A new battle at the Boyne is underway and it is one in which
Orangemen and the Orange community have a role to play.
The Irish Government are on one side, local people opposed
to an incinerator on the fringes of the battlefield on the
other. Question is, will they be joined by the heirs of William
and his generals?
Brian Hanratty, director of the Battle for the Boyne campaign,
travelled north to Belfast recently to see if he could muster
forces to oppose the incinerator.
And not surprisingly he called at Schomberg House, headquarters
of the one organisation which has more than a passing interest
in the welfare of the Boyne battlefield.
Each year our Lodges march to commemorate the battle and
the men who fought and died there. King William rides out
proudly at the head of many a Lodge, while banners also depict
the death of Schomberg on the field of battle.
But we need in the 21st century to be about more than commemorating
1690 once a year. The Institution is called to action over
the potential threat to the Boyne by the incinerator plan.
Brian Hanratty has in fact drawn up much of the battle strategy.
And part of that involves encouraging the UNESCO World Heritage
Committee to recognise the area as a World Heritage Site.
This would mean that not only would the ancient sites of Newgrange,
Dowth and Knowth be highlighted as sites of world importance,
but so too would the Boyne battlefield.
Certainly our Orange perspective is that if the Boyne had
not been a victory for the Williamite cause, the whole course
of western history would have been altered. Had James won,
he would have been under the direction of Louis of France,
and indeed, the United Kingdom might have ended up little
better than Tyrconnell's plan for Ireland - as a Province
of the French.
The long-term implcations for that in terms of British, American
and Western history, give some cause to ponder.
The Boyne Valley is a unique historical landscape, with the
amazing ancient historical sites dominated by Newgrange, lots
of other lesser historical sites in the vicinity and, of course,
the River Boyne itself, around which was fought the 1690 battle
between the Kings.
It is a shared site. People from widely differing cultural
backgrounds can appreciate it in its complexity and its diversity.
Siting an incinerator there hardly seems conducive to developing
the heritage of the area and its obvious tourism potential.
The Orange Institution can be concerned not only about the
incinerator, however. We should aslo be very concerned at
the failure of the Irish government in Dublin to develop the
battle field site, despite the promises and fine phrases which
were given in the past.
Bro. Cecil Kilpatrick serves the Grand Lodge on an inter-departmental
committee set up to redevelop the battlesite. It has not met
in a long time. He is not surprisingly concerned, but his
letter to the government has, like a similar one from Schomberg
House, merely been met with a "we'll get back to you
on that....." type of response.
Our response should be to lobby UNESCO to have the Boyne
battlesite included as a world heritage site. That is one
strand we could follow.
The 500-acre estate at the Boyne purchased in 2000 for almost
10 million Euro lies undisturbed by cultural activity. But
questions need to be asked as to why funding was spent purchasing
the site if nothing was to be followed through.
Unless, of course, the Irish government has plans to site
an incinerator there too.
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