Brownlow House
History
Brownlow House or Lurgan Castle, so named presumably after the Rt. Hon. Charles Brownlow, who built it in 1833, was created Baron Lurgan in 1839, was owned by the Brownlow family until the turn of the century. Changing fortunes resulted in the property being sold to the Lurgan Real Property Company Ltd. and subsequently the House and surrounding grounds were purchased on behalf of Lurgan Loyal Orange District Lodge. The legal document of conveyance is dated 11 July 1904.In appreciation of the effort of the late Sir William Allen, KBE, DSO, DL, MP in obtaining the House, an illuminated address was presented to him by District Lodge and now hangs in the Dining Room beside the portrait of Sir William painted by Frank McKelvey. He together with Messrs. Hugh Hayes, John Mehaffey, George Lunn Jun. and James Malcolm Jun. were the first Trustees. Not only does Brownlow House claim' to be the largest Orange Hall in the world but as the headquarters of the Imperial Grand Black Chapter of the British Commonwealth, it is in fact well known throughout the world. Brownlow House, built in an age of grandeur and cultured tastes, is an imposing building. It has retained much of the atmosphere of bygone days and one can readily pause and still imagine what life was like when it was occupied as a dwelling. While the echo of successive Brownlow Households along its corridors has long since died away, the building has however remained alive ever since it became the home of Orangeism in Lurgan almost one hundred years ago. Situated within a few minutes walk from the centre of the town, the House is a prominent land mark with its lantern-shaped tower and forest of tall chimneys dominating the skyline. It commands a fine view across the park and lake, which were once part of Lord Lurgans estate and are now owned by Craigavon Borough Council. The building which is of Scottish sandstone was designed in the Elizabethan style by the famous Edinburgh Architect, William Henry Playfair and it was recently listed by the Department of Environment (NI) as being of special architectural and historical interest. (The collection of Playfair's 383 drawings of the House are in Edinburgh University Library.) The elegant wrought iron entrance gates are also listed. Originally the entrance to the avenue started at Market Street where there was a stone-arched gateway and lodge house, but no trace of either remains today. Likewise Castle Lane, where the previous Lurgan Orange Hall Building had stood has also been demolished with other houses once occupied by many of the tradesmen employed by the Brownlows. The House contains many interesting features. The walls of the octagon shaped reception room for instance have some of the finest examples of vert-antique marble plaster, panelled and painted by Italian craftsmen. The ceilings of several rooms are grained to represent expensive wood and over the grand staircase carved from native oak, there is a beautiful example of free brush work in the ceiling panels. Four heraldic shields of the McNeill, Kilmaine, Brownlow and Dornley families, who were related by marriage, adorn the ceiling of the entrance hallway and these same armorial bearings together with the crests, are executed as eight stained glass windows on the grand staircase.The House also had a warm air heating system ducted from a furnace in the basement. On the left is panelling in the Octogon room The early history of Lurgan has been associated with the Brownlow family since the plantation of Ulster. Lurgan is derived from the name Lurganballyvacken or Ballylurgan. John Brownlow and his son, William, came from Basford near Nottingham when they were granted 2500 acres of land in the barony of O'Neiland East by James 1 in 1610. Carew in his Report of 1611 records that John and William Brownlow were both resident and dwelling in an "Irish House". They had brought over six carpenters, one mason, one tailor and six workmen and had placed one freeholder and six tenants upon their lands Preparations were being made to build two bawns and they had some muskets and other arms in readiness for defence of the properties. By 1619 John Brownlow was dead and William came into possession of the two manors. Pynnar's "Survey" of that year states that there was "upon Ballynemony a strong stone house within a good island and at Doughcoron a fair house of stone and brick with a bawn of timber and earth with a pallazado about it and in readiness lime and stone to make a bawn thereof in the summer". There was then a very fair town consisting of forty-two houses, all inhabited by English families, with streets paved clean through. There were also two water-mills and a wind mill, all for corn, and a store of arms in the manor. In 1629 William had a re-grant of the two manors by which they became united as the Manor of Brownlow's Derry. At the same time a patent was issued for a market every Friday at Ballylurgan and two fairs on the Feast of St. James and Feast of St. Martin. By this time the town had become a place of importance in the social life of the area and gives Lurgan's markets and fairs an ancestry of over three hundred and twenty years. In 1641 the Civil War broke out and Lurgan was taken by a force of native soldiers said to have numbered 