Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB17/03/059

Address :
Orange Hall 79 Main Street Scarva Craigavon Co Down BT63 6LS

Townland:
Scarva

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
12/11/2013 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Hall

Former Use
Hall

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
220/10

IG Ref:
J0656 4339

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Owner Category

Orange Order

Exterior Description And Setting

A gabled two-storey three-bay red-brick Orange Hall with crenellated three-stage entrance towers, dated 1908 and located to the south side of Main Street in Scarva. Rectangular on plan with a square tower to northwest and southwest corners. Roof is concealed behind crenellated parapet; red-brick chimneystacks with clay pots to west gable; ball finials to gables. Cast-iron rainwater downpipes and hopper (guttering is concealed). Walling is English garden wall-bonded red-brick on a chamfered plinth with string course between floors. Windows are tripartite timber casements with projecting stone sills. The principal elevation faces west; central section is four windows wide with narrow crow-stepped gable over central two openings, flanked by chimneys. The central section is flanked by a three-stage entrance tower, having crenellated parapets and window to each face at third stage (those to west are gothic). First and second stages have windows to inner cheek; first stage of outer cheek of north-west tower has single window, second stage blank; first stage of outer cheek of south-west tower is obscured, second stage blank; paired windows at second stage to west elevation; entrance to ground floor. North-west tower has a replacement gothic timber-sheeted double-leaf timber door with hood mould; south-west entrance is boarded. The north elevation has a crow-stepped gable flanked by crenellated parapet with square entrance tower to right flush with gable. Three windows to first floor (that to centre is round-arched and larger with segmental string course above). Plaque to first floor below central window reads “SCARVA ORANGE HALL OPENED 14TH JULY 1908 REDEDICATED 13TH JULY 2008”. Two blind windows to ground floor. The east elevation has crenellated parapet with two equally spaced wall-headed chimneys; four windows evenly spaced to first floor; to far left at first floor (slightly lower than level of windows) is a square-headed fire exit door, accessed by a set of concrete steps descending to the left. To first floor right is a round-arched stairwell window. Ground floor has four evenly spaced windows and two smaller windows at right (partially bricked up). The south elevation has a crow-stepped gable flanked by crenellated parapet; two round-arched windows to first floor; fire exit to right at ground floor. Setting Set back from the road on a large exposed site, lawned to front and rear and accessed via a gravel driveway. Red-brick curved entrance wall with saddleback coping stones and square gate piers having pointed caps and supporting original metal gates. Bounded to three sides by mature hedgerow. Modern housing estate to west; views over surrounding farmland to south and east. Roof: Concealed behind parapet Walling: Brick Windows: Timber RWG: Cast-iron

