Keady () is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of an ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

. It is south of

Armagh Armagh ( ; ga, Ard Mhacha, , "Macha's height") is the county town of County Armagh and a city in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the ...

and near the border with the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. ...

. It is situated mainly in the historic

barony Barony may refer to: * Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron * Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron * Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...

with six townlands in the barony of

Tiranny Tiranny () is a barony in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It lies on the western boundary of the county, bordering County Tyrone to its west and County Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland to its south. It is bordered by three other baronies in No ...

. It had a population of 3,051 people in the 2011 Census. This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under th
Open Government Licence v3.0
© Crown copyright. A tributary of the River Callan, known as the Clea, flows from its source in Clea Lake (also spelled as Clay Lake) through the middle of the village. The River Clea once powered Keady's millwheels. In the middle of the village, on the banks of the river, stands the Old Mill, which has been converted into workshops and offices.

History

The Troubles

For more information see The Troubles in Keady, which includes a list of incidents in Keady during the Troubles resulting in two or more deaths.

Transport

*The railway arrived in Keady in 1909, with the opening of the Castleblayney, Keady and Armagh Railway line from Armagh, which was extended to

Castleblayney Castleblayney (; ) is a town in County Monaghan, Ireland. The town had a population of 3,607 as of the 2016 census. Castleblayney is near the border with County Armagh in Northern Ireland, and lies on the N2 road from Dublin to Derry and Let ...

in 1910. Keady railway station opened on 31 May 1909, closed for passenger traffic on 1 February 1932 and finally closed altogether on 1 October 1957. As a cross border line, when the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between ...

was created in 1922, it lost all passenger traffic in 1923, with freight being withdrawn from the cross border section from Castleblayney to Keady in 1924. The Armagh to Keady freight service was withdrawn on 1 October 1957. *There is a railway viaduct in Keady as well as one of the more interesting artifacts of Irish railway history, the tunnel for the Ulster and Connaught Light Railway. This was a proposal for a narrow gauge line from

Greenore Greenore () is a village, townland and deep water port on Carlingford Lough in County Louth, Ireland. History A lighthouse was built on Greenore Point in 1830. Several decades later, the Dundalk and Greenore Railway Act of 1863 authorised th ...

County Louth County Louth ( ; ga, An Lú) is a coastal Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of County Meath, M ...

Clifden Clifden (, meaning "stepping stones") is a coastal town in County Galway, Ireland, in the region of Connemara, located on the Owenglin River where it flows into Clifden Bay. As the largest town in the region, it is often referred to as "the Capi ...

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

, for which the tunnel under the railway

embankment Embankment may refer to: Geology and geography * A levee, an artificial bank raised above the immediately surrounding land to redirect or prevent flooding by a river, lake or sea * Embankment (earthworks), a raised bank to carry a road, railway ...

at Keady was built, but never used.

Ulsterbus Ulsterbus is a public transport operator in Northern Ireland and operates bus services outside Belfast. It is part of Translink, the brand name for the subsidiary operating companies of the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company, which als ...

now use part of the tunnel as a bus garage.

People

Cathal Boylan Cathal Boylan ( Irish name: ''Cathal Ó Baoighealláin, ''born 30 April 1964) MLA has been a councillor on Armagh City and District Council since 2005. In March 2007 Cathal was elected as an MLA to the Northern Ireland Assembly to represent the ...

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gr ...

MLA * Michael Colgan, actor * Jimmy Jones, footballer *

Tommy Makem Thomas Makem (4 November 1932 – 1 August 2007) was an internationally celebrated Irish folk musician, artist, poet and storyteller. He was best known as a member of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. He played the long-necked 5-string banj ...

, singer, musician, and songwriter *

Sarah Makem Sarah Makem (18 October 1900 – 20 April 1983) a native of Keady, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, was a traditional Irish singer. She was the wife of fiddler Peter Makem, mother of musicians Tommy Makem and Jack Makem, and grandmother of ...

(18 October 1900 – 20 April 1983) Traditional Irish singer * Dessie O'Hare,

Irish republican Irish republicanism ( ga, poblachtánachas Éireannach) is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate. The developm ...

paramilitary *

John Dillon Nugent __NOTOC__ John Dillon Nugent (22 December 1869 – 1 March 1940) was an Irish nationalist politician, insurance representative and company director. He was born at Keady, County Armagh, the son of grocer John Nugent and Sarah Dillon. He was educ ...

(1869 – 1 March 1940) Irish nationalist politician * Louisa Watson Peat (1883–1953) was an Irish-born writer and lecturer.

Churches in Keady

* The Temple Presbyterian, Rev Ian Abraham * Second Keady Presbyterian, Rev Alan Marsh
www.secondkeady.co.uk
* St Matthews Church of Ireland * St Patrick’s Church, Keady, is one of the largest churches in the Archdiocese of Armagh in regard to seating capacity. Built in 1860, it was extended and extensively renovated in 1989.

Schools

* Clea Primary School * Keady Primary School * St. Francis of Assisi Primary School * St. Mary's Boys' School (Keady) * St Patrick's High School (Keady)

Demography

Keady is classified as an intermediate settlement by the

Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA, ga, Gníomhaireacht Thuaisceart Éireann um Staitisticí agus Taighde, links=no) is an executive agency within the Department of Finance in Northern Ireland. The organisation is resp ...

(NISRA) (i.e. with a population between 2,500 and 4,999 people). On Census Day (27 March 2011) the usually resident population of Keady Settlement was 3,051, accounting for 0.17% of the NI total. Of these: *21.53% were aged under 16 years and 14.00% were aged 65 and over *48.90% of the population were male and 51.10% were female *87.45% were from a Catholic background and 10.32% were from a 'Protestant and Other Christian (including Christian related)' background

Civil parish of Keady

The civil parish contains the villages of

Darkley Darkley () is a small village and townland near Keady in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 224 people (80 households) in the 2011 Census. (2001 Census: 282 people) History Darkley is first mentioned on the ''Maps of the ...

and Keady.

Townlands

The civil parish contains the following townlands: * Aughnagurgan * Brackly * Cargaclogher * Carrickduff *

Clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay pa ...

* Corkley * Crossdened *

Crossmore The comic book stories published by Marvel Comics since the 1940s have featured several noteworthy concepts besides its fictional characters, such as unique places and artifacts. There follows a list of those features. Places Certain places fe ...

* Crossnamoyle * Crossnenagh *

* Drumderg * Dundrum * Dunlarg * Granemore * Iskymeadow * Kilcam * Lagan * Racarbry * Tassagh * Tievenamara * Tullyglush * Tullynamalloge

References

County Armagh.comCulture Northern Ireland

External links

{{authority control Villages in County Armagh