1,000 men. From Carte's "Life of Ormonde" the outbreak was not entirely unexpected for Sir William Brownlow had been supplied with powder for the defence of his Castle. The attack took place on the 23rd October, 1641 (in his later account he changed the date to 1st November) and the raiding parties under the Macans, Magennises and the O'Hanlons burnt the town and murdered several inhabitants. The Castle surrendered and Brownlow was taken prisoner with his wife and children, first to Armagh, later to Dungannon and finally to Charlemont where he was eventually freed by the English. According to O'Mellan's Journal there was a second burning of Lurgan in May 1642. The town seems to have suffered little inconvenience during the Williamite Wars. Some of Schomberg's troops were stationed in the town and neighbourhood and the General made them responsible for the repair of the highway, with, of course, an ulterior object in view - the facility of his troops when the occasion should arise. Tradition says that during this work the General once used the Blue Stone at Lylo as a luncheon table. The famous landmark is now buried. In the closing years of the 17th century Lurgan began to develop as a linen manufacturing centre and Dr Thomas Molyneaux (of Castledillon) in his book "Journey to ye north" written in 1708 de-scribes the town "at present the greatest mart of linen manufacturers in the north being almost entirely peopled with linen weavers, and all by the care and cost of Mr Brownlow, who on his first establish-ing the trade here, bought up everything brought to the market of cloth (linen) and lost at first considerably, but at length the thing fixing itself, he is now by the same methods a considerable gainer. This gentleman is more curious than ordinary and has by him several old Irish manuscripts which he can read and understand very well. He shewed me one in parchment of the Bible (as I remember) pretended to be written by St. Patrick's own hand but this must be a fable. This gentleman is not satisfied about the petrifying qualities of Lough Neagh waters .... Having supped with him we lay at an Inn." In 1712 James Quin of Carlow was induced by William Brownlow to take up his abode in Lurgan and begin the manufacture of damask and by 1714 fine cambric was being produced in the district. At that time the making of linen was an essentially domestic affair. Farmers grew the flax on their wn lands and it was scutched at home. The families then combined to spin the effected by the same hands. From Young's Tour Of Ireland published in 1780, the writer mentions the great improvements Mr Brownlow had made in his demesne. Although mainly concerned with agriculture but being in the town on a Market Day he walked to the mart to see the way which linens and cambrics were sold and gives an excellent account of the Proceedings. Weavers were able to earn by coarse linens 1/-per day and by fine 1/4d, and the same applied to the spinners - they received more for the fine yarns. A Parcel of linen woven in 1809 was of such excellence that it was presented to Princess Charlotte; and later on Lurgan canibrics were sent to Queen Victoria. The town then boasted a handsome Market House situated in the old Middle Row, and a Line Hall built in 1825. Lurgan was the second town in the County in importance in 1819 and it contained 379 houses and 2207 inhabitants. The weekly trade in linen then averaging from £2,500 to £3,000 per week. The first power loom factory was built in 1855 by the Malcolms who, in the days of handloom weaving, had been engaged in the manufacture of cambric. The new venture was unpopular with the hand-loom weavers who gathered together on one occasion to wreck the plant. The Mechanics Institute was opened in 1858 and in 1865 the Liner, Hall was abolished. Owing to industrial changes it had outlived its usefulness. In 1866 the Malcolms also established the first hem-stitching factory in the town. Johnston, Allen & Co. was set up in 1867 for the manufacture of linen and cambric by handloom but transferred to power-loom weav-ing in 1888. In an account of Lurgan written in 1751 by the Rev. Richard Barton, there is a vivid representation of the Lurgan linen market. While the linens were sold in the open market they were measured under cover in the public houses and custom had made it a rule that the sellers of webs should expend at least three-pence in liquor for the good of the house. In 1793 the Irish Militia was re-organised and county units raised. Lurgan, possibly due to its geographical position, sent very few men into the Armagh Militia. Three years later Yeomanry Corps formed and Lurgan acquired a Cavalry and Infantry Corps - the latter in the next century became involved in certain squabbles of a political nature, whereby its loyalty to authority became suspect. Part of the trouble was due to the then agent who was very anti-Orange in his views. A coat of the Lurgan Corps survives in the National Museum, Dublin, and very full records presented by the late Sir William Allen are preserved in Armagh Museum. In 1795 when the Orange Order was formed, its principles were quickly adopted in Lurgan. In 1797 the town was the place of meeting for the second demonstration since the Order's formation. Great preparations had been made.