‘Our job is to protect a fort

Final preparations are underway for a celebration that will take a County Down village back in time.

Royal Hillsborough will play host on Saturday to the warrant ceremony of 13 new members, bringing the United Kingdom’s oldest and smallest private army back up to its full complement.

The Hillsborough Fort Guard was formed by Colonel Arthur Hill, he built the fort in 1660.

But its members have only a ceremonial role.

“Our job is to protect the fort and to be fair, it hasn’t been attacked recently,” Simon Walker, a corporal in the guard, told BBC News NI.

The guard has a centuries-long history, although it has not always been well populated.

During the Plantation of Ulster, King Charles II granted a Royal Charter to have 20 soldiers to protect Hillsborough Fort.

Since that time, Mr Walker says, sometimes only one man has kept the guard going.

“But the tradition has never ended,” he says.

The Investiture of Warrants ceremony is a rare historical moment as Hillsborough Fort Guard welcomes its first full complement of 20 warders since the late Victorian period.

Dressed in their new bespoke uniforms, the warders will parade up Park Street, onto Dromore Road and down Main Street to Hillsborough Parish Church to music by the band of the Royal Irish Regiment.

“The last time that it had 20 men, my great grandfather was one of the warders,” Mr Walker said.

The Guard takes pride in the village and strives to improve community spirit and increase tourism.

Warder Trevor Hill said: “We are very much centrally based within the community, we do various walking tours and presentations, and we also run bingo nights, which is great for getting the community together.”

“I think will be brilliant for the village, the whole district, and just a wonderful experience, a once in a lifetime opportunity,” he said.

Arthur Nicholas Hill, 9th Marquess of Downshire leads the Guard, he said this will be the first time in living memory that they will be at full strength.

“There is nearly 400 years of history in this Guard,” he said.

Mr Hill selects who becomes a warder, and they must be from County Down.

“The large majority of them have all done some public service, not necessarily be in the army as some have been in the fire service or the police or the prison service.”

The future is bright for the regiment as the quota will be filled.

“We haven’t yet got our first lady member, but we have one in our sights. So that could be exciting as well that would be a new part of history.”