Does anyone have any information on the former Olivet home in Ballygowan? I have often passed by in the car and wondered about the former history of the building.

Thank you.

Liz Davidson

(If you can help Liz, respond by filling in the form below.)

Your Responses

Ivan Davidson - May '07
I remember this old building as my school in the late 50s until the late 60s where i watched the workmen lifting old railway sleepers along the avenue of trees.Very happy memories,the writing on the clock says the time is short and when i was very young ithought this meant the clock was slow now 50 years on i wish i had been right,it also was the home of our headmaster mr thomson,and back then it was a doctors surgery for doctor wallace.

Nevin Taggart writes:The Olivet Home. Dominating the village since 1886 this imposing and austere building is the main village feature. Originally erected as an orphanage by Alexander Orr Reid as a memorial to his only son who was killed in a shooting accident, it was purchased by Ballygowan Presbyterian Church in 1918. It was used as church halls and as the village primary school until 1980's when the new Alexander Dickson School was built. Since then it is used exclusively as church halls.

http://www.ballygowan.org.uk/Heritage/heritage.htm