Things To Do in County Armagh

Intriguing Armagh-related artifacts going back to the Neolithic age fill this history museum on the Mall. Highlights include a collection of 19th-century Irish bog oak jewelry; Irish police uniforms from the 1820s up to the mid-20th century; and a collection of elaborate fans from…

This state-of-the-art planetarium is a fantastic place for kids with an interest in science and astronomy. The digital projection system, which has 3D elements, is impressive. Shows with dramatic, spacey titles such as “Beyond the Blue” or “Edge of Darkness,” full of crashes and…

This rather lovely, sylvan park 7 miles (11km) northeast of Armagh on the River Blackwater contains the ruins of Benburb Castle, a squat fortress-like ruin dating from the Plantation of Ulster in the early 1600s. It occupies an impressive cliffside spot overlooking a gorge. In 1646,…

Believed to have been the royal and religious capital of Ulster from 1150 b.c. until the spread of Christianity, the Navan Fort is a mysterious place. Its central circular earthwork enclosure holds a smaller circular structure, and it all encloses an Iron Age burial mound. Even…

As the name implies, Peatlands Park is a park filled with peat. It’s also big—more than 240 hectares (593 acres)—and the peat bogs and small lakes are surprisingly lovely. The whole thing is a nature reserve, so you wander through it on a well-designed system of walking paths, or,…

Built on the site of St. Patrick’s 5th-century church, Armagh’s Anglican cathedral dates from the 13th century, although much of the current square-towered brown stone church was built in the 1830s. Inside the church are the remains of an 11th-century Celtic cross, and a strange…

Built in the mid-1800s, this Catholic cathedral is a grand Gothic Revival building on a hill, its slim twin spires dominating its portion of the town. Outside it’s monochromatic gray, but inside is another story, as vividly painted mosaics bathe it in color. Unfortunately, a…