen as by far the lesser threat. It was also claimed that if an attempt had been made then "the whole of Ulster would be as bad as Antrim and Down", where the United Irishmen rebellion was at its strongest. However, sectarian massacres by the rebels in County Wexford "did much to dampen" the rebellion in Ulster. The Scullabogue Barn massacre saw over 100 non-combatant (mostly Protestant) men, women, and children imprisoned in

5396-483: The yeomanry came into the movement. The homeland and birthplace of the Defenders was mid-Ulster and here they failed to participate in the rebellion, having been cowed into submission and surrounded by their Protestant neighbours who had been armed by the government. The sectarian attacks on them were so severe that Grand Masters of the Orange Order convened to find ways of reducing them. According to Ruth Dudley Edwards and two former Grand Masters, Orangemen were among

5472-410: Was around 70,000, which meant that roughly 1 in 5 adult Ulster Protestant males were members. Since 1965, it has lost a third of its membership, especially in Belfast and Derry. The Order's political influence suffered greatly after the unionist-controlled government of Northern Ireland was abolished in 1973. In 2012, it was stated that estimated membership of the Orange Order was around 34,000. After

5548-701: Was fierce. Drunken brawls between rival gangs had by 1786 become openly sectarian. These gangs eventually reorganised as the Protestant Peep o' Day Boys and the Catholic Defenders , with the next decade in County Armagh marked by fierce sectarian conflict between both groups, which escalated and spread into neighbouring counties. In September 1795, at a crossroads known as "The Diamond" near Loughgall , Defenders and Protestant Peep o' Day Boys gathered to fight each other. This initial stand-off ended without

5624-575: Was formed by liberal Presbyterians and Anglicans in Belfast in 1791. It sought reform of the Irish Parliament, Catholic Emancipation and the repeal of the Penal Laws . By the time the Orange Order was formed, the United Irishmen had become a revolutionary group advocating an independent Irish republic that would "Unite Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter". United Irishmen activity was on the rise, and

5700-610: Was most easily done on Lough Erne , and visiting guests would often arrive at the boathouse. Now empty and unused, except by the Earl of Erne, it was once the home of the Erne Yacht Club. The castle is privately owned by the Earl of Erne, but accommodation in the West Wing can be rented at all times of the year. The 2013 BBC television production of P. G. Wodehouse 's Blandings was filmed on location at Crom Castle. The series portrays

5776-536: Was three times as high as in the more Protestant counties of Antrim and Down, where it was just over 10% of adult Protestant males. Other factors that are associated with high rates of membership are levels of unemployment that more closely match Catholic levels, and low levels of support for the Democratic Unionist Party among unionists. The Orange Order's name stems from the Orange Associations,

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