County Armagh - Heritage/Historical<< Armagh Homepage |
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| Here's a selection of Armagh Heritage/Historical.Click on the 'Go to ALL' link to get the full list. |
1. Cathedrals (Historical) |
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Armagh CathedralCo. ArmaghArmagh Cathedral Armagh is believed to be one of the oldest towns of Ireland, and that the hill which is central to Armagh contained a prehistoric settlement. But it is more famous for it's association with Saint Patrick, who is said to have established his bishopric there in 444-45, and his church is where the cathedral now stands, There is little left of the original 13th century cathedral as it was "worked over" by the English architect, L.N. Cottingham from 1834-37. Some beautiful features of the cathedral is the "Market Cross" which is composed of two crosses which are mounted, with one on top of the other. The crosses show scenes from the old and new testament. There is also a plaque which records that the body of Brian Boru, the High King of Ireland, who was killed at the Battle of Clontarf, in 1014, lies in the vicinity. | |
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2. Railway Museums |
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Armagh County MuseumCatherine Mc Cullough , The Mall East, Co. ArmaghRailway collection features the UR and GNR(I) lines that linked Armagh to Belfast and the rest of Ireland. Uniforms, badges, timetables, maps, Irish Railway Acts; and model of the Bessbrook-Newry tram which carried coal, flax and finished linen. | |
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3. Interpretative Centre |
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Saint Patrick's Trian40 English Street, Co. ArmaghNew Interpretative Centre which illustrates "The Armagh Story" - the development of Armagh from prehistoric times to the present. Also, "The Land of Lilliput" is a child-centred fantasy based on Gulliver's Travels. Other features include St. Patrick exhibition, craft workshops, education facilities and restaurant. The development includes a number of interpretative elements which illustrate 'The Armagh Story' - the development of Armagh from pre-historic times to the present in association with the development of 'Belief'. The interpretation takes the form of a display covering seven development eras of belief which surround an 85 seat audio visual theatre where the visitor receives a further dimension on Armagh's development. Also, given Jonathan Swift's association with the District, 'The Land of Lilliput' is a child centred fantasy experience based on Gulliver's Travels. This spellbinding interpretation takes the form of 3 dimensional models, tableaux displays combined with hi-tech atmospherics. In addition to the interpretative areas, the development houses craft shops, a restaurant, an educational suite and enclosed carparking facilities. | |
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4. Heritage Centres |
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Benburb Valley ParkCo. ArmaghThe Heritage Centre is superbly sited on the river Blackwater at Milltown near Benburb. The centre is the former weaving factory which has a superb collection of machinery, including an 1899 Victor Coates & Co. Stream Engine. Visit the Warping, Weaving, Dyeing, and Beetling Galleries which capture the rough and ready surroundings of a busy weaving factory. Across the River Blackwater is the site of the Battle of Benburb; come and hear the story. Explore Benburb Valley Park and follow the river downstream as it flows over a series of cascades beneath Benburb Castle. | |
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5. Local Tours |
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Ancient and ModernCo. ArmaghARMAGH The ecclesiastical capital of Ireland, with two cathedrals both dedicated to St Patrick. Its Georgian terraces and public buildings recall that the city was the home of Francis Johnston whose fame mainly rests on his later work in Dublin. There are two small museums in the Mall; but Armagh's great tourist attraction is now its Planetarium and Hall of Astronomy, unique in Ireland. RICHHILL. One the north's prettiest villages, with an elegant castle and church in the middle. Surrounded by apple orchards and furniture workshops. GOSFORD CASTLE FOREST PARK. Swift spent holidays in the Acheson Manor that preceded the castle and helped to lay out the garden ( as he told Pope in a letter). It has a miniature round tower built by German prisoners of war. NAVAN FORT By the roadside just past Armagh city. Said to have been designed as her palace by Queen Macha, it was the rival of Tara. Cuchullain and the Red Branch knights were its heroes. The great mound is under continuos examination by archaeologist to clarify Ireland's remotest past. GLASLOUGH Attractive estate village in Monaghan that was the home of Shane