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Follow in the footsteps of ancient Irish kings, saints and scholars as you travel through time in its Orchard County. You may catch the end of the apple harvest, but if not, try a slice of home-baked Bramley apple tart in the coffee shop of the palace Stables. This is one of the heritage attractions of Armagh City, as is the Navan Centre on the site of mysterious Emain Macha. Leap ahead into the next century at the Eartharium and AstroPark at the famous Armagh Planetarium. Gain a bird's eye view of winter wildlife in and around the Lough Neagh Discovery Centre at Oxford Island. Nature lovers will love to stride through Gosford Forest park and for winter scenery at its wildest, a drive around the Ring of Gullion is a must.

Knock Bridge
Knock Bridge is connected to Moneypenny's Lock by a pleasant walkway. As was frequently the case on the Canal, the towpath passes under the bridge. Coins from the reigns of Geroge III and Geroge IV found in the waters under this bridge are reminders that this was once a favourite spot for card players to meet.

Navan Fort
Killylea road, Armagh, Armagh .

Just to the west of the City of Armagh lies Navan. Once known as Ema. Dynamic audio-visual techniques, narration, interactive devices and even the design of the building itself are all employed to bring the area's archaelogy and mystery to life.

Perhaps the most venerable ancient monument in Northern Ireland. It can be identified with virtual certainty as Emain Macha, the seat of the ancient kings of Ulster, and called after a princess or goddess Macha. It was the centre associated with King Conchobor mac Nessa and his Red Branch Knights who gave their name to the neighbouring townlands of Creeveroe (craobh Ruadh in Irish), and it was here that the great Irish mythical hero Cu Chulainn spent much of his youth before going out single-handedly to face the army of the equally mythical Queen Maeve advancing from Connacht. The low but commanding hill-top is surrounded by a bank with a ditch inside, suggesting that it was more a ceremonial than a defensive site. Excavations of the large mound at its centre, carried out between 1963 and 1971, showed that a ditched enclosure, some 150 meters in diameter, had been built in the Late Bronze Age. It was reoccupied in the Early Iron Age, when the first of a series of round houses with large annexes was built which, on plan, look like a figure of eight. The house was rebuilt a total of nine times on the same spot until, around 100 B.C., it was finally replaced by a huge (roofed?) wooden structure consisting on 275 large upright posts arranged in five concentric rings, and with a very tall pole in the centre. This structure may never have been lived in, for it was soon filled with large limestone boulders and set on fire in what may have been one enormous ritual conflagration, after which it was covered over by sods to form the mound which was carefully rebuilt after the excavation was completed. The creation of St. Patrick's church at Armagh two miles away was probably at least partially responsible for the abandonment of Navan Fort, though Brian Boru encamped here when he came to Armagh in 1005, and the old traditions associated with the site must have lasted into the later medieval period as Niall O'Neill chose it in 1387 as the location of a house which he built to entertain 'the learned companies of Ireland'. The threat of continuing quarrying close to the eastern side of the site was removed after a Public Inquiry in 1985, and the future of the site is now ensured.

Location

Navan Fort, 2 miles west of Armagh.

Opening Hours: 7 Days a week, except Christmas week 10.00 to 19.00 (Sun:11.00) July and August 10.00 to 18.00 (sun: 11.00) April - June and September 10.00 to 18.00 (Sat:11.00 and Sun 12.00) October - March.

Restaurant.

Angling in Armagh
Tourist Information Centre 40 English Street, Armagh, Armagh .

There are many good fishing waters in the area. Apart from the Blackwater which offers trout and pike, you can catch eels in more than a score of rivers and lakes in beautiful countryside. There's free fishing in Poyntz Pass Canal, the Cusher and Callan rivers and half-a-dozen lakes.

Keady
Keady, lying to the south of Armagh City, is the largest of the local towns with an estimated population of over 3,000. The name Keady is recorded as long ago as 1674 in a letter for Symore Richardson to the Provost of Trinity College Dublin (the district was part of a grant of county Armagh lands to that college). However, the town did not emerge as an important centre until the mid 18th century when the use of waterpower led to the growth of great linen mills and factories. By 1837, Keady was noted as being the centre of an important flourishing linen trade by Samuel Lewis in his "Topographical Dictionary of Ireland". The famous Keady Monument was erected by the local people to honour William Kirk, who through his mills at Keady and Darkley, provided so much economic prosperity in the area. The town was also to become a centre of tailoring before the first World War, and the advent of the railway brought the town great commercial benefit, although the lines for both goods and passenger traffic have since closed. Today, Keady retains its links with clothing manufacture, with a major textiles firm affording employment for many of the local people. Situated on the river which flows from Clay Lake to the River Callan, Keady is noted chiefly for the 'Keady trout Lakes'. It is also of interest to the industrial archaeologist as the centre of a district with many derelict watermills. Tassagh Glen, just outside the town has mill and viaduct of monumental proportions. The newly restored mill in the centre of town offers the visitor a unique glimpse into Keady's fine industrial heritage.

Kilnasaggart
Jonesborough, Armagh .

An inscription on the south-east face records that Ternohc son of Ceran Bic put the place under the protection of St. Peter the Apostle. As Ternohc's death is recorded in 714 or 716, the inscription could make this the earliest historically datable stone monument in Ireland. Above the inscription is a Latin cross and, beneath it, a decorative equal armed cross in a circle. The north-western face bears other forms of crosses, both with and without enclosing circle. The pillar stood at the edge of a graveyard, claimed in the mid-19th century to be radial in plan. Excavations in 1966 and 1968 uncovered both stone-built and dug graves, but they were oriented east-west and not radially. Lying close to the pillar are several small stones, some bearing crosses.

Location
The Kilnasaggart stone stands 7 ft high in a modern enclosure in Edenappa townland, 1.25 miles south of Jonesborough.