Place:Armagh, County Armagh, Northern Ireland

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NameArmagh
Alt namesArd Mhachasource: Encyclopædia Britannica (1988) I, 563
TypeTown
Coordinates54.35°N 6.65°W
Located inCounty Armagh, Northern Ireland
Contained Places
Inhabited place
Blackwatertown
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog


the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Armagh ( ; , , "Macha's height") is the county town of County Armagh and a city in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Primates of All Ireland for both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland. In ancient times, nearby Navan Fort (Eamhain Mhacha) was a pagan ceremonial site and one of the great royal capitals of Gaelic Ireland. Today, Armagh is home to two cathedrals (both named after Saint Patrick) and the Armagh Observatory, and is known for its Georgian architecture.

Although classed as a medium-sized town, Armagh was given city status in 1994 and Lord Mayoralty status in 2012, both by Queen Elizabeth II. It had a population of 14,777 people in the 2011 Census.

Contents

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Foundation

Eamhain Mhacha (or Navan Fort), at the western edge of Armagh, was an ancient pagan ritual or ceremonial site. According to Irish mythology it was one of the great royal sites of Gaelic Ireland and the capital of Ulster. It appears to have been largely abandoned after the 1st century. In the 3rd century, a ditch and bank was dug around the top of Cathedral Hill, the heart of what is now Armagh. Its circular shape matches the modern street layout. Evidence suggests that it was a pagan sanctuary and the successor to Navan. Like Navan, it too was named after the goddess Macha: Ard Mhacha, meaning "Macha's height". This name was later anglicised as Ardmagh, which eventually became Armagh. Navan and Armagh were linked by an ancient road which passes over Mullacreevie hill.

After Christianity spread to Ireland, the pagan sanctuary was converted into a Christian one, and Armagh became the site of an important church and monastery. According to tradition, Saint Patrick founded his main church there in the year 445, and it eventually became the head church of Ireland. Muirchú writes that a pagan chieftain named Dáire would not let Patrick build a church on the hill of Ard Mhacha, but instead gave him lower ground to the east. One day, Dáire's horses died after grazing on the church land. He told his men to kill Patrick, but was himself struck down with illness. They begged Patrick to heal him, and Patrick's holy water revived both Dáire and his horses. Dáire rewarded Patrick with a great bronze cauldron and gave him the hill of Ard Mhacha to build a church. Dáire has similarities with the Irish god the Dagda.

Medieval era

By the 7th century, Armagh had become the site of the most important church, monastery and monastic school in the north of Ireland. The Book of Armagh was produced in the monastery in the early 9th century and contains some of the oldest surviving specimens of Old Irish.

Armagh was at the heart of the kingdom of the Airthir, a part of the Airgíalla federation. The church at Armagh looked to both the Airthir and neighbouring Uí Néill for patronage.[1] The Uí Néill High King, Niall Caille (Niall of the Callan), was buried at Armagh in 846 after drowning in the River Callan. His son, High King Áed Findliath, had a house at Armagh.[1]

The first Viking raids on Armagh were recorded in 832, with three in one month, and it suffered at least ten Viking raids over the following century. A hoard seemingly lost by Vikings in the River Blackwater shows the high quality of metalwork being made in Armagh at this time.[1]

Brian Boru, High King of Ireland, visited Armagh in 1004, acknowledging it as the head church of Ireland and bestowing it a large sum of gold. Brian was buried at Armagh cathedral after his death at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. Armagh's claim to being the head church of Ireland was formally acknowledged at the Synod of Ráth Breasail in 1111.[1]

Following the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland, Armagh was attacked by Anglo-Normans led by Philip de Worcester in 1185 and by John de Courcy in 1189. It was also raided by Ruaidrí mac Duinn Sléibe of Ulaid in 1196 and 1199.

Archbishop Máel Patraic Ua Scannail rebuilt Armagh cathedral in 1268 and founded a Franciscan friary, whose remains can still be seen. There was also a small Culdee community in Armagh until the 16th century.[1]

Early modern era

During the 16th century Tudor conquest of Ireland, Armagh suffered greatly in the conflict between the English and the O'Neills. Armagh was strategically important as it lay between the English Pale and the O'Neill heartland of Tyrone, and the town changed hands many times during the wars. In the 1560s, English troops under Thomas Radclyffe occupied and fortified the town, which was then attacked and largely destroyed by Shane O'Neill. After the Battle of the Yellow Ford in 1598, the routed English army took refuge at Armagh before surrendering to Hugh O'Neill.[2] By the end of the Nine Years' War, Armagh lay in ruins, as shown on Richard Bartlett's 1601 map.[1]

Following the Nine Years' War, Armagh came under English dominance and the cathedral came under the control of the Protestant Church of Ireland. The cathedral was rebuilt under Archbishop Christopher Hampton and the town began to be settled by Protestants from Britain, as part of the Plantation of Ulster. During the Irish Rebellion of 1641, many British settlers fled to Armagh cathedral for safety. After negotiations with the besieged settlers, Catholic rebels under Felim O'Neill occupied the town. In May 1642, following several rebel defeats and massacres by settlers elsewhere, the rebels in Armagh seized the settlers' property and set fire to the town.

Modern era

Armagh has been an educational centre since the time of Saint Patrick, and thus it has been referred to as "the city of saints and scholars". The educational tradition continued with the foundation of the Royal School in 1608, St Patrick's College in 1834 and the Armagh Observatory in 1790. The Observatory was part of Archbishop Lord Rokeby's plan to have a university in the city. This ambition was finally fulfilled, albeit briefly, in the 1990s when Queen's University of Belfast opened an outreach centre in the former hospital building.

The Catch-my-Pal Protestant Total Abstinence Union was founded in 1909 in Armagh by the minister of 3rd Armagh (now The Mall) Presbyterian Church, Rev. Robert Patterson. Although relatively short-lived it was very successful for that time, attracting many tens of thousands of members. It was influential in the development of a 'two-community' narrative in Ulster which was important in the Ulster Unionist campaign during the Third Home Rule Crisis. A 'blue plaque' historical marker commemorating Rev. Patterson was erected on The Mall in 2019.

Three brothers from Armagh died at the Battle of the Somme during World War I. None of the three has a known grave and all are commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme. A fourth brother was wounded in the same attack.

On 14 January 1921, during the Irish War of Independence, a Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) sergeant was assassinated by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Armagh. He was attacked with a grenade as he walked along Market Street and later died of his wounds. On 4 September 1921, republican leaders Michael Collins and Eoin O'Duffy addressed a large meeting in Armagh, which was attended by up to 10,000 people.

During the Troubles in Armagh, the violence was substantial enough for a stretch of road on the outskirts of the city to be referred to by one RUC officer as "Murder Mile". Over the span of 36 years, although mainly concentrated in the years from 1969 until 1994, the small city, including some outlying areas, saw 86 deaths in the Troubles, including those of a number of people from the city who lost their lives elsewhere in Troubles-related incidents. Armagh City Hall, which had been built as the Tontine Buildings in 1828 and converted into a municipal building in 1910, was badly damaged in a bomb attack on 27 September 1972 and subsequently demolished.

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