{"id":548419,"date":"2026-07-14T01:37:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T01:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/548419\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T01:37:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T01:37:10","slug":"with-july-12th-falling-on-a-sunday-orange-order-parades-come-alive-on-the-13th-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/548419\/","title":{"rendered":"With July 12th falling on a Sunday, Orange Order parades come alive on the 13th \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deckchairs lined the length of Hillsborough village in Co Down<\/a> hours before the arrival of an Orange Order<\/a> parade on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople want to get their spots early, those seats are out from 8am,\u201d says artisan cafe owner, David Irvine.<\/p>\n

The crowds are four deep by noon when the sound of the Dunmurry Protestant Boys Flute Band signals the start of their Twelfth celebrations.<\/p>\n

Irvine is visibly perspiring on the scorching hot street.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were rammed this morning. Business is 150 per cent up on this time last week,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe parades here are very different to the city and bigger towns\u201d.<\/p>\n

He jokes \u201cyou\u2019ll not see any Buckfast\u201d.<\/p>\n

Red, white and blue bunting flutter overhead as more than 60 Orange Order lodges accompanied by dozens of pipe, accordion and flute bands wind their way along Main Street towards Hillsborough Fort.<\/p>\n

One mother adjusts her baby\u2019s ear protectors to shield against the loud boom of a Lambeg Drum; at her feet is a cooler bag emblazoned with the words The Glorious Twelfth.<\/p>\n

\"ParticipantsParticipants in the Orange Order parade in Royal Hillsborough, Co Down, taking part in the Twelfth of July celebrations on Monday. Photograph: Jonathan McCambridge\/PA <\/p>\n

The village is one of 18 venues across Northern Ireland<\/a> chosen to host the annual parades, which mark the victory of Protestant William III over Catholic James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. <\/p>\n

With July 12th falling on a Sunday this year, which the Orange Order considers a religious day of rest, the main parades were held on Monday.<\/p>\n

Granted an official \u201cRoyal\u201d title in 2021, Hillsborough has long been an official residence for the British Royal family.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bit more refined than the city,\u201d laughs Flora Workman.<\/p>\n

A volunteer with Hillsborough Presbyterian Church, Workman woke at 5.30am to bake cherry and treacle scones for a church fundraiser along the parade route.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, my goodness, what a perfect day. The weather makes it,\u201d she says, surveying the enormous crowd.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great for the village, I know there\u2019s some people who may not like it. But you\u2019re bringing thousands of visitors in and helping the economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Workman is concerned however at recent controversies linked to loyalist bonfires after a man died when he fell from an unlit bonfire in east Belfast on Friday evening.<\/p>\n

Two homes in Greenisland, Co Antrim<\/a>, were destroyed in a blaze in the early hours of Sunday which the fire service said was mostly likely caused by \u201caccidental ignition due to embers<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think you shouldn\u2019t be allowed to build them so high, they shouldn\u2019t be built anywhere near houses,\u201d adds Workman.<\/p>\n

Another woman, Lyndsay Turkington, agrees but insists that \u201cbonfires should not be done away with\u201d.<\/p>\n

Fanning herself with a red, white and blue fan and wearing sunglasses decorated with the Union Jack, Turkington says the build-up to the celebrations is \u201cso important\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the way the community comes together, especially the kids collecting for the bonfires,\u201d says the mother-of-three. \u201cAnd the Twelfth is a good family day out. It\u2019s great for our culture to kept going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some 30km away in Rathfriland, the head of the Orange Order hailed the culture on display as \u201cgreat heritage\u201d.<\/p>\n

While July 12th is the biggest day for the Orange institution, cultural heritage is \u201cmuch more than a once-a-year occurrence\u201d, grandmaster Harold Henning said in his address.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite what our enemies may wish for, days like this prove that our Orange family remains strong, vibrant and ready to face the future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Deckchairs lined the length of Hillsborough village in Co Down hours before the arrival of an Orange Order…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548420,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[80306,21753,61,60,43,2443,18254],"class_list":["post-548419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-antrim","tag-down","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-northern-ireland","tag-orange-order"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}