|
Factfile on Lodge
Name: Lisnadill Guiding Star L.O.L. No. 174
Founded: 1887
W.M. of Lodge: Gareth Steenson
Location: Lisnadill, County Armagh
Three miles south of Armagh city on the Newtownhamilton Road,
you will find the quiet rural community of Lisnadill.
This is the home of Lisnadill L.O.L. No. 174, which meets
in the Foy Memorial Orange Hall, built on land given to the
lodge by Mr. Havelock Foy, of Toronto, from the estate of
his father, Bro. Rev. E.A. Foy, rector of Lisnadill.
Rectors have played an important part in the life of the
lodge.
Bro. Rev. Stephen Radcliffe was rector of Lisnadill in 1887
when the warrant for L.O.L. No. 174 was issued in his name,
for example.
In 1985/6 Bro. Rev. E.D. Smyth, minister at Redrock, gave
a series of talks on the Order and the lodge published these
in a book entitled 'Heigh O The Lily O'.
The lodge can also take pride in the fact that when the present
Orange Hall was opened the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland,
Sir James Craig, was present to conduct the official ceremony.
Improvements to the hall in 1950, 1975, and 1997 have helped
modernise the building over the decades since 1936 when the
building first opened its doors.
L.O.L. No. 174 has had four banners, unfurled in 1918, 1938,
1959 and 1989, and the present banner has a painting of Lisnadill
Parish Church.
Until 1916 Lisnadill was a drumming lodge, and that year
a flute band was formed, which remains an integral part of
the lodge today.
Sadly the Troubles touched the lodge, and three members were
murdered. A memorial plaque in the hall pays tribute to Charles
Armstrong, David Stinson and Freddie Williamson.
The warrant number for L.O.L. No. 174 has also seen troubled
times, for it was first issued in 1798 at the time of the
Irish Rebellion to Hugh Mathers of Edenderry, County Armagh,
and was at one time a marching warrant for the Armagh Regiment
of Militia.
In June 1887, a resolution was passed "That this meeting
desires to express its gratification at the establishment
of an Orange Lodge in immediate connection with the Parish
of Lisnadill."
In the years in between the tradition of Orangeism has been
in good hands in this part of the county of the Diamond.
|
