Armagh Ard Mhacha
Location
WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 54.339° N 6.656° W
Statistics
Province:	Ulster
County:	County Armagh
District:	Armagh City and District
Area:	? km²
Population (2001)	14,590
Website: www.armagh.gov.uk

Armagh is a city in Northern Ireland, the county town of County Armagh. In Irish it is known as Ard Mhacha, or Macha's Height. Armagh was granted a Royal Charter by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994 and City status was officially re-conferred in 1995. Armagh is the least populated city in Northern Ireland, and the second least populated in the island of Ireland, Kilkenny being the smallest. It had a population of 14,590 people in the 2001 Census. Arms of Armagh City and District Council This image depicts a seal, an emblem, a coat of arms or a crest. ... Bullet for locations in Ireland, displays location and not area. ... File links The following pages link to this file: Armagh City and District Council Categories: GFDL images ... GPS satellite in orbit, image courtesy NASA GPS redirects here. ... During late Gaelic and early historic times Ireland was divided into provinces to replace the earlier system of the tuatha. ... Statistics Area: 24,481 Population (estimate) 1,931,981 Ulster (Irish: Cúige Uladh, IPA: ) forms one of the four traditional provinces of Ireland. ... The island of Ireland has 32 counties, with Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland being nicknamed respectively the six counties and the twenty-six counties. ... County Armagh (Contae Ard Mhacha in Irish) is a county in Ulster, Ireland. ... Northern Ireland is divided into 26 districts for local government purposes. ... The Armagh City and District Council is a local council in County Armagh in Northern Ireland. ... Area is a physical quantity expressing the size of a part of a surface. ... Historically, city status was associated with the presence of a cathedral, such as York Minster. ... Dieu et mon droit (motto) (French for God and my right)2 Northern Irelands location within the UK Main language English Other recognised languages Irish, Ulster Scots Capital and largest city Belfast First Minister Office suspended Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Peter Hain MP Area  - Total Ranked 4th... A county town is the capital of a county in Ireland or the United Kingdom. ... County Armagh (Contae Ard Mhacha in Irish) is a county in Ulster, Ireland. ... A Royal Charter is a charter given by a monarch to legitimize an incorporated body, such as a city, company, university or such. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ... Night view of Taipei City. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Statistics Province: Leinster County: County Kilkenny Area: 3. ... Census 2001 is the name by which the national census conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday 29 April 2001 is known. ...

The city is home to Armagh Observatory, founded in 1790 and to the Armagh Planetarium established in 1968 to complement the research work of the Armagh Observatory. It has a Georgian area of heritage importance. Armagh Observatory is a modern astronomical research institute with a rich heritage, based in Armagh, Northern Ireland. ... 1790 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Armagh Planetarium is a planetarium situated in Armagh, Northern Ireland. ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ...

Administration

• The city is run by Armagh City and District Council, headquartered in Armagh, which covers a larger area than just the city, but not the entire county. Together with part of the district of Newry and Mourne, it forms the Newry & Armagh constituency for elections to the Westminster Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly. The Member of Parliament is Conor Murphy of Sinn Féin, he is a former IRA prisoner and a member of the Sinn Féin negotiations team. He won the seat in the United Kingdom general election, 2005, after the retirement of long-serving SDLP MP Seamus Mallon.
• The city has a long reputation as an administrative centre and currently located in the city is the headquarters of the Southern Education and Library Board and the Southern Health and Social Services Board.
• The secretariat of the North-South Ministerial Council is based in Armagh, and consists jointly of members of the civil services of both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
• Armagh is the seat of both an Anglican and a Roman Catholic archbishop, the Archbishop of Armagh, both of whom hold the position of Primate of All Ireland for their respective denomination.

The Armagh City and District Council is a local council in County Armagh in Northern Ireland. ... Newry and Mourne District Council is a Local Council in Northern Ireland covering an area including much of the south of County Armagh and the south of County Down and has a population of 87,000. ... Newry & Armagh is a Parliamentary Constituency in the House of Commons and also an Assembly constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly. ... The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative institution in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories (it alone has parliamentary sovereignty). ... The logo of the Northern Ireland Assembly is a six flowered linen or flax plant, chosen for the plants historical economic importance to the region. ... A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters of an electoral district to a parliament; in the Westminster system, specifically to the lower house. ... Conor Murphy (born 10 July 1963, Newry) is the main Sinn Fein representative for the Newry and Armagh constituency in Northern Ireland, which he represents as its MP and one of its six Member of the Legislative Assembly. ... Sinn Féin (pronounced in English, in Irish) is a name used by a series of Irish political movements of the 20th century, each of which claimed sole descent from the original party established by Arthur Griffith in 1905. ... The acronym IRA may refer to: Irish Republican Army See also List of IRAs Irish Republican Army, the self-proclaimed Army of the Irish Republic that fought the Irish War of Independence against British rule, 1916 - 1921 Irish Republican Army (1922-1969): Originally the Anti-Treaty or Republican side in... The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 and won by the Labour Party, led by Tony Blair. ... The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP — Irish: Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is the smaller of the two major nationalist parties in Northern Ireland. ... Seamus Mallon, MP Seamus Mallon (born on 17 August 1936) is a Northern Irish politician and former Deputy Leader of the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party. ... The Southern Education and Library Board (or SELB) is a board providing education and library services in the southern districts of Northern Ireland: namely the district councils of Armagh, Banbridge, Cookstown, Craigavon, Dungannon and South Tyrone, and Newry and Mourne. ... The North-South Ministerial Council is a body established under the Belfast Agreement (also known as the Good Friday Agreement) to co-ordinate activity and exercise certain limited governmental powers across the whole island of Ireland. ... The term Anglican describes those people and churches following the religious traditions of the Church of England, especially following the Reformation. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... In Christianity, an archbishop is an elevated bishop. ... Primate of All Ireland is the title held by the Archbishop of Armagh. ...

