The name Armagh is derived from that of Macha of the Golden Hair. It is
"Ard-Macha," that is, "Macha's Height." The legend is that she was
buried on the hill where the cathedral stands, and that it was named for
her in consequence. But some seven hundred years passed before Patrick
obtained the hill; its name had been changed to "Drum-saileach"; but
Patrick seems to have revived the old name. A spurious derivation is
given by some--"Ardmagh," the high plain; but there is no "high plain"
there, and the "Four Masters" give it Ard-Macha.
Naturally, the object of supreme interest at Armagh is the ancient
Cathedral of St. Patrick, the cradle of the Christian church in Ireland.
The present building, however, dates back only to the seventeenth
century, although portions of the walls were built as long ago as 830,
when "the great stone church of Armagh" is described in detail in the
"Annals of Armagh," one of the oldest of human records. The church was
partly destroyed by fire in 1268 and rebuilt. In 1367 it was restored
again. During the rebellion in the reign of Queen Elizabeth it was used
as a fortress by Shane O'Neill and burned by him. In 1613 it was
thoroughly rebuilt, and in 1834 was restored to its present condition by
Lord George Beresford, the wealthy archbishop of that date.
Although it has often been asserted that St. Patrick is buried in
Armagh, no such claim is made here, and the authorities of both the
Irish and the Roman Catholic churches accept the tomb at Downpatrick as
genuine. But the old cathedral is the burial place of several other of
the early saints, and somewhere under the tiling on the north side of
the high altar lies the moldering dust of Brian Boru, the greatest of
all the Irish kings, whose bleeding body was brought there after the
battle of Clontarf in 1014, in obedience to his dying request. There is
no trace of his tomb, which was destroyed centuries ago. All of the
tombs within the church are comparatively modern. The oldest epitaph in
the churchyard dates back to 1620, and most of the graves contain the
dust of archbishops who have presided over this diocese. In the east and
west aisles, in the center of the cathedral, are two beautiful
sarcophagi of white Italian marble, carved by an eminent artist with
effigies of two Beresfords, John George and Marcus Servais Beresford,
father and son, who were successive archbishops of Armagh. The principal
windows contain artistic memorials to their wives, Lady Catherine and
Lady Anne Beresford.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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