©
The Diamond:
©
21st September 1795
Tucked away in the peaceful town land of Grange O'Neiland is the historical
'Diamond'.
For a number of years leading up to 1795 there was open hostility on the part of
the Roman Catholics or Defenders towards their Protestant neighbors.
This came to a head in the summer of 1795 when Protestant Orange Boys (a club
started in Tyrone in 1792 by James Wilson - a near relative of Daniel Winter)
heard of the Defenders plan to burn all the Protestant homes in the Richhill,
Kilmore and Loughgall districts. The Protestants prepared themselves for action
and they congregated from various quarters to a position at the Diamond.
The early hours of 21st September 1795 was the climax of a 3 day struggle from
opposite hills overlooking the Diamond Crossroads. The Defenders on Faughart
Hill (Tullymore). The Orange Boys and their allies on the Diamond Hill
(Grangemore).
A farmer named Daniel Winter and his sons owned the field of action between the
two hills, the ancestral home in the farmyard and the property at the Diamond
Crossroads.
During the battle, the property at the crossroads was burned and became
uninhabitable. Daniel Winter and his sons defended their property as long as
possible, having to retreat to the Diamond Hill when the thatch was fired.
Tradition passed down the Winter family line from Daniel c 1730, one of the
founding fathers of the Orange Society, that the first embryonic meeting of The
Orange Society as we know it took place in the ancestral home in the farmyard
200 yards from the Diamond Crossroads.
Following the battle, the main leaders including James Wilson, Daniel Winter and
James Sloan needed to get away from the throng to plan and think. They needed a
representative readily available to act for the whole body. James Sloan was
chosen as Secretary. He was an educated man, a farmer schoolmaster, who owned an
inn on the main street in Loughgall.
Discussion took place to outline the new organization and it was decided to hold
further discussions later in the house of James Sloan.
In the actual room where these founding fathers met, are to be seen old muskets
and pikes as well as an old sword found many years ago in the thatch. All had
been used at the Battle of the Diamond. Heavy lead shot has been found recently
in the roof space of this famous house.<Picture: The Diamond Memorial Monument
When Daniel Winter was making inquiries and getting reports in favor of union
among Protestants for the new organization, he and his son Daniel were living in
the house, better known as the Birthplace of Orangeism "Dan Winters House" The
Diamond.
The house and land are still owned by direct descendants of the much celebrated
Dan.
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