Armoy

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Armoy round tower

Armoy (in Irish: Oirthear Maí, ie the east of the plain) is a small village in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, 9 km south west of Ballycastle, adjacent to the A44 road between Ballymena and Ballycastle and 13 km north east of Ballymoney. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 414 people. In 1842 it had a population of 128 people and in 1899 it had 243 people. It is on the River Bush and lies within the Moyle District Council area. The village is situated between two of the nine Glens of Antrim, Glenshesk and Glentaisie. The parish of Armoy also contains half of the mountain of Knocklayd, while the other half is in the parish of Ballycastle.

It is one of the larger villages in the Moyle area providing primary education, convenience shopping, a bank and Post Office, and a range of community facilities. The village was dominated by public sector housing for many years, but in the late 1980s early 1990s a new housing development (Fernmount Park) was built. Recently new developments have been built throughout the village. The new housing development called The Ferns (just above Fernmount Park) boasts around 40 houses and is nearly finished. In late 2005 a new development began at the side of the River Bush and town housing is currently being built throughout the village.

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.

1 Places of interest
2 People
3 References
4 External links
5 See also

[edit] Places of interest

A picturesque Presbyterian Church sits on the edge of 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’.
There are the remains of a round tower on the edge of the village. An early monastery is said to have been founded at Armoy about AD460 by Saint Olcan, 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.

The River Bush once flowed directly north to the sea at Ballycastle, however, after the last glacial event in Northern Ireland deposited the Armoy Moraine (on which the church and round tower sit) the river was deflected to the west and it now reaches the sea via Bushmills and Port Ballantrae.

[edit] People

John Armoy Knox, journalist, was born on August 10, 1851 at Armoy, the son of Thomas and Jane McBride Knox. His father and his uncle owned the Armoy Flax and Grain Mills. He emigrated to the United States in 1871 and settled in Austin, Texas working as a journalist, before editing newspapers in New York and Atlanta. He was also a playwright and author. He died suddenly in New York on December 18, 1906.

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