Leslie. The castle is now an equestrian centre. MONAGHAN The country town, with St McCartan's Cathedral and interesting churches. Rossmore Forest Park and interesting churches. Rossmore Forest Park offering splendid views is on the outskirts. The Cross of clogher can be seen at St McCartan's College and there is also a county museum. Native town of Gavin Duffy, founder the 'The Nation" newspaper and later prime minister of Victoria , Australia. CASTLEBLAYNEY By Lough Muckno, perhaps the most beautiful of Monaghan's many lakes. The forested shores have nature trails and the district has numerous archaeological sites. Inquire for the Mullandhoy toothache-curing tree. CARRICKMACROSS The synonym for Irish handmade lace. Seven miles east is Inniskeen, birthplace of the poet Patrick Kavanagh, which has a folk museum, round tower and traces of a 6th century monastery. Channon Rock marks the line of the Norman Pale enclosing Dublin. KINGSCOURT Beside romantic Dun- a -Ri Forest Park, whose wishing- well is celebrated in song. SHERCOCK On the shore of Lough Sillan, noted for large pike, with a caravan park. COOTEHILL Between the Annaly and Dromore rivers and with a little lake district all its own running east for 10 miles to Ballybay, with the Dartry Estate and Billy Fox Memorial Park . Rockcorry on the lakeside was the birthplace of Jr Gregg. pioneer of shorthand writing. NEWBLISS A quiet village surrounded by hills, woodlands and lakes and streams full of fish. CLONES Agricultural market town in Monaghan , with a 10th century cross at the centre. Also has a round tower, golfing fishing and leafy shades of Analore. COONEEN Crossing the Fermanagh border at Clontivrin, turn sharp north to the Slieve Beagh mountains. Beyond the splendid Canrmore Vieiwpoint, the road descends to the hamlet (home of a famous ghost) of Cooneen - where once again lace is made, this time the Fermanagh kind. THE CLOGHER VALLEY Swift secretly married Stella in the garden of Clogher Deanery. One can see , south of Clofher, Brackenbridge's Folly , a tall monument to himself built by an unpopular squire. And south of Augher, at Springtown , now can seek the cottage - birthplace of William Carleton, the 'Irish Dickens' AUGHNACLOY A wide streeted village to which crowds flock on Wednesdays for the lively market. From here to Benburb the route traverses road bowls country. The game is played with an iron ball , only in Armagh and Cork, only on Sundays, and always exhilarating. BENBURB Beautifully situated on the edge of the Blackwater gorge with its succession of weirs , a canoeist\s delight. The artistically talented brothers of the Servite Friary welcome visitors and can direct them to ruined Benburb Castle where O'Neills and English often disputed the crossing of the Blackwater. MOY a charming village modelled on Marengo, in Italy The route then returns through 'the orchard of Ulster' to Armagh. | |
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6. Archaeological |
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EMANavan, Co. ArmaghOnce inside, the visitor is introduced to the world of pre-Christian Ireland and the wonder of the Celts, before embarking on a journey into 'The realworld'. This central feature explains how archaeology has uncovered many of Navan's secrets. It helps people to understand how the site was used throughout its long history and to appreciate the importance of objects found during excavation. Modern study of the Navan area has uncovered evidence of Mesolithic hunters, Neolithic farmers and even members of a powerful aristocracy who lived in the area during the late Bronze Age. The few centuries before the time of Christ saw Navan at its most remarkable. An extraordinary sequence of building culminated in the erection of a huge wooden structure, 40 metres in diameter, which was probably used for ceremonial purposes before it was dramatically burnt to the ground and covered with turf to create the mound which is still visible today. The final segment of the experience allows the visitor to pass on to 'The Otherworld', where the mysteries of Celtic rituals and beliefs are explored and tales are told of the times when Emain Macha was home to Conor McNessa, Cu Chulainn and the Red Branch Knights. Navan is today a system of impressive earthworks, settlement sites and sacred places. It is an area of unparalleled archaeological importance, which reflects over 7,500 years of activity. Housed within a building which has been specially designed to become an integral part of the landscape, the Navan Centre offers the visitor a rich understanding of this multi-faceted history. A range of educational programmes and materials are available for schools and groups. | |
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7. Castles (Historical) |
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Moyry CastleCo. ArmaghMoyry Castle is the shell of a square 3-storye tower with musket-loops in all four walls, built during Mountjoy's northern campaign in 1601. It stood within a protecting awn wall, part of which is still visible. | |
