Mountnorris
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mountnorris is a small village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, about three miles from Markethill. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 165 people. It is situated in the Armagh City and District Council area.
Contents |
[edit] History
In 1600 Lord Mountjoy built an earthwork fort and left a garrison of 400 men under the command of Captain Edward Blaney in Mountnorris. The area took its name by combining the names of Mountjoy and his campaign commander in the Low Countries, Sir John Norris.
By 1620, the village no longer had a garrison and in the 18th century passed into the hands of the Cope family of Loughgall, to become a rural settlement with no military connections. The village was the originally intended site of the Royal School but due to instability at the time in Ulster, the school was resituated to its current site in Armagh and was opened in 1608.
[edit] The Troubles
For more information see the Troubles in Mountnorris, which includes a list of incidents in Mountnorris during the Troubles resulting in two or more fatalities.
[edit] People
- Sir Francis Annesley, 1st Baronet, of Newport Pagnell, a member of an influential Anglo-Irish family which descended from Newport Pagnell in Buckinghamshire, was a favourite of James I who granted him land in Ireland, notably the fort of Mountnorris in County Armagh. He was knighted in 1616, created a Baronet, of Newport Pagnell in the County of Buckinghamshire, in the Baronetage of Ireland in 1620 and Baron Mountnorris in 1628. In 1642, on the death of his kinsman Henry Power, he became Viscount Valentia.
- Andrew Trew Wood (1826-1903) was a Canadian businessman and parliamentarian was born in Mountnorris.
- Sir John Hall Magowan, British Ambassador to Venezuela 1948-1951
- Billy Wright, the well-known loyalist and founder of the LVF was raised in Mountnorris. He was eventually shot dead in prison, where he was being held on a non-paramilitary offence, by members of the Irish National Liberation Army with suspected British Government collusion.
[edit] Education
- Mountnorris Primary School
- St. Teresa's Primary School
