Welcome to Armagh’s
Anglican Cathedral

Saint Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral stands on the hill from which the City of Armagh derives its name – Ard Mhacha, the Height of Macha. Less than half a mile away, on the neighbouring hill, is Saint Patrick’s Roman Catholic Cathedral.  By tradition, Patrick came to Armagh and asked the local chieftain, Daire, for the top of Druím Saíleach, the Hill of the Sallows, to build a church.  After an initial refusal he was given the site and built his first church in the year 445.  It was this church that was the origin of the Damhliagh Mór or Great Stone Church mentioned in the Annals of Ulster in the ninth century.  Therefore, Armagh owes everything to its traditional association with Saint Patrick.  As early as the seventh century, Armagh’s primacy was recognized over all the churches of Ireland and to this day it is still the ‘Ecclesiastical Capital’ of Ireland.

On the Hill around which Armagh first grew, this Cathedral which stands on the site of Patrick’s ‘Great Stone Church’, continues to be a place of Christian prayer and worship. You are welcome to join us for the Eucharist, Choral Evensong, or Matins, all in the Anglican tradition. If you come as a visitor, we hope you will be touched by the beauty of this place, by a spiritual inheritance of over 1500 years, and by the history all around you.

May you leave with the knowledge of God’s presence and love.

The Very Revd Shane Forster  
Dean of Armagh