The Comber Parish section of Ballygowan, includes the former Olivet orphanage/school now Ballygowan Presbyterian Church Hall- one of only two listed buildings in Ballygowan (the other being Ballygowan Presbyterian Church itself). The building is described as a "Large, austere three / four storey basalt built orphanage of c.1885 with central bell tower and crow-stepped gabled outer bays. With its late medieval overtones this building resembles some of the George Wilkinson designed work houses of the 1840s, however, its appearance more stark, angular and mannerist and its scale somewhat larger and exaggerated by the its siting within a domestic proportioned village."
The Olivet Orphanage known colloquially as the 'Time is Short' building given the rather ominous inscription on the central bell tower. It was built in 1885 by the Alexander Orr Reid of Ardmore House as a memorial to his son who died in a hunting accident (or as local rumours would suggest a self-inflicted gun wound) in 1880. A dark beginning for a gloomier building, with the home run by a Mr David Henderson, who had founded a number of homes in Belfast.
In the 1901 census return we can see that the Olivet Home housed 55 pupils (21 girls & 24 boys) under a teacher called Mary McHowrath aged 20. Surprisingly, the children do not all appear to be local, with places of birth mostly listed as Belfast but also including Counties Antrim, Down, Tyrone & Londonderry and further afield including Dublin, Dundalk as well as Scotland and England. The ages of the children range between 2 and 18, yet an exception was with the eldest 'pupil' in the home, given as a Douglas Forsythe who was 22 and listed as an 'imbecile'. The schoolmaster, John Hicks aged 40, also lived on the premises with his wife, Georgina and his 9 year old daughter, Madge.
Throughout the 1880s/90s and early 1900s, various reports were made to the NSPCC about the unsanitary conditions within the home. Then, in 1904, David Henderson was brought to court over the mistreatment of his young charges, however on the day of trial at Florida Manor Petty Sessions, Mr Henderson took his own life. A inquest held in July 1904 found that he had gassed himself leaving two letters, in which he denied the charges against him, stating;
"The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was thirsting for his blood. They had got it, and if it proved the means of drawing the attention of all lovers of children to the cruel methods of the Society the sacrifice would not have been offered in vain". Irish Independent, 29th June 1904
The orphanage changed hands and we can but hope that conditions for the children in its care improved. We see that by the 1911 census, it was operating at a much reduced capacity when compared to 1901, with three staff members; Margaret Eliza Haines (Lady Supervisor), Jane Waddell (Assistant Supervisor) and Eleanor Ann Waddell (Assistant) all in their late 40s. These three women were in charge of 8 boys and 10 girls ranging in ages between 4 and 13. These children all seem to be have been born in Belfast or County Down, bar three exceptions Robert Merrgies (9) born in Dublin, James Grey (6) born in Coleraine and Kenneth McCullaugh (7) born in Swizterland!
Ultimately, the orphanage closed in 1918, whereupon it was purchased by Ballygowan Presbyterian church becoming the local school until the 1980s and now is the Church Halls. Given its dark history it is no wonder that the building is supposedly haunted and I myself remember stories being told about the ghosts while at Alexander Dickson Primary School in the shadow of the grim building. If I recall these stories correctly, a curious passer-by might spy a pale Victorian child seen standing at the windows on the upper floors or a man said to haunt the bell tower from which he had fallen to his death.
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