Local archive
Culture
More than 1,500 people attended the Culture in the Park weekend, which expanded for the first time to a three-day programme featuring events in Armagh, Lurgan and Banbridge.
Culture
Armagh’s Georgian Festival is set to run from November 26 to 29, with new funding supporting extended opening hours, extra activities and possible public tours of Armagh Gaol.
Culture Demesne
A candlelit concert blending classical favourites with songs by Taylor Swift and Beyoncé will take place at the Archbishop’s Palace in Armagh on Sunday 29 November, with tickets priced at £28.
Culture
Market Place Theatre in Armagh has announced a packed October 2026 programme featuring Teresa Livingstone, Coldplace, The 4 Of Us, Ralph McTell and a wide range of live music, comedy and theatre events.
Culture
The Market Place Theatre in Armagh has announced a wide-ranging September programme featuring Lisa O’Neill, Susan McCann, local student performers, Elvis and ABBA tribute shows, jazz, Irish folk music and a National Theatre screening.
Culture
No. 5 Vicars’ Hill in Armagh will open its doors for European Heritage Open Days 2026, offering free access to a historic building designed by Thomas Cooley across one weekend in September.
Culture
Armagh Robinson Library will open its doors for European Heritage Open Days 2026, featuring original architectural drawings by Thomas Cooley alongside displays exploring the building’s history and heritage.
Culture Cathedral
St Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral in Armagh will open its doors to visitors from 10am to 5pm on Saturday 12 September 2026 as part of European Heritage Open Days.
Culture The Mall
Repairs to the pothole-plagued road leading to the Palace in Armagh are expected to begin in October, after concerns were raised about visitor access ahead of the Georgian Festival.
Culture Keady
The Tommy Makem Folk Festival will take place across multiple venues in Keady, Armagh, from 6 to 8 November 2026, with concerts, cultural workshops and performances celebrating Irish folk traditions.
Culture Navan
Navan Centre and Fort in Armagh has received the Autism NI Impact Award after staff training and practical changes including a sensory room, quiet shows and relaxed educational visits.
Culture
The Armagh Food and Cider Weekend brought thousands of visitors to events in Armagh, Banbridge and across the borough from Thursday 3 to Sunday 6 September. The programme included markets, orchard tours, tastings, workshops, family entertainment and the Cider in the City evening at Shambles Yard.
Culture Navan
Macha Alive Fest 2026 will combine music, storytelling, visual art and community events at Aonach Mhacha in Armagh on Saturday 7 November, with tickets priced from £26.50.
Culture City Centre
The ninth annual Orange Victims Day has remembered 344 Loyal Order members murdered during the Troubles, including the five men killed at Tullyvallen Orange Hall near Newtownhamilton in 1975.
Culture
South Armagh-bred singer-songwriter Fya Fox is continuing her comeback with the release of a new single, Hometown.
Culture
Armagh-based artist Jonathan Hackett has been selected for a new 12-month Artist in Residence programme, with schools and community groups across the borough set to take part in creative activities.
Culture
Judith Boyle, whose background is in science and whose passion is the drinks trade, is set to select drinks for a dinner at next weekend’s Armagh Food and Cider Festival.
Culture
Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant has demanded written assurances from the Parades Commission after a High Court judge quashed restrictions on the annual Orange Order march linked to the Drumcree dispute.
Culture
Dolly Parton, the singer-songwriter behind “Jolene” and “9 to 5”, has died aged 80, according to a Belfast Telegraph report dated 25 August 2026. Her nephew Bryan Seaver announced her death in an Instagram video. Parton leaves a six-decade career spanning music, film, television, business and philanthropy.
Culture
Visitors can book tours of Armagh Observatory on 12 and 13 September 2026, with museum staff set to share the institution’s history and collection treasures.
Culture Cathedral
A specially commissioned bust celebrating Armagh-born composer Sir Charles Wood has been unveiled at St Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral during the Charles Wood Festival of Music.
Culture Middletown
Family, friends and music communities gathered at St Patrick’s RC Cathedral for the funeral of Armagh traditional musician and teacher Eithne Vallely, who died aged 81 following a road traffic accident on August 21.
Culture
The first-ever bust of Armagh-born composer Charles Wood was unveiled during the city’s annual Charles Wood Festival of Music last week.
Culture City Centre
Thousands gathered in Belfast city centre on 22 August 2026 as the nine-day Mela festival opened with a parade, international food and arts displays, and performances. The event will culminate in Mela Day at Botanic Park on Sunday, 30 August.
Culture
Tributes have been paid to Eithne Vallely, the former St Patrick’s Grammar School teacher and long-serving Armagh Pipers Club Director of Music, who has died aged 81.
Culture
The four-day Armagh Food & Cider Festival will celebrate Bramley apples, local cider and Northern Ireland produce from September 3 to 6, with orchard tours, markets, feasts, masterclasses and unusual ticketed experiences.
Culture Keady
Tributes have been paid across Armagh and the traditional music community following the death of Armagh Pipers Club Director of Music Eithne Vallely, aged 81. Mrs Vallely, who made Armagh her home after moving from Donegal, spent six decades teaching children and young people and helped establish the club with her husband Brian.
Culture
Members from Armagh are expected to join thousands taking part in the Royal Black Institution’s Last Saturday demonstration in Dungannon on August 29, one of five major parades marking the end of Northern Ireland’s parading season.
Culture
Armagh Observatory and Planetarium has joined Birr and Dunsink observatories in a formal partnership seeking UNESCO World Heritage status, with a five-year project coordinator role planned to help develop the nomination.
Culture Cathedral
A new Craft NI exhibition in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter is bringing together work by 18 artists, including makers from Antrim, Lisburn and Fermanagh, whose pieces explore rhythm, harmony and lyrics.
