Memorial Orange Hall, 24 Springvale Road, Banbridge, County Down, BT63 6EB

Memorial Orange Hall

A symmetrical three-bay two-storey red-brick Orange Hall built in 1914 to designs by William Wright Larmor, located on the north side of Springvale Road northeast of Banbridge. The building is situated on an elevated rural site approached via a tree-lined gravelled avenue leading to a gravelled concourse, bounded by mature hedgerow with original steel gates on roughcast rendered square gate piers.

The hall is constructed entirely of Flemish-bonded red-brick on a chamfered plinth, with decorative moulded string course between floors and under the eaves. It has a rectangular plan with a two-storey return to the northwest and small single-storey abutments to the rear. The pitched natural slate roof features terracotta ridge tiles and moulded stone verges to the gables, with two red-brick chimneystacks to the rear, each having three clay pots. Cast-iron half-round rainwater goods run along a moulded eaves course.

The principal southeast elevation displays three openings to each floor, divided by brick lesenes. At ground floor centre is a doorway covered with a steel security gate, surmounted by a square-headed overlight and hood mould, accessed via three stone steps. Above the door is a carved terracotta tiled plaque reading "Dr. KANE MEMORIAL/ ORANGE HALL /TULLYLISH 1914". A red sandstone foundation stone to the south corner bears the inscription "THIS FOUNDATIONS STONE / WAS LAID BY / MASTER RICHARD FORSTER RUTTLEDGE UPRICHARD / ON THE 4TH DAY OF APRIL 1914". Windows throughout are metal casements with projecting stone sills at ground floor level; those at ground floor are boarded. The southwest elevation features an oculus to the apex and two windows to each floor with dividing lesenes. The northeast elevation similarly has an oculus to the apex with two windows to each floor and dividing lesenes.

The northwest rear elevation is three bays wide divided by two projecting chimneystacks, with a window to the first floor centre and left, and a window to the left of centre at ground floor. The building is abutted at right by a two-storey pitched roof return (lower in height) with a window to the apex; this is further abutted by a single-storey return to the left. The right cheek of this section has a boarded door to the left and a boarded window to the right. The left cheek is entirely abutted by a single-storey lean-to with a blocked door to the left and blocked window to the right. The single-storey return comprises three diminutive square-headed bricked-up openings at ground level of the gable, with a diminutive window to the right of the right cheek and a blocked door to the left of the left cheek.

Continuous sill course runs to the first floor. The building has a continuous sill course to first floor windows and all architectural details are simply proportioned and detailed.

Historical Context

The hall was named after Dr Richard Rutledge Kane (1841–1898), a native of Newtownstewart in County Tyrone who served as Church of Ireland rector at Tullylish between 1873 and 1882. Kane was a vehement opponent of Home Rule and a strong supporter of the Orange Order, becoming a Grand Master in Belfast after moving there in 1882 to take up the incumbency of Christ Church. He was a noted orator who toured Ireland and England denouncing Home Rule and was regarded for a decade as the dominant personality in the political life of Belfast. His character was complex, however; he was also a patron of the Gaelic League and a supporter of the Irish language.

The Irish Builder invited tenders for the building in June 1913, identifying architect William Wright Larmor. Larmor served as engineer to Banbridge County Council from 1898 to 1934 and assistant county surveyor for County Down from circa 1907 to 1934 or 1935. In addition to numerous causeways and bridges, he designed several manses and medical officer's residences. The hall was built on land belonging to the Quaker Uprichard family and first appears on the fourth edition Ordnance Survey map of 1903–1920 captioned "Orange Hall". It entered valuation records in 1915 at a valuation of £5.

The secretaries of the lodge are recorded as Henry Russell in 1913, S Cruickshanks in 1925, and James Nelson in 1934. In the First General Revaluation of the early 1930s, the occupiers were noted as the Trustees of Tullylish Orange Hall, with S Cruickshanks as secretary. The property was leased from H A Uprichard and comprised a hall, caretaker's apartments, and garden. At this revaluation the building was valued at £10 and its accommodation described: ground floor contained an entrance hall, small meeting room, a room with sink and stove, and an earth closet, with the caretaker's living quarters comprising a kitchen and two bedrooms. The first floor housed a large meeting room and store room with a small loft over the back portion. The rent was nominal at one penny per week. A contemporary valuer noted that the hall was "substantially built in 1914". The building remains in use as an Orange Hall.