The current rector is the Reverend Gary Galway, previous curate of St. Marks Parish in Portadown.

Residents of the nearby Catholic district resent this event and prevented the march from continuing through their neighbourhood.

[3] In September 1563, the powerful Irish chieftain Shane O'Neill of Tír Eoghain met the English Crown's representative Thomas Cusack at Drumcree.

They agreed to the 'Treaty of Drumcree', whereby the English would lawfully acknowledge Shane as Earl of Tyrone[4] and chief of the O'Neill dynasty, but this never came to pass.

Maunsell called on his congregation: " to celebrate the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne in the true spirit of the institution" by attending a sermon to be given by a Rev.

I, p. 17), published in 1809: This evangelical labourer in the vineyard of the Lord of peace so worked up the minds of his audience, that upon retiring from service, on the different roads leading to their respective homes, they gave full scope to the antipapistical zeal, with which he had inspired them, falling upon every Catholic they met, beating and bruising them without provocation or distinction, breaking the doors and windows of their houses, and actually murdering two unoffending Catholics in a bog.

in Prtadown the Catholic Defenders: "remained under arms for three days successively, challenging their opponents to fight it out fairly in the field rather that harass them with murderous nocturnal visits".

[7] Seven weeks later, on 21 September a party of Defenders was routed by a smaller but better armed coalition of 'wreckers' at the Diamond, 4 miles from Drumcree.

William Blacker, a member of the landed gentry and commander of the Seagoe Yeomanry, was later attributed a role in the affray.

He is said to have stripped lead from the roof of his house to make ammunition in preparation for the ambush of Catholic Defenders at the Diamond.

This was changed to 'the Orange Order' as the 'wreckers' became more organised under the leadership of Blacker and James Verner, an attorney and agent for the Armagh estates of absentee landlord, Lord Charlemont.

Since the late 20th century, the Orangemen now often characterize the church service and accompanying parades as being held to commemorate the men of the 36th (Ulster) Division who died during the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

[9] The Orange Order insist it is their right as citizens to march down the Garvaghy Road, a route they claim holds traditional and communal value.

The stand-off between the Orangemen and the RUC Royal Ulster Constabulary, which previously colluded in facilitating the Orange demonstrations of strength, has become symbolic of the intractable sectarian divide that poisons relations between the two communities in Northern Ireland.

Local anthropologist, Peter Mulholland, has argued that Orange parades effectively deny the human rights and dignity of the minority community through annually reviving and fanning the flames of sectarian hatred.