Year 14 History Students Attend Lecture on the Formation of the Orange Order

Year 14 History students study Ireland 1778-1803 as part of their A-Level course. On Wednesday 13 March, they attended a lecture on the formation of the Orange Order in 1795, one of the important turning points during the momentous decade of the 1790s. Historian Dr Jonathan Mattison, an expert on early Orange history, informed the students of the sectarian disputes that were a feature of rural life in Armagh and Tyrone at this time and how the Orange Order was formed after the Battle of the Diamond in September 1795. The Orange Order was just one of a number of popular societies at this time alongside Defenderism, the Freemasons and the Society of United Irishmen. We would like to thank Dr Mattison and the rest of the staff at the Museum of Orange Heritage on Belfast's Cregagh Road for hosting us and adding such value to the students' learning.