The Lodge was formed in 1890 in North Belfast, and named after John Henry Crichton, the 4th Earl of Erne, who had been elected as Imperial Grand Master in 1885. (he was a close friend of the famous Johnston of Ballykilbeg, who led an Orange parade from Newtownards to Bangor in 1867, and was jailed.). Mr Johnston signed the warrant that the Lodge still uses to open meetings in this day. The lodge n
umber 647 had originally been granted as a marching warrant to the Wiltshire Militia, but later became dormant and was resurrected in 1890, in Belfast. Early membership was drawn mostly from the Lower Shankill Road and York Street areas. Then is the 1960s got a large influx of members from the 92nd Company Boys Brigade. The church was originally in Eglinton Street, in the Lower Shankill but was destroyed during the Blitz of 1941 and rebuilt on the Ballysillan Road. At one point almost the entire membership comprised of officers and members of the Company, and who lived in Ballysillan / Ardoyne. This has changed over the years, but there are still a few old boys in the Lodge. The connection with North Belfast ( Ardoyne / Ballysillan) strengthened over the years with the result that at present, the vast majority of members live in the area. Every Twelfth of July, the Lodge by tradition leave the Worshipful Masters house to parade to the field and then return to either his home or a local hall. The link with the area is shown by the fact that over the last 50 years, the master’s home was based in:- North Belfast 41 times, Shankill 5 times, Highfield once, East Belfast once, Newtownabbey once and Lambeg once. The current master and deputy master both live in Upper Ardoyne. We also used to return to the masters home after other parades and leave for church services. Unfortunately due to Parade Commission restrictions and Sinn Fein pressure, this is no longer permitted. At present, we have 21 members with two awaiting approval at the next district meeting (a formality) and two application forms to be submitted. By the new year, we hope to have 25 members on the book. Information from minute books show that the Lodge has been parading down the Crumlin Road (and back home) from the early 1920s (possibly earlier as books were not available before this period). The master then was an old soldier who had been decorated for bravery in WW1. At present, 5 of the members have 50 years or more service and all of them can remember parading home to North Belfast since they joined the Lodge. A number of years ago ,the Lodge moved it’s meeting place from Clifton Street to Ligoniel Orange Hall, to facilitate the membership. The Hall was destroyed in a malicious arson attack and has not yet been rebuilt. The Lodge still meets in the area. We have great relationship with a number of community groups in the area, and several members have dual membership with local bands and churches. We organise collections and functions for various charities and foundations, not only in Northern Ireland but throughout the UK. The Lodge is represented in both the Concorde (Upper Ardoyne) and Glenbank Community centres.
