Armagh

Armagh, city, Northern Ireland

Armagh, city (1991 pop. 12,700), S Northern Ireland. Textiles, chemicals, and processed foods are produced in the city. Armagh (originally Ard Macha) has been the ecclesiastical capital of all Ireland since the 5th cent., when St. Patrick founded his church there. It is the seat of both Roman Catholic and Protestant archbishops. Besides its two cathedrals, the town contains an observatory and St. Patrick Diocesan College. Armagh suffered several Danish raids; it was destroyed by Shane O'Neill in 1566 and was burned in 1642. Nearby is Navan Fort, a large elliptical mound, on the site of Emania (or Emain Macha), the legendary pre-Christian capital of Ulster.

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Armagh, district, Northern Ireland

Armagh (ärmä`), district (1991 pop. 49,050), 258 sq mi (668 sq km), S Northern Ireland. Armagh rises from boggy, fertile lowlands in the north to barren hills in the south. It is the fruit-growing center of Northern Ireland; cattle, sheep, pigs, and poultry are also raised. Armagh was noted for its fine linen, which has diversified into synthetic fibers. The area has been the center of much sectarian fighting in the 1970s through the 1990s.

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Armagh

District (pop., 2001: 54,263), Northern Ireland. Formerly part of County Armagh, the district was established in 1973. It lies south of Lough Neagh. The northern part of the district is the island's main fruit-growing region; the southern part, along the Irish border, was a hotbed of sectarian violence through the late 20th century. The district seat is Armagh town. According to tradition, St. Patrick established his principal Irish church here in the 5th century. The area was the leading intellectual centre of the Western world in the 5th–9th centuries. Taken by English Protestant forces in the 16th century, Armagh became a prosperous centre for Protestant clergy and gentry, a circumstance reflected in its many Georgian monuments and buildings.