Ancient ceremony draws crowd to Hillsborough village

Dating back to the mid-17th century, the Ceremony of the Keys was the securing of the garrison within Hillsborough Fort at the end of each day.

The fort was strategically important for hundreds of years – standing on the road between Carrickfergus and Dublin – with anyone making that journey having to pass through the fortifications.

The fort acted in a similar way to a Customs and Excise facility, with the soldiers based their the oldest formal military presence in Ireland.

There are currently seven ‘military men’ acting as the modern day garrison and performing the historical ceremonies.

The fort guards, who are all voluntary, aim to preserve their unique tradition.

Following the success of Saturday’s ceremony – the first in modern times – Serjeant Major Shields said: "It brought quite a few people out to watch.

"It’s a symbolic ceremony on locking the outer perimeter of the fortress, and bringing back the garrison into the fortress for the evening.

"We are looking to do one once a month. It’s just really to add a colourful attraction that people can come along and see.”

Serjeant Major Shields said the planned ceremonies will be educational as well as being a visual spectacle.

"You will get an explanation about what is going on and the history. It will combine the history of the village, the church, the castle, fort and the [Marquess of] Downshire family connections.

"The Downshires are the Hill family who established the fort."

"The ninth Marquess of Downshire, Nicholas Hill, is the current constable. In 2021 for the first time in over 100 years he issued new warrants for warders.

He said similar ceremonies take place on a more regular basis at the Tower of London, in Edinburgh and in Gibraltar.

The next event in Hillsborough is due to take place in February.

Visitors to the website hillsboroughfortguard.org are able to become Friends of Hillsborough Fort Guard and play a part in keeping the local history alive.

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