Half of these ten sites sit within a short drive of Armagh city. Navan Fort is the oldest by a long way: a 40-metre mound raised over a vast timber roundhouse that was packed with stone, burnt and buried around 95 BC, known in Irish as Eamhain Mhacha. Entry to the site and its centre is free. In the city, St Patrick’s RC Cathedral took from 1840 to 1904 to finish, the Famine having stopped work outright, and the mosaic sanctuary is the reason to go inside. The courthouse and gaol face each other along the Mall, but neither opens for ordinary interior visits.
North of the city the list turns to country houses. The Argory, outside Moy, still holds the acetylene gas fixtures that lit it from 1906 into the early 1980s, with gardens and Blackwater riverside walks around it. Ardress House sets Michael Stapleton plasterwork against a cobbled farmyard and a half-hour woodland loop, which makes it the easier one with children. Brownlow House, on the edge of Lurgan, counts out the year in wings, corners and chimneys; its museum is by appointment, so ring before you set off.
South Armagh needs a car. Ballykeel Dolmen sits on the western flank of Slieve Gullion, and reaching the Kilnasaggart pillar, inscribed in Old Irish and datable to around 714, means a lay-by and two or three fields on foot.
Ulster's mythic capital, where a 40-metre mound covers a burnt and buried timber roundhouse from around 95 BC, with free entry to site and centre.
Begun in 1840 and not consecrated until 1904, it repays the wait with a marble nave and mosaic sanctuary under twin 64-metre spires.
An 1824 neo-classical house still fitted with the acetylene gas lighting that ran it until the early 1980s, with Blackwater riverside walks outside.
A 17th-century farmhouse remodelled into a Georgian home, with delicate Stapleton plasterwork indoors and a cobbled farmyard and short woodland loop out the back.
A 19th-century 'calendar house' of four wings, 12 corners and 52 chimneys, holding free military exhibitions with 250-acre Lurgan Park at the door.
10 of 10 shown — tap a pin for the place.
Armagh, armagh
The 40-metre mound here was built as a vast timber roundhouse, deliberately filled with stone, burnt and covered in earth around 95 BC. Known in Irish as Eamhain Mhacha, it was the mythic seat of Conchobar mac Nessa and the Red Branch Knights, and surveys since 2020 have found far larger temple structures across the hilltop. Entry to the site and centre is free.
Armagh, armagh
Building St Patrick's took most of the 19th century – the foundation stone went down in 1840, the Great Famine stopped the work cold, and it was 1904 before the finished cathedral was consecrated. The reward for the wait is inside: a marble nave and a sanctuary sheathed in mosaic, under twin spires that rise 64 metres over the city.
Moy, armagh
The Argory ran on its own acetylene gas lighting from 1906 until the early 1980s, and the fixtures are still in place inside the 1824 neo-classical house. The National Trust now opens the rooms, the barrel organ that survived a 1898 fire and 130 hectares of gardens and Blackwater riverside walks.
64 Ardress Road, armagh
Ardress House is a 17th-century Armagh farmhouse remodelled into a Georgian home, its drawing-room carrying delicate Michael Stapleton plasterwork. A cobbled farmyard with animals keeps the children busy, and the Lady's Mile woodland walk loops round in about half an hour.
Lurgan, armagh
Brownlow House is a 19th-century 'calendar house' on the edge of Lurgan – four wings, 12 corners, 52 chimneys, said to count out the year. Inside are free military exhibitions, including an Eisenhower Room from its days as a US Army headquarters; outside lies 250-acre Lurgan Park with its lake and oak avenue. The museum is by appointment only, so ring ahead.
College Hill, armagh
Ballykeel Rd, armagh
Ballymoyer, armagh
Kilnasaggart Road, armagh
armagh
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