County in Northern Ireland
County Armagh
County Armagh grows apples, hosts two cathedrals both named for St Patrick, and has a pub-sized planetarium town where Irish people sometimes throw iron balls down the road.
Key information
- County
- Armagh
- Nation
- Northern Ireland
- Area
- About 1,330 square km
- Known for
- Bramley apples, St Patrick's ecclesiastical capital, Navan Fort, Armagh Observatory
- Famous people
- Tommy Makem, George William Russell (Æ), Mary Peters, Kieran McGeeney
- Football clubs
- Portadown, Glenavon
About County Armagh
The Orchard County and its famous apple
Every spring, the lanes of County Armagh turn white and pink with apple blossom, which is how the county earned the name the Orchard County. Orchards have been part of the landscape here for centuries, and the fertile land around Loughgall is the heart of it. The star is the Armagh Bramley. The Bramley is a cooking apple that first grew from a pip in Nottinghamshire, but Armagh growers have made it their own. In 2012 the Armagh Bramley won protected status in Europe, putting it in the same club as Champagne and Parma ham. A Bramley's sharpness holds up in the oven, which is why it turns up in so many apple pies across these islands. Each May the Armagh Apple Blossom Festival celebrates the orchards, and cider makers in the county are now reviving the older traditions.
Two St Patricks on two hills
Armagh city is small, but it is the ecclesiastical capital of all Ireland. St Patrick is said to have founded his main church here in the fifth century, and both the Church of Ireland and the Catholic archbishops of Armagh have claimed his seat ever since. The result is a skyline with two cathedrals, both called St Patrick's, standing on facing hills. The Church of Ireland one sits on the older, ancient site, and tradition says Brian Boru, the High King killed at Clontarf in 1014, was buried there. The Catholic cathedral, begun in 1840, has twin spires and a richly decorated interior. The Armagh Robinson Library, opened in 1771 by Archbishop Richard Robinson, is one of the oldest public libraries in Ireland. Among its treasures is a copy of Gulliver's Travels with notes in Jonathan Swift's own hand.
Stars, a hill fort and a burnt temple
Archbishop Robinson also founded Armagh Observatory in 1790. It is still a working astronomical research centre, which makes it one of the oldest in the British Isles. Next door, Armagh Planetarium opened in 1968 and has been showing visitors the night sky ever since. The grounds include the Astropark, a scale model of the solar system and the universe laid out across the lawns. Going even further back, Navan Fort just outside the city was Emain Macha, the legendary capital of the kings of Ulster. In Irish myth it was home to the Red Branch Knights and the hero Cú Chulainn. Archaeologists have found that around 95 BC a huge timber structure was built here, filled with stones and then set on fire. Excavations also turned up the skull of a Barbary ape, which must have travelled a very long way from North Africa.
A planned city, a lough and a few big surprises
The northern edge of the county touches the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the biggest lake in the British Isles, and Oxford Island near Lurgan is a good place for birdwatching. Lurgan and Portadown sit side by side, and between them in the 1960s the government planned a brand new city called Craigavon, named after James Craig, Northern Ireland's first prime minister. It was meant to be a major city of the future, with big roads, roundabouts and artificial lakes. It never grew to the planned size, but the lakes are still there, and the name stuck. In 1795 the Battle of the Diamond was fought at the Diamond crossroads near Loughgall, leading to the founding of the Orange Order in Loughgall. The village still has a museum devoted to the order.
Bowling, football and the sound of Keady
Armagh is one of the main homes of Irish road bowling. Players hurl a 28-ounce iron ball, called a bullet, along a stretch of country road. The winner is whoever covers the course in the fewest throws, and crowds line the verges to watch. Gaelic football is just as popular. Armagh won the All-Ireland title in 2002 under captain Kieran McGeeney, and the club side Crossmaglen Rangers has been among the most successful in Irish club football. In association football, Portadown and Glenavon, the Lurgan Blues, are the county's best-known clubs. The county has also given the world music. Tommy Makem, the balladeer born in Keady, took Irish folk songs to audiences around the world as part of the Clancy Brothers. George William Russell, the poet and artist who wrote as Æ, was born in Lurgan. Mary Peters was born in Halewood, Lancashire, attended Portadown College and won Olympic pentathlon gold for Great Britain in 1972.