Strong associations with St Patrick are part of a rich and complex tale, writes Eileen Battersby
Beloved by St Patrick, burial place of Brian Boru, long acknowledged as the ecclesiastical centre of Ireland and home to a major observatory, Armagh's history tells the story of how the two major traditions on the island came to share a settlement, and currently, a defining peace initiative.
That story from earliest times to the present day is told through a series of period maps, watercolours and archival photographs accompanying a detailed essay in the latest instalment of the Irish Historic Towns Atlas.
Published by the Royal Irish Academy, the series, edited by Anngret Simms, HB Clarke and Raymond Gillespie, is part of a major European comparative project charting the history of settlement across Europe. To date more than 400 European towns have been surveyed, while Armagh is the 18th atlas in the Irish series. The new fascicle, by Catherine McCullough and WH Crawford, explores a settlement which remains unique. The pattern of present day settlement reflects the origins of Armagh as an early Christian site.
Deservedly regarded as "one of the most historic of historic towns", Armagh developed on a hill in the drumlin country of south Ulster. That hilltop enclosure remains the centre piece of a town that is now a city. But there are two hills, and both are occupied by cathedrals; both honouring St Patrick - St Patrick's Church of Ireland, and St Patrick's Roman Catholic cathedral.
St Patrick is believed to have established his first bishopric on the site of the Church of Ireland cathedral in 445AD and it is certain that a 13th century stone church once occupied the site. The present cathedral, largely reworked by an English architect, Lewis Cottingham, in the 19th century, retains nothing of its antiquity. As WM Thackery, who visited the cathedral in the 1840s, noted, "The church is small, but extremely neat, fresh and handsome - almost too handsome - covered with spick [ sic] and span gilding and carved work in the style of the 13th century."
But the story of Armagh, or Árd Macha, begins much earlier. About two miles west of Armagh stands the ruins of Emain Macha, Navan Fort. This Iron Age monument was the seat of the ancient kings of Ulster and it was named after Macha, who was a goddess, and/or possibly a princess. The destruction of Emain Macha, may have led to, as McCullough and Crawford suggest, the founding of Armagh in order to "maintain the tradition and prestige of religious worship among the local inhabitants". By the late 7th century Armagh had become, according to McCullough and Crawford, "the paramount ecclesiastical centre in Ireland on the simple assertion that St Patrick was the apostle of the Irish". Many manuscripts are known to have been written and copied in Armagh, including the famous Book of Armagh.
This place, which it is claimed St Patrick "loved more than any other", suffered various Viking raids during the 9th and 10th centuries, and was also subject to attack by Irishmen. In 1126, a large Augustinian abbey was founded at Armagh and this would later be described by the papal nuncio to Henry VIII's court as "the best building in Armagh". The Franciscans soon followed and a friary was built during the 1260s. The dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII in the 1540s devastated Armagh. English troops had burnt everything except the cathedral in 1557, and some nine years later Shane O'Neill had set fire to the roof of the cathedral and partly damaged the walls. When William Bagenal arrived in 1586, he dismissed the settlement as "a small village, having the church and other friaries there, for the most part broken and defaced".
Despite some years of onslaught from both sides, Armagh still emerged as significant. It would feature in the plantation of Ulster as a major town because it offered the best route from Dublin "into the heart of Ulster". It is fascinating to consider that Armagh, originally intended as a university city, belonged to the archbishop of Armagh, not the crown, and that the archbishop was soon to be confirmed as the primate of all Ireland.
Speaking in Armagh at the launch of the fascicle, Archbishop Alan Harper, a former archaeologist, referred to a reference in the fascicle text, taken from Art Cosgrave's Late Medieval Ireland 1370-1541, which reports that "the registers of the archbishops of Armagh show how a series of Anglo-Irish primates struggled to cope with the complex problems posed by the ethnically mixed diocese and province committed to their charges."
Among the personalities coming to life in Armagh's story is Archbishop Richard Robinson (1709-94), later Lord Rokeby, who became archbishop of Armagh and primate of All Ireland in 1765. A wealthy man whose portrait had been painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds, Robinson proved a dynamic force. His legacy is the Georgian architecture as well as establishing a major library, school and in 1789, the observatory "for the study of the sciences". Robinson also built a new military barracks, the Shambles market area and the Primate's Chapel, one of the finest examples of Georgian neoclassical architecture. Begun by Thomas Cooley, the project was completed by one of Cooley's pupils, the Armagh-born Francis Johnston.
It was to historic Armagh that the then US president Bill Clinton came in September 1998 to address a large cross community "Gathering for Peace" audience. "Armagh has stood," he said, "for these better aspirations through history . . . Today, the two cathedrals dominate the landscape. Two proud traditions can exist side by side." Armagh, with its dramatic history, spiritual and cultural relevance, also suffered intense commercial pressure from the proximity of Newry. Yet Armagh, through its commitment to education and understanding, continues to exert its influence.
• Armagh - Irish Historic Towns Atlas No 18, is published by the Royal Irish Academy, price €20.