The Armagh Courthouse is a grade A listed building. This building was largely destroyed by an 1,000lb IRA bomb in 1993 and reopened after extensive rebuilding in 1999.

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Facing the Courthouse at the other side of The Mall is the imposing Georgian façade of Armagh Gaol, built in 1780 and mostly functioning as a women’s prison. We’ll do a separate video on this place as some infamous inmates have been incarcerated here. In particular it held 33 republican women during internment between 1973 and 1975.

We turn then into The Mall, the great elongated park that has the Courthouse and the Jail as its bookends. It’s a beautiful centrepiece to the City offering a thin green oasis between the Georgian architecture.

There are several sculptures here of note. This bronze globe, for example, by the Artist Robert Connelly, is called Turning Point. It was originally commissioned in 1992 for St Ann’s Square in Belfast, but ended up here after being removed during redevelopment.

It’s a 2 and a half meter diameter globe with the impressions of 4 figures in negative relief on the sides. You can actually look through the eyeholes of the figures revealing the positive casts of the other 3.

Not far from this we have this monument to the victims of the Armagh Rail Disaster of 1889 in which almost 90 people lost their lives, many of them children. The incident happened as the train journeyed on a Sunday School outing to Warrenpoint. It is to this day it is the worst ever railway disaster in Ireland.

As we approach the middle of The Mall, we’re now walking across the park towards the Russian Gun, a huge cannon captured by British forces during the Crimean War. It’s worth noting that the Mall is also a cricket ground, used by Armagh Cricket club. I guess it’s impressive if it can be viewed as a piece of sculpture. It certainly has a prime location here in the Mall.

Then just to the rear of it here we can see this other war monument to the Royal Irish Fusiliers and commemorating their campaign in the Boer War in South Africa.

As we walk off to the side of the Mall we see this fabulous terrace of Georgian Townhouses. This architecture is what Armagh is all about.

And just in the distance there we can see the Armagh County Museum. This museum is the oldest County Museum in Ireland but began life as Charlemont Place National School. It became the museum in 1930 and now houses a collection of archeological objects, transport posters and railway memorabilia, costumes and local paintings.

But what is both bizarre and quite sad about the centre of this architectural gem of a city, is that while it has some truly outstanding buildings at some point the planners must have thought that this development, right next to them was a great idea. But, I’m glad to say that this kind of development isn’t typical and this former bank is more like what you can expect on a visit to the city.

We’re now approaching another newer addition to the city, the Marketplace theatre. This modern building is nestled is a truly beautiful part of the city in Market Square, between Upper English Street and Cathedral Close. I think it’s largely a success and seems well bedded in here, with minimal impact on its Georgian surroundings.

And just look at it’s surroundings! The Marketplace theatre has a 400 seat auditorium and a 120 seat studio space as well as conference facilities.

We’re now walking towards the former Market House. As you can see it’s in a splendid position between the theatre and these beautifully renovated Georgian houses.

In the centre of all this is a large Celtic Cross, again emphasising the religious significance of this part of Ireland.

Armagh city is known at the Ecclesiastical capital of Ireland and that is because it has not just 1 but two cathedrals (both named St Patrick’s), the Church of Ireland Cathedral seen here, and the Roman Catholic Cathedral that we looked at in a separate video – check that out if you haven’t already seen it.

Essentially, Armagh is not only the seat of the archbishops of Armagh but also the Primates of all Ireland. However, The city’s importance goes back long before this ecclesiastical notoriety. In fact, close to here, the ancient Navan Fort (Eamhain Mhacha), was, in pagan times, one of the great Royal sites of Gaelic Ireland.

This place is also of course closely linked to our Patron Saint, St Patrick who arrived here in the 5th Century. He built a stone church here in the place he wanted to become the centre of Irish Christianity. The original church was established here in 445AD. The city was plundered several times between the 9th and 11th centuries by Vikings, who actually occupied the city for a period of 4 years.

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