History

• Emain Macha or Navan Fort, at the edge of the City, has a genuine claim to be the oldest settlement in Ireland, dating back to Queen Macha in 600 BC. The Celtic Queen gave her name to the City - Ard Macha, meaning The Height of Macha, reflecting the fact that the City developed on the hill overlooking Navan Fort.
• The claim that Armagh is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland dates back to AD 445 when Saint Patrick established his principal Church in Ireland here. It is the historical center of the cultus of Saint Patrick, the centre of a network of congregations.
• Brian Boru is buried in the cemetery of the Anglican, St. Patrick's Cathedral ,the center of the Church of Ireland. He is credited with driving the Norsemen out of Ireland in 1014.
• It has also been an educational centre since the time of Saint Patrick, leading to it being known as the city of saints and scholars. Saint Patrick decreed that only those educated in Armagh could spread the gospel. The educational tradition was carried on with the foundation of The Royal School, Armagh in 1608. Generously assisted by Archbishop Robinson in the 18th century, the school, along with the Armagh Observatory, formed part of the Archbishops plan to have a university founded 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 City Hospital building.
• Armagh acquired rail links to Belfast in 1848, Monaghan in 1858, Newry in 1864 and Keady in 1909. The line to Newry was closed in 1933, and all other lines to Armagh were closed in 1957.
• The Armagh rail disaster occurred on June 12, 1889 near Armagh on the line to Newry.

Categories: Ireland-place stubs | Ulster cycle ... In Irish mythology, Macha is a goddess linked with war, horses and kingship. ... Events Attila murders his brother and co-king Bleda. ... Saint Patrick Saint Patrick (386–March 17, 493, see below) was a missionary and is regarded as the patron saint of Ireland (along with Saint Brigid and Saint Columba). ... In traditional usage, the cult of a religion, quite apart from its sacred writings (scriptures), its theology or myths, or the personal faith of its believers, is the totality of external religious practice and observance, the neglect of which is the definition of impiety. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The term Anglican describes those people and churches following the religious traditions of the Church of England, especially following the Reformation. ... St. ... The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion, operating seamlessly across the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. ... Norsemen (the Norse) is the indigenous or ancient name for the people of Scandinavia, including (but not limited to) the Vikings. ... Events February 14 - Pope Benedict VIII recognizes Henry of Bavaria as King of Germany July 29 - Battle of Kleidion: Basil II inflicts not only a decisive defeat on the Bulgarian army, but his subsequent savage treatment of 15,000 prisoners reportedly causes Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria to die of shock... // Royal School Armagh The Royal School, Armagh, is a co-educational voluntary grammar school in the city of Armagh, Northern Ireland. ... Events March 18 - Sissinios formally crowned Emperor of Ethiopia May 14 - Protestant Union founded in Auhausen. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... Armagh Observatory is a modern astronomical research institute with a rich heritage, based in Armagh, Northern Ireland. ... The 1990s decade refers to the years from 1990 to 1999, inclusive. ... The Queens University of Belfast (QUB) is a university in Belfast, Northern Ireland; the Irish translation of the name is Ollscoil na Banríona, Béal Feirste. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 54. ... Monaghan (Muineachán in Irish) is a town in the Republic of Ireland, the administrative capital of County Monaghan. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 54. ... Keady is a large village in County Armagh in Northern Ireland, south of Armagh city and very close to the border with the Republic of Ireland. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 54. ... The Armagh rail disaster happened on June 12, 1889 near Armagh, Northern Ireland. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 54. ...

The Troubles

• 1 January 1986: Two members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) (James McCandless (39) and Michael Williams (24), both Protestants), were killed by a Provisional Irish Republican Army remote controlled bomb hidden in a litter bin and detonated when their foot patrol passed, Thomas Street, Armagh.

January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. ... Protestantism is a movement within Christianity, representing the splitting away from the Roman Catholic Church during the mid-to-late Renaissance in Europe—a period known as the Protestant Reformation. ... The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA; more commonly referred to as the IRA, the Provos, or by some of its supporters as the army or the RA is an Irish Republican paramilitary organisation dedicated to the end of British rule in Northern Ireland and to a United Ireland. ...

2001 Census

Armagh city is classified as a Medium Town by the NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) (ie with population between 10,000 and 18,000 people). On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 14,590 people living in Armagh. Of these: April 29 is the 119th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (120th in leap years). ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ...

• 25.1% were aged under 16 years and 17.5% were aged 60 and over
• 48.1% of the population were male and 51.9% were female
• 68.3% were from a Catholic background and 30.2% were from a Protestant background
• 5.1% of people aged 16-74 were unemployed.

For more details see: NI Neighbourhood Information Service Protestantism is a movement within Christianity, representing the splitting away from the Roman Catholic Church during the mid-to-late Renaissance in Europe—a period known as the Protestant Reformation. ...

References

• NI Conflict Archive on the Internet
• Culture Northern Ireland

External links

• Architecture of Armagh
• Armagh Observatory
• Armagh Planetarium
• St. Patricks Grammar School, Armagh
• The Royal School, Armagh
• Lisanally Special School, Armagh
• Armagh Pipers' Club
• Armagh Market House
• Armagh Franciscan Friary
• St Patrick's Cathedral
• Armagh Baptist Chruch
• Armagh City F.C.

See also

• Book of Armagh
• List of towns in Northern Ireland
• List of villages in Northern Ireland