Many Orange lodges have close associations with the instrument but one in particular has struck brass - and is delighted about it.

Among the old junk gathering dust at the back of the roof space at Clantilew Orange Hall in the Birches area of Portadown were two rare brass Lambeg drums.

The drums, discovered by members of Clantilew Bible and Crown Defenders LOL 101, part of Loughgall District LOL, could date as far back as 200 years.

They were sitting in the attic at the hall for years with no-one taking any notice of them with no living recollection of them being used.

Some within the Order suspect they may have been sitting neglected for a hundred years or more.

When one member suggested they see if they could bring one of the old drums back to its former glory, the lodge decided to have a go.

Drum enthusiast David Matchett was tasked with the make-over, and he has now cleaned, polished and painted it, and put the two heads back on to make it playable.

And the lodge has decided to take it out for its debut as part of their Twelfth celebrations.

"We usually take four or five drums out on the Twelfth," Worshipful Master David Jackson said.

"We are thinking of adding this to it."

Describing the find as "very unusual," Mr Jackson, said they were pleased with the rare artefact, and it had become quite a talking point.

"The oldest members can't remember it ever being used," he said. "My own father's 93, and he can't remember one being played. So it could go way back but we need to find out when and where."

He said estimates have placed it possibly to the 1800s, but he is currently trying to find more information.

"It was either made in the 1800s or possible late 1700s," he said. "The drum itself is all brass which is very unusual, but we have checked through the records and can't find any reference to it.

"Some of the oldest members in their 80s, their fathers when they were alive, never remembered it being played. Sometime in the 1800s would be an educated guess, with it is possibly older."

He said they had "always" known the drum was in the attic, but had just never really thought about it until one of his sons suggested they take it down.

The drum is two feet wide and about three-and-a-half feet high, with the shell made entirely out of brass.

Mr Jackson, a former Irish League soccer player with Coleraine and Ballymena United in the 1970s, described it as like "a huge wedding ring" when the heads are taken off.

Only one of the drums has been restored, and as four of Mr Jackson's sons usually play the drums on their annual parade, one of them, Philip, will be taking it out when they march in Tandragee on July 12.

He has "drawn the short straw," joked Mr Jackson, as the drum is, understandably, quite heavy. But at 6' 6", Philip has been deemed capable of carrying it.

"It's heavy, but not as heavy as we thought," said Mr Jackson. "We all considered it would be very heavy, which is probably why we never done anything over the years.

"It's not that much heavier (than a normal lambeg], but, I'll tell you - I wouldn't want to be carrying it all day."