Architects

Reside, S Wilson

Historical Information

The Hall was constructed in 1906-8 to designs by Samuel Wilson Reside of Newry. (Irish Builder) The ‘Orange Hall’ is first shown, captioned, on the fourth edition OS map of 1903-18 and assumes much the same plan form as today. An extension added to the rear by the 1960s/70s appears to have since been removed. S W Reside, engineer and architect, ran a private practice in Newry from 1904 and later became engineer to Newry Rural District Council, to Newry Board of Guardians and joint engineer to Rathfriland water supply. His architectural work was largely domestic and commercial, however he was the designer of another Orange Hall, at Warrenpoint, completed shortly before the Hall at Scarva. The Irish Builder suggests that drawings, apparently unrealised, were also supplied by H W E Hobart. The design is said to have been loosely based on Hampton Court, William III’s residence on ascending to the throne. The Orange Order had previously used a house at Aughlish but Scarva has a deep resonance for the Orange tradition because King William is said to have camped at Scarva shortly after landing in Ireland in 1689 and Scarva later became the scene of the annual ‘sham fight’ as part of the annual July Orange celebrations. (Young and Quail) The foundation stone was laid on 13th July 1906 by Henry Thomson (1840-1916) who also bore much of the cost of the building (£1,100). Thomson was a local spirit merchant who had bought Scarvagh House and donated eight acres of land for the hall. He was a native of Newry and an active Orangeman, becoming MP for the town from 1880 to 1885. The Henry Thomson Memorial Orange Hall on Downshire Road in Newry also commemorates Thomson and was his original family home. (Young and Quail) The Orange Hall, equipped with library and reading room, was opened on Tuesday 14th July 1908. At the opening ceremony, which was attended by about 30,000 members of the Orange Order and their friends, addresses were delivered by J MacGeagh McCaw MP for South Down and William Moore MP. (Irish Times) The Royal Black Preceptory was also accommodated in the lodge (Young and Quail). The building enters valuation records in 1909 as a ‘Caretaker’s House, Orange Hall and land’ with buildings valued at £11 and 15s for the associated land. The occupiers are the Trustees of the Orange Society who lease the property from Henry Thomson. The caretaker is noted as Lily Brown in 1920 and by 1931 the treasurer of the hall is John Moffatt. In Valuation records of the early 1930s the hall is revalued at £18 and a plan is given showing the caretaker’s apartments to the rear of the ground floor. The hall is described in 1934 as ‘well-built’ and ‘in good order’ although the flat roof was causing problems by 1935. The building consisted of a hall, room, lobbies, cloakrooms and caretaker’s quarters comprising a kitchen, reception and bedroom. A nominal rent of 1d per week is charged. During the war, in 1943, the building was let at £29.10s per annum to the Ministry of Finance. The Sham Fight is a mock reconstruction of the Battle of the Boyne that takes place on the 13th July every year in Scarva demesne. The fight forms the centrepiece of a Royal Black Preceptory parade when the 300 residents of Scarva are joined by tens of thousands of visitors from the north of Ireland and elsewhere. The mock battle played out over 30 minutes, ends when the green standard of King James is cornered and lowered by the red-shirted Williamite ‘soldiers’. (Belfast Newsletter) The earliest reference to a Sham Fight at Scarva dates from 1835 when evidence was given to a House of Commons enquiry into Orangeism. Mr P McConnell of Tandragee states that by 1835 the fight at Scarva had taken place ‘for several years’. “There was a vast assemblage on this occasion. The publicans took out tents and sold whiskey and the party was very numerous” (Paterson). A full description of the sham fight is given in the OS Memoirs of 1838. “No peculiar amusements can be described as belonging to the inhabitants of the parish [Ballymore, County Armagh] except one to which they resort in great numbers on 13th July each year. It is called the Sham Fight of Scarva, from its taking place near that town. The battle, fought in imitation of the battle of the Boyne, is commenced at the eastern boundary of this parish on the western bank of the Newry Canal, which in the course of the battle is crossed in imitation of the crossing of the Boyne, and it continues on the eastern bank of the canal in the county of Down. The combatants being all Protestant divide themselves into opposite parties, and from there being no real opponents no accidents take place. In 1836 more than 5,000 persons assembled and were dispersed by the military collected there in great force with 6 pieces of artillery. In 1837 they met at 2 o’clock in the morning and the day passed very quietly.” (OS Memoirs) Sham fights to commemorate the battle of the Boyne were, at one time, held in various towns across Armagh and Down and beyond. The Newry Telegraph of 28th July 1825 reports that the battle was fought that year in the Altnaveagh Hills near Newry and at Portadown, Markethill, Tandragee, Newtownhamilton and Poyntzpass. However, the origins of the fight remain uncertain and it may be that the custom pre-dates the foundation of Orangeism. (Paterson) The original undisciplined nature of the battle has changed over the years and the sham fight is now a more symbolic and dignified representation of the original battle. (Belfast Newsletter) References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/3/33/3 Third Edition OS Map 1903 2. PRONI OS/6/3/33/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1903-18 3. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/22A-D Annual Revisions (1864-1929) 4. PRONI VAL/12/F/4/2/8 Annual Revisions (1930-35) 5. PRONI VAL/3/C/4/3 First General Revaluation (1936-57) 6. PRONI VAL/3/D/4/3/S/6 First General Revaluation (1933-57) 7. Irish Times 18th July 1908 8. Irish Builder, Vol 48, 24th march 1906 9. Irish Builder, Vol 48, 28th July 1906 10. Irish Builder Vol 92, 20th April 1907 11. Irish Builder, Vol 92, 18th May 1907 12. OS Memoirs County Armagh, Volume One 13. Belfast Newsletter 13th July 1976 Secondary Sources 1. Paterson, T G F “Harvest Home” Armagh County Museum, 1975 2. Young, A F and Quail, D “Old Gilford, Scarva, Loughbrickland and Lawrencetown” Stenlake Publishing, 2002

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form I. Quality and survival of Interior

Historic Interest

V. Authorship X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A gabled two-storey three-bay red-brick Orange Hall with crenellated three-stage entrance towers, dated 1908. An unusual and eclectic design, said to be loosly based on Hampton Court, much of the original character has survived including an early Twentieth-century interior, with the inclusion of a library and reading room of note. Its association with Scarvagh House and the Scarva 'Sham Fight' adds to its interest.

General Comments

Date of Survey

16 November 2011