MARKETHILL

Kilcluney Volunteers are based in the small County Armagh Town of Markethill. It is approximately 50 miles from Belfast, and is on the edge of what is commonly known throughout the world as  the 'bandit country' of South Armagh. Because the majority of its population are Protestants, and because of its proximity to the Border (15 miles), over the last 30 years the people of Markethill and its  surrounding Districts have many times been the victims of Irish Republican attack. The sole purpose of which was to ethnically cleanse the Protestant and pro-British population. Since the beginning of the latest IRA terrorist campaign there have been dozens murdered, hundreds of gun attacks, twenty five bombs, dozens of unexploded bombs and countless bomb hoaxes and threats. All within this one small area. It is from this background that the present day Kilcluney band have emerged. Indeed there is no member of KVFB who has not been directly affected in some shape or form by the sectarian terrorist campaign waged by the IRA and their various cover organisations.

The memorial in Markethill  square bears the names of those Orangemen murdered by the IRA, and is a monument in memory to all those Protestants in the area that were indiscriminately murdered, and those that lost their lives while serving in the Ulster Defence Regiment and the RUC.

For a more detailed account of the atrocities that have occurred in this area we recommend that you go to the web site of F.A.I.R. (families acting for innocent relatives), a group fighting for the recognition of the human rights abuses perpetrated against Protestants in South Armagh.