Mountnorris

Mountnorris Irish: Achadh na Cranncha
Mountnorris Mountnorris shown within Northern Ireland
Population	155 (2011 Census)
Irish grid reference	H995348
• Belfast	40 miles
District	Armagh City & District
County	County Armagh
Country	Northern Ireland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	ARMAGH
Postcode district	BT60
Dialling code	028, +44 28
Police	Northern Ireland
Fire	Northern Ireland
Ambulance	Northern Ireland
EU Parliament	Northern Ireland
UK Parliament	Newry & Armagh

Mountnorris is a small village and townland in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It lies about six miles south of Markethill. It is within the Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon local government area. It had a population of 155 people (79 households) in the 2011 Census.^[1] (2001 Census: 165 people)

History

The townland of Mountnorris was historically called Aghnecranagh and Aghenecranagh (from Irish Achadh na Cranncha, meaning 'field of the wooded place').^[2] 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.

On 31 May 1991, during "The Troubles", the Provisional IRA carried out a large truck bomb attack against the British Army (Ulster Defence Regiment) base at nearby Glenanne. It killed three soldiers and wounded another ten. It is often called the "Glenanne barracks bombing".

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), a Canadian businessman and parliamentarian, was born in Mountnorris.
• Sir John Hall Magowan, British Ambassador to Venezuela 1948–1951
• David James McEwen (or MacEwen; 1866–1907), chemist, father of Sir John McEwen, Prime Minister of Australia.
• Billy Wright, the loyalist paramilitary leader, was raised in Mountnorris. He founded the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) in 1996 and was assassinated in 1997 by the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA).

Education

• Mountnorris Primary School
• St. Teresa's Primary School

References

• Visit Armagh

See also

• List of towns and villages in Northern Ireland