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8. Dolmens |
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BallykeelCo. ArmaghSited typically near a stream, the outstanding feature of this megalith is the dolmen of three uprights supporting a capstone (re-erected after an excavation in 1965) and closed by the (also reinstated) portal closing stone. The dolmen stands at the southern end of a 90ft long rectangular cairn of stones, at the other end of which was an apparently contemporary burial cist (no longer visible). No trace of burials was found, but Neolithic pottery was recovered in some quantity. | |
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9. Forts (Historical) |
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Navan FortKillylea road, Co. ArmaghPerhaps the most venerable ancient monument in Northern Ireland. It can be identified with virtual certainty as Emain Macha, the seat of the ancient kings of Ulster, and called after a princess or goddess Macha. It was the centre associated with King Conchobor mac Nessa and his Red Branch Knights who gave their name to the neighbouring townlands of Creeveroe (craobh Ruadh in Irish), and it was here that the great Irish mythical hero Cu Chulainn spent much of his youth before going out single-handedly to face the army of the equally mythical Queen Maeve advancing from Connacht. The low but commanding hill-top is surrounded by a bank with a ditch inside, suggesting that it was more a ceremonial than a defensive site. Excavations of the large mound at its centre, carried out between 1963 and 1971, showed that a ditched enclosure, some 150 meters in diameter, had been built in the Late Bronze Age. It was reoccupied in the Early Iron Age, when the first of a series of round houses with large annexes was built which, on plan, look like a figure of eight. The house was rebuilt a total of nine times on the same spot until, around 100 B.C., it was finally replaced by a huge (roofed?) wooden structure consisting on 275 large upright posts arranged in five concentric rings, and with a very tall pole in the centre. This structure may never have been lived in, for it was soon filled with large limestone boulders and set on fire in what may have been one enormous ritual conflagration, after which it was covered over by sods to form the mound which was carefully rebuilt after the excavation was completed. The creation of St. Patrick's church at Armagh two miles away was probably at least partially responsible for the abandonment of Navan Fort, though Brian Boru encamped here when he came to Armagh in 1005, and the old traditions associated with the site must have lasted into the later medieval period as Niall O'Neill chose it in 1387 as the location of a house which he built to entertain 'the learned companies of Ireland'. The threat of continuing quarrying close to the eastern side of the site was removed after a Public Inquiry in 1985, and the future of the site is now ensured. | |
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10. Tombs |
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AnnaghmareCo. ArmaghAnnaghmare is one of the best built of all the court-tombs in Ulster. High quality masonry can be seen in the horizontal drystone walling between the uprights of the more than semicircular forecourt, which leads into a long triple-chambered burial gallery. The stone mound surrounding this gallery was later extended to enclose two further burial chambers entered from the side of the cairn. Careful excavations in 1963-64 produced the inhumed remains of two individuals and the cremated bones of two more, along with Neolithic pottery, flints - and teeth which probably belonged to a bear. | |
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11. Homes (Historical) |
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Moneypenny's LockhouseAngela Lavin , Ulster Way Newry Canal, Portadown, Co. ArmaghAn excellent restored lockhouse along the Newry canal and Ulster Way depicting the frugal lifestyle of the lightermen working the lock plus the history and wildlife along the canal. Located 2 miles from Portadown on the Ulster Way. Approximately 1 km walk from car park along towpath. | |
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12. Crosses (Historical) |
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Eglish Cross-headsCo. ArmaghThe heads of two High Crosses have been mounted on modern shafts in a hill-top graveyard. Neither bears figure sculpture, but one bears a decorated boss at the centre of one face and encircled bossed ornament on the other. | |
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13. Museums |
