Craigmore Children's Home, Lurgan, Co. Armagh, Northern Ireland
Craigmore Children's Home was opened in 1903 following the gift by Thomas Foulkes Shillington, by then resident in Belfast, of his ancestral home and approximately 140 acres of land to enable the Methodist Church in Ireland to open a home for boys in the parish of Aghalee, near Lurgan. The home occupied premises about a mile to the north-west of Aghalee village and could accommodate up to forty orphan boys who had to be have been born of respectable parents, and aged under 10 years at their date of admission.
The home's site is shown on the map below.
Craigmore Children's Home site, Lurgan, c.1910.
In 1908, a school was opened near to the Aghalee home, which educated children from the home and also local children.
Craigmore Children's Home, Lurgan, Co. Armagh, c.1906.
The home closed in 1937. The school closed the following year when the number of its remaining pupils had decreased to five and it was no longer viable.
The 'Craigmore' name was then allied with that of 'Childhaven', a children's home run by the Belfast Central Mission, in Millisle. The formal title of that centre then became 'Childhaven and Craigmore Children's Homes.' In the 1980s, the centre changed to caring for adolescents, and the name of the house in Millisle was also changed from 'Childhaven' to 'Craigmore House'.
The Aghalee home and school buildings still survive.
Records
Note: many repositories impose a closure period of up to 100 years for records identifying individuals. Before travelling a long distance, always check that the records you want to consult will be available.
- The Belfast Central Mission holds the home's records.
Bibliography
Links
Except where indicated, this page () © Peter Higginbotham. Contents may not be reproduced without permission.
