Armoy () 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 Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

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

. It is 5.5 miles (9 km) southwest of Ballycastle and 8 miles (13 km) northeast of

Ballymoney Ballymoney ( ga, Baile Monaidh , meaning 'townland of the moor') is a small town and civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is within the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council area. The civil parish of Ballymoney is situated i ...

. According to an estimate in 2013 by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency it had a population of 1,122. The village is centred on the

River Bush The River Bush (from the ga, an Bhuais) is a river in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The River Bush is long. The river's source is in the Antrim Hills at 480m. From there the river flows northwest, with a bend at the town of Armoy. It then f ...

and at the foot of two of the nine

Glens of Antrim The Glens of Antrim,Logainm.ie
(

Glenshesk and

Glentaisie Glentaisie ( Irish: ''Taoibhgeal'', en, of the bright cheeks) is one of the nine Glens of Antrim in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It was shaped during the Ice Age by glaciers. The glen is most northerly of the nine glens and lies at the foot o ...

. The Armoy parish also includes part of Knocklayd mountain which lies to the northeast of the village. It is one of the bigger villages in the area and has two primary schools, shops, a post office, public houses and other community facilities. The village was dominated by public sector housing for many years, but in the late 1980s and early 1990s, new housing developments began around the village. The village is close to a number of scenic locations including the

Dark Hedges The Dark Hedges is an avenue of beech trees along Bregagh Road between Armoy and Stranocum in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The trees form an atmospheric tunnel that has been used as a location in HBO's popular television series '' Game of ...

, which in recent years has become a popular tourist attraction as the infamous "King's Road" in the HBO series Game of Thrones.

History

A monastic settlement which was founded by Saint Patrick in the 5th Century formerly sat to the northeast of the present day village, in the area of what is now St. Patrick's Parish Church. The site was excavated in recent years and archaeologists uncovered artifacts which date the location to the 6th century. The actual centre of the monastic settlement has yet to be determined, though many scholars believe it may be higher up the slope behind the graveyard on unexcavated ground. The monastic settlement is said to be built on land given to Patrick by Fergus Mor MacEarca who would succeed his father to become the first Christian king in Ireland. Saint

Olcán Olcán () is the name of an early Irish saint of the Dál Riata, disciple of St Patrick, founder and bishop of the monastery in Armoy, County Antrim, Armoy in northeast County Antrim, Northern Ireland.Charles-Edwards, "Ulster, saints of (act. ''c ...

was a follower of Patrick who came from the area, and was baptised at Dunseverick by Patrick and later became Bishop of Armoy. One of the local primary schools still carries his name. It is suggested that the original site of the village was built around the monastery and the round tower. However, the village moved to its present-day location on the banks of the River Bush to accommodate the local mills which demanded large volumes of water. Therefore, a location by the riverbank was much more suitable. The area surrounding the present day church is of special significance as it has several oval shaped tunnels which have been dug under the rock all the way down to a cave at the Lagge crossroads below the church. This tunnel from the tower to the crossroads was used as an escape route as it leads down to the River Bush. The word Lagge is of significance as it translates as hollow and legend has it that a giant lifted an ‘L’- shaped section of the ground at Lagge Cross and threw it into the sea creating Rathlin Island.

Places of interest

*A picturesque

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

Church sits near to the edge of the River Bush and not to far from the centre on the village. The church's striking spire, with a Viking ship weathervane on top, has been described as ’a miniature replica of the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; french: links=yes, tour Eiffel ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Locally nicknamed "' ...

’.

*There are the remains of an

Irish round tower Irish round towers ( ga, Cloigtheach (singular), (plural); literally 'bell house') are early mediaeval stone towers of a type found mainly in Ireland, with two in Scotland and one on the Isle of Man. As their name indicates, they were origin ...

on the edge of the village. An early

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whi ...

was founded about AD 460 by Saint

, a disciple of Saint Patrick. The only trace of an early monastery is the stump of the round tower, which stands in the grounds of St Patrick's Parish Church. The tower is about 11 m high and has three storeys. At one time, Armoy was the main religious settlement in the Irish part of the kingdom of

Dál Riata Dál Riata or Dál Riada (also Dalriada) () was a Gaelic kingdom that encompassed the western seaboard of Scotland and north-eastern Ireland, on each side of the North Channel. At its height in the 6th and 7th centuries, it covered what is n ...

. *Close to the village is Gracehill House, a Georgian house dating from 1775. The grounds are home to Gracehill Golf Course, an 18-hole parkland golf course which is surrounded by ponds and woodland. It was designed with challenging obstacles such as water hazards and large trees; some of the greens are strategically placed near water hazards while other holes are played through mature woodland or over heathland, making Gracehill one of the few courses in Ireland to offer such variety. *The village also has a small park beside the river in which many references can be found to its connection with motorbikes and road racing. This includes a monument dedicated to the "Armoy Armada" who were a famous group of road racers from Armoy which included

Joey Dunlop William Joseph "Joey" Dunlop (25 February 1952 – 2 July 2000) was a Northern Irish motorcyclist from Ballymoney. Career He won his third hat trick at the Isle of Man TT in 2000 and set his fastest lap on the course of 123.87 mph in th ...