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Armagh County MuseumCatherine Mc Cullough , The Mall East, Co. ArmaghRailway collection features the UR and GNR(I) lines that linked Armagh to Belfast and the rest of Ireland. Uniforms, badges, timetables, maps, Irish Railway Acts; and model of the Bessbrook-Newry tram which carried coal, flax and finished linen. | |
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14. Stones (Historical) |
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KilnasaggartCo. ArmaghAn inscription on the south-east face records that Ternohc son of Ceran Bic put the place under the protection of St. Peter the Apostle. As Ternohc's death is recorded in 714 or 716, the inscription could make this the earliest historically datable stone monument in Ireland. Above the inscription is a Latin cross and, beneath it, a decorative equal armed cross in a circle. The north-western face bears other forms of crosses, both with and without enclosing circle. The pillar stood at the edge of a graveyard, claimed in the mid-19th century to be radial in plan. Excavations in 1966 and 1968 uncovered both stone-built and dug graves, but they were oriented east-west and not radially. Lying close to the pillar are several small stones, some bearing crosses. | |
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15. Friaries |
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Franciscan FriaryCo. ArmaghThe ruins of the Franciscan friary founded by Archbishop Patrick Scannail in 1263-64. The surviving walls are those of the long nave-and-chancel church, into the centre of which a tower was inserted in the 15th century. Near the eastern end is a rare extant example of a medieval altar, and remnants of the south aisle are still visible at the western end of the nave. Nothing remains of the cloister which lay to the north of the church. After the friary was dissolved in 1542, the doors and windows were blocked up and soldiers took the place of the friars. Shane O'Neill burned the buildings in 1561, an act repeated by Hugh O'Neill in 1593. further destruction was wrought in 1765 when stone was quarried from the walls to be used as building material elsewhere, leaving the church the open shell which we see today. | |
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16. Churches (Historical) |
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St Patrick's Church Of Ireland CathedralCo. ArmaghThe plan of the Cathedral as it now stands is the enlarged design of Archbishop O'Scanlain in 1268. Although the church on this hallowed site suffered destruction on at least 17 occasions during its long history it was always restored. The last major restoration took place between 1834 and 1840 and was carried out by Archbishop Lord George Beresford. Items of historic interest in the Cathedral include sections of an ancient Celtic Cross dating from the 11th Century, the Bramhall Chair dated 1661 being the gift of the Archbishop John Bramhall, the stone altar in the Lady Chapel dating from about the 15th century, a marble bust of Primate Richard Robinson by Nollekens and a Baptismal font being the copy of a curiously carved octagonal stone found 7 feet underground near the west door of the cathedral in 1805. It was designed by the architect L.N. Cottingham in 1834. Show me all the details for St Patrick's Church Of Ireland Cathedral | |
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17. Bridges |
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Knock BridgeCo. ArmaghKnock Bridge is connected to Moneypenny's Lock by a pleasant walkway. As was frequently the case on the Canal, the towpath passes under the bridge. Coins from the reigns of Geroge III and Geroge IV found in the waters under this bridge are reminders that this was once a favourite spot for card players to meet. | |
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18. Mills (Historical) |
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Armagh Co. and Irish Fusillers MuseumsCo. ArmaghArmagh'stwo museums also chronicle its long and colourful heritage. The Armagh county Museum, is situated on the Mall, has one of the finest County collections in Ireland. Also in the Mall is the Royal Irish Fusillers Museum, considered as one of the best in the British Army, it houses an impresive display of medals and uniforms. Show me all the details for Armagh Co. and Irish Fusillers Museums | |
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19. Cairn |
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BallykeelCo. ArmaghSited typically near a stream, the outstanding feature of this megalith is the dolmen of three uprights supporting a capstone (re-erected after an excavation in 1965) and closed by the (also reinstated) portal closing stone. The dolmen stands at the southern end of a 90ft long rectangular cairn of stones, at the other end of which was an apparently contemporary burial cist (no longer visible). No trace of burials was found, but Neolithic pottery was recovered in some quantity. | |
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