County Armagh
| |
|---|---|
 Coat of arms | |
| Nickname: The Orchard County | |
 | |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Region | Northern Ireland |
| Province | Ulster |
| Established | 1584/5 |
| County town | Armagh |
| Area | |
| • Total | 512 sq mi (1,327 km2) |
| • Rank | 27th |
| Highest elevation | 1,880 ft (573 m) |
| Population (2021) | 194,394 |
| • Rank | 10th[2] |
| • Density | 380/sq mi (146/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC±0 (GMT) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+1 (BST) |
| Postcode area | |
| Contae Ard Mhacha is the Irish name; Coontie Armagh[3] and Coontie Airmagh[4] are Ulster Scots spellings. | |
County Armagh (Irish: Contae Ard Mhacha [ɑːɾˠd̪ˠ ˈwaxə]) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It is located in the province of Ulster and adjoins the southern shore of Lough Neagh. It borders the Northern Irish counties of Tyrone to the west and Down to the east. The county borders Louth and Monaghan to the south and southwest, which are in the Republic of Ireland. It is named after its county town, Armagh, which derives from the Irish Ard Mhacha, meaning "Macha's height". Macha was a sovereignty goddess in Irish mythology and is said to have been buried on a wooded hill around which the town of Armagh grew.[5] County Armagh is colloquially known as the "Orchard County" because of its many apple orchards.[6]
The county covers an area of 1,327 km2 (512 sq mi), making it the smallest of Northern Ireland's six counties by size and the sixth-smallest county on the island of Ireland. With a population of 194,394 as of the 2021 census,[7] it is the fourth-most populous county in both Northern Ireland and Ulster. It is the 10th most populous of Ireland's 32 traditional counties, as well as the fifth-most densely populated. In addition to the city of Armagh and the western portion of the city of Newry, notable towns in the county include Lurgan, Portadown and Craigavon.
- ^ Northern Ireland General Register Office (1975). "Table 1: Area, Buildings for Habitation and Population, 1971". Census of Population 1971; Summary Tables (PDF). Belfast: HMSO. p. 1. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 July 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
- ^ "County". NISRA. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
- ^ Tourism Ireland: 2007 Yearly Report in Ulster Scots Archived 17 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ North-South Ministerial Council: 2006 Annual Report in Ulster Scots Archived 27 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "The Edinburgh Dinnshenchas". ucd.ie. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
- ^ "Your Place And Mine – Armagh -". www.bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 16 October 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
- ^ "Build or find Census 2021 tables | NISRA Flexible Table Builder". build.nisra.gov.uk. Retrieved 18 July 2023.