, Mervyn Robinson, Frank Kennedy and Jim Dunlop. The park also has paths laid out in the shape of the circuits of both the

North West 200 The International North West 200 is a Northern Irish motorsport event established in 1929 for road racing motorcycles held on a street circuit known as ''the Triangle'' between the towns of Portstewart, Coleraine and Portrush in Causeway Coast ...

and the legendary

Isle of Man TT The Isle of Man TT or Tourist Trophy races are an annual motorcycle racing event run on the Isle of Man in May/June of most years since its inaugural race in 1907. The event is often called one of the most dangerous racing events in the world ...

Events

In recent years Armoy has played host to what has become one of the stand out events in the Irish Road Racing calendar, The Armoy Road Race, also known as "The Race of Legends". The event was first ran in 2009 and usually takes place at the end of July/start of August every year. The track itself is 3 mile long circuit made up of public roads and runs through a part of the village. The grid for the races is set up in a grand prix style with up to 27 riders starting each race. The start/finish line is located along the A44 Hillside Road just to the north of the village on the main road to Ballycastle.

Community development

The commercial and community life of the village has been greatly enhanced by a community regeneration project at the junction of Main Street and Drones Road. The Tilley Molloy Project, implemented under the International Fund for Ireland's Community Regeneration and Improvement Special Programme (CRISP), was undertaken by Armoy Community Development Association and completed in 2000. This redevelopment of a key derelict site at the entrance to the village provided four shop units, four apartments, community care facilities and public toilets. The physical environment of the village has been further enhanced by a new Riverside Park developed by the District Council, and an environmental improvement scheme on Main Street carried out as part of the CRISP project.

Geography

Armoy is situated in the picturesque Glens of Antrim, an area renowned for its valleys shaped by glaciers during the ice age. The Armoy Moraine is located on the outskirts of the village in an area known locally as The Lagge, where the Round Tower and St. Patrick's Church now sit. Deposited here as a result of the last glacial event in

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...

it deflected the

to west, blocking its previous path northwards to the sea at Ballycastle. Today the River Bush now flows west through the village, towards Stranocum and eventually reaches the sea through

Bushmills Bushmills (From Irish ''Muileann na Buaise'') is a village on the north coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Bushmills had a population of 1,295 in the 2011 Census. This article contains quotations from this source, which is available und ...

and

Portballintrae Portballintrae () is a small seaside village in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is four miles east of Portrush and two miles west of the Giant's Causeway. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 734 people, a decline of 10% compared to 19 ...

Transport

Armoy railway station Armoy was a station which served Armoy in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It was located on the Ballycastle Railway, a narrow gauge railway line which ran from Ballycastle to Ballymoney, entirely in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The track ...

opened on 18 October 1880 and was shut on 3 July 1950. It was on the Ballycastle Railway, a narrow gauge railway which ran for 17 miles linking Ballycastle to

, on the

Belfast and Northern Counties Railway The Northern Counties Committee (NCC) was a railway that served the north-east of Ireland. It was built to Irish gauge () but later acquired a number of narrow gauge lines. It had its origins in the Belfast and Ballymena Railway that opened to ...

(BNCR), later Northern Counties Committee (NCC), main line to Londonderry.

The Troubles

On 15 April 1978 RUC officer John Moore was killed by an

IRA Ira or IRA may refer to: *Ira (name), a Hebrew, Sanskrit, Russian or Finnish language personal name *Ira (surname), a rare Estonian and some other language family name *Iran, UNDP code IRA Law *Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, US, on status of ...

booby trap bomb attached to his car.

Notable people

* Olcan McFetridge was a famous County Antrim hurler. He received an all-star award in 1989 and won a Sports Council Merit and Sunday Life Award in August 2005. *

OBE was a resident of Armoy and was a member of The Armoy Armada. He was a world champion motorcyclist. *

Hannah Craig Hannah Craig (born 10 February 1983 in Ballymoney, Northern Ireland) is an Irish slalom canoer. At the 2012 Summer Olympics she competed in the K-1 event, finishing 10th in the final. In 2012, she was reported to be from Armoy. Telephone cal ...

, Olympic slalom canoer, former resident at Lime Park, Armoy, and past pupil of Armoy Primary School.

References

External links

North Antrim.com - Armoy

{{authority control Civil parishes of County Antrim Scenic routes in the United Kingdom Villages in County Antrim