Boy with wicker basket

Boy with wicker basket. Victoria House in background.

Photo courtesy Mrs D Mullen

RIC policeman outside House

RIC policeman on duty in the square. In the background is Victoria House.

Photo courtesy Mrs D Mullen

Victoria House

Victoria reigns in Edenderry

Queen Elizabeth 11 may be on the throne but Victoria reigns supremely in Edenderry. Victoria house has been part of the local scenery for so long townspeople could be forgiven for overlooking the 170 years of history behind its walls.
The builders moved in over 20 years ago and completely remodelled the interior to bring it up to modern day standards to provide 6 luxury flats. The old chimney pots were replaced and timber frame windows with uPVC, and other than this work the exterior is no different to when it was built in early Victorian days.
The earliest records of the House go back to Christmas Eve 1859 when Elizabeth, Cornelious and Thomas Carleton leased the property to Andrew James Lutton for 500 years.
Lutton was a linen manufacturer and the House was an appropriate residence for him as it overlooked his factory across the road in Watson Street. It later became the munitions factory during the second World War and in 1946 was bought by the Wade Pottery Group.
Lutton died in January,1870 and the property was transferred to his two sons,John and Thomas. In 1901 they transferred it to Andrew James Lutton and Son Limited and the company mortgaged it to Robert G. Glendinning to secure a loan. Apparently they could not meet the payments on this loan, and in December 1918, Robert Glendinning sold the House to David H. Warnock for £300.
Warnock died the following year and his daughter Martha Jane inherited the House and she sold it a year later to John Gilpin a coachbuilder of Bridge Street, Edenderry for £1,050.
Gilpin died in January, 1929 and his widow and son sold the House to Robert Brown in 1935 for £1000. Robert Brown was the grandfather of the present owner Miss Maureen Brown. Her own father Sammy Brown, the well known Edenderry business man also lived in the House.
Over this past 170 years it has seen numerous changes in the Edenderry area. It has witnessed two World Wars, births, deaths, prosperity and recession and Edenderry’s significance to the growth of Portadown..
Lets hope that Victoria reigns for another 170 years.
We thank Maureen Brown & the Portadown Times who enabled us to record the above.


We understand that the garden to the rear of the House may have been used to take wedding photos, if so we would like to see sight of the old photos or any others of the interior or exterior.


We would also like to hear from any one who can remember - John Gilpin a coachbuilder operating from premises in Edenderry.

We can be contacted on our website www.edenderry.co.uk or Cardwell McClure 07789550738 or Merle Edgar 028 38 334602

Victoria House - Wedding

We believe this wedding photo was taken in the garden of Victoria House around the year 1919. It is the wedding of Lily & George Reid. We believe the people in the photo are from left to right Gerald Reid,Dick Creggan,George & Lily, Eleanor Atkinson & Minnie Reid. Note the chimney in the background, we believe this to be part of the Hamilton Robb factory.
We would welcome any comments on the photo & its connection to the House.

We received the undernoted message from Australia.
I am really enjoying your website . It is giving me a good insight to Portadown. Last year I discovered I had "family" there. The Dillon family lived at 94 Bridge St. (which apparently was Victoria House) from 1907-1919. James and Mary Dillon had 9 children (that I have found so far). They were: Edward, Prudence, Mary, David, Samuel, Bertha, Frederick, Harold and Lily. They all emigrated to USA between 1907 and 1919 except Lily and Samuel. Lily married George Reid and remained in the Portadown area where her descendants still live today. Her wedding photo is on the Cultural and Historical link on this website. Her family would have been living at Victoria House at the time. Samuel was a private in the Royal Irish Fusilliers and died on 7/01/1916. He is buried at Seagoe Cemetry and his name is on the WW1 War Memorial in Portadown.
Mary Dillon (nee McIlrath) was my great grandmother's sister. Eliza McIlrath married Adam Preston. My grandfather, James Preston emigrated to Australia in 1908. They were all from the Banbridge area but James and Mary must have relocated to Portadown about 1897.
Now I have your link I will be logging on to your website regularly to keep up to date with what is going on in Edenderry/Portadown and perhaps someone out there may be able to assist me further with my research.
Congratulations on the website and keep up the good work.
Judy
We received another message from Australia.
Don't know if you are interested in this piece of information but I obtained a copy of the 1901 census record for 94 Bridge St. Portadown. Apparently it was a Grocer's shop and James Dillon was the grocer. The family must have lived on the premises as well. I found the reference on the Lurgan Ancestry website http://www.lurganancestry.net/recordsonline/1901portadownurban/bridgestreet2.html

Received this email 18/3/06.
I would be interested if you came across an obituary for James Dillon. It may answer a lot of questions. What I know for certain at the moment was that he was still at 94 Bridge St. in 1912 but his address in January 1916 was East Orange, New Jersy, USA. Mary was still at 94 Bridge St. in 1919 prior to her emigtating to USA. At that time it was her first visit and she was a widow. I have found an obituary for their eldest child Edward who died in 1971, which states that Edward had been in business with his father in Rochester, New York. I have also found Mary's brother in Rochester in the late1890's. I believe James died in USA but the family seemed to go backwards and forward between USA and Ireland regularly. The only one I can't find records for is James.
Regards
Judy