The Independent Orange Institution was formed in 1903 as a result of a split in the Orange Order over a range of issues. It was formed as a result of and was shaped by distinctive religious, cultural, class and practical issues which were and are of great personal and institutional importance. These values and principles have shaped and maintained the ILOI and have a bearing on how it approaches all aspects of its work and witness. 

The fracture in Orangeism was deep and bitter and first literally fought out in court or at times on the streets over property. Many entire lodges, and districts left and joined the Independent Order, with some returning to the Grand Lodge of Ireland some years later. In the interim Orange Halls were used by Independent Lodges, however within 3-5 years as an orchestrated attempt to crush the fledgling order a raft of court cases were initiated and funded often personally litigated by senior and influential members of the Orange Order.  

In a string of decisions Independent lodges were found to have insufficient claim to the halls and were evicted, often with halls becoming the focus of faction fights and attacks by both sides. These were dark days and did much to shape the approach of the Independent Order to property. The positive defiant response by many lodges when they found themselves thrown out of the halls they had hand built and funded was to find land and build their own. 

The legacy is obvious in the land as often Independent and ‘Old Order’ Halls stand side by side in defiant glory built by men who meant them as a marker that they were here to stay. Often many of the men involved in the ILOI had been tenant farmers who had been turned off land by the very same landowners whom sponsored cases to deprive them of their Orange Halls. The feeling, and the emotional investment in each and every one of these halls which were either built from scratch out of their own pockets on land donated or repaired after attack is palpable. 

Therefore Independent Orange Halls have an even greater and deeper significance for the ILOI. They represent their very survival, each one a defiant landmark and a footnote in history laying down a marker for the future. As such they are in a very real sense of symbolic importance beyond the practical use they have undoubtedly had. These historical issues give the present work a greater significance and while presenting challenges they also ensure that individuals and the Institution values its estate and will work hard to develop it.