BELFAST RB BOOKLET 2020 - Flipbook - Page 8
Ci t y of Belf ast Grand Bl ack Chapt er - Dem onst rat i on Bookl et 2020
1953 when the railway was nationalised the
Board, for some unknown reason, on April
29th in 1956, decided to completely close
the direct line through Dromore.
Dromore was not excluded from the
sectarian Provisional IRA's campaign of
zealous genocide against the Protestant
population and on Wednesday 7th April
1976 the republican terrorists, wilfully
and deliberately murdered shop-owner
sixty-four year old William Herron, his
Wife Elizabeth (age 58) and their twentysix year old daughter Noeline, an entire
innocent family who were quietly resting
at home above their shop premises
when an IRA incendiary bomb engulfed
their Market Square drapery store,
which was also a global and local outlet
well-known for the manufacture and
supply of Loyal Order Regalia.
Brother Sir Knight William Herron was
a faithful member of the Royal Black and
Orange Institutions; as a long serving
Sir Knight his Preceptory, Closkelt RBP
No 449 has since dedicated a new
banner in his memory.
A permanent granite memorial to the
Family was also unveiled, dedicated and
incorporated into the wall of the new
Dromore Orange Hall in 2016. During the
Service our Late Sovereign Grand
Master, RW/Sir Knight Millar Farr said
'sadly many families with strong Order
connections suffered grievously at the
hands of terrorists. Tonight we stand
together in condemning those atrocities
and the evils who carried them out.'
NOTE: Two IRA sisters from Portaferry,
who were part of the republican murder
gang involved in this vile atrocity, were
secretly released from prison in 1985 by
the Tory NI Secretary of State Douglas
Hurd using the Royal Prerogative of Mercy,
after serving just four years behind bars
and without the courtesy of either
consulting or advising the remaining
members of the wider Herron family.
Moving forward, the Council later announced
that the original Dromore Town Centre
Development Plan and the special green-field
renewal of recent years had mostly been
around the edges of the town. However this
doughnut effect soon led to many houses
being further disconnected from the proposed
urbanisation of the town centre area.
The revised plan did highlight the under use
of the nearby River Lagan as a resource for
the town, as well as the poorly used public
spaces around the Town Hall in the Market
Square and whilst this area, having an
eighteenth century layout is protected, it had
also been identified as a congested traffic
problem, which was continually exacerbated
by poor on/off street parking space provision
and the enforcement of associated restrictions.
IN MEMORY OF THE FALLEN - 6 - AND THE FUTURE OF THE LIVING