UTV’s Mahon’s Way visits Lurgan Park and Brownlow House

On the night of Monday, October 11, Joe is bowled over by the charm and grandeur of Lurgan Park, referring to it as one of the most extensive, most beautifully designed and meticulously maintained public spaces in the entire country.

Local historian and proud Lurgan native, Jimmy Conway, tells Joe all about George William Russell whose penname was AE, a famous son of Lurgan who was a poet, a painter, a writer, a critic, an editor, a philosopher, a lifelong pacifist and a student of mysticism.

Joe then visits Brownlow House and gets an insight into its amazing origins and history from manager David Martin.

Charles Brownlow, 1st Baron Lurgan, had accumulated enough land and money to enable him to employ Scottish architect, William Henry Playfair, to design and build this fabulous palace.

Nowadays it’s run as a non-profit Community Interest Company, it houses a museum in the basement relating its history in the two world wars and it’s open to all - for tours, conferences, weddings and other functions.

The programme ends with Joe talking to local woman Joanne Harris and finds out how she and a growing group of ladies support breast cancer patients in a most unusual way.

And next week, he continues his travels in Craigavon and Lough Neagh.

Mahon’s Way is produced by Westway Film Productions for UTV and is sponsored by Mid & East Antrim – A Place Shaped by Sea & Stone.

You can watch this episode on Monday 11th October at 8pm on UTV and on catch up on www.itv.com/utvprogrammes.