The fields around Drumcree Parish Church were transformed yesterday from a picturesque rural landscape into a scene reminiscent of a first World War battlefield.
From shortly after 3 a.m., the RUC and British soldiers poured into the fields directly facing the Co Armagh church. Saxon armoured cars provided the vanguard of the security deployment, quickly followed by engineer units, complete with digging and ploughing equipment. These in turn were supported by RUC officers in full riot gear and soldiers in armoured Land-Rovers.
Within minutes the roads leading to Drumcree were sealed and work began on the installation of the security measures.
Army engineers ploughed a track as wide as a major road across the two fields which, in recent years, have been used by the Orangemen as rallying points. Behind this, soldiers using mechanical diggers widened and deepened the small stream which bisects the field pattern at Drumcree.
The natural barrier was quickly transformed into a 400-yard-long ditch, measuring about 20 ft wide by 12 ft deep. Where the stream passed under the small bridge close on the road leading towards the Garvaghy Road, troops stacked sandbags, ensuring that a natural dam would be in place within hours.
Behind the newly-dug ditch soldiers hammered innumerable metal posts into the ground in preparation for the construction of razor-wire entanglements, designed to prevent even the most foolhardy protester from gaining access to the prohibited parade route.
An almost impregnable wire barrier was erected in front of the security force lines. Alongside this engineers constructed a 15-ft high metal barrier which was placed across the road directly behind the bridge. When in place, it was quickly welded together and further sections of razor wire were secure in place at the top.
As the work close to Drumcree continued, other army units were putting more security measures in place in Portadown itself.
A temporary checkpoint, complete with massive concrete blocks and wire, sealed off the top end of the Garvaghy Road. Throughout the morning police monitored the flow of traffic and personnel in and out of the area.
Nearby, St John's Catholic Church which faces the Drumcree parade route was also blocked off by concrete and wire defences. The wasteland skirting Catholic homes at Garvaghy Park, which runs close to the parade route, was being patrolled by army personnel behind the now predictable wire barriers.
There were further security measures in place close to the loyalist Edgarstown estate. A permanent metal screen had been erected along a section of the Corcrain Road preventing clashes between Portadown's rival communities at what, in the past, has been a flashpoint area. Nearby Protestant children were busy building a "Twelfth" bonfire oblivious to the actions of the security forces.
By mid-afternoon the security measures were almost complete and sections of Portadown were enshrouded in a ring of steel. The town now sits, tense and apprehensive, awaiting tomorrow's parade, which this year includes Protestant victims of the "Troubles", who are taking part in the Long March from Derry to Drumcree.