Cullyhanna (from Irish Coilleach Eanach, meaning 'wood of the marshes') [1] is a small village and townland in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The village extends further over the townlands of Tullynavall and Freeduff. It had a population of 306 in the 2001 Census. It is within the Newry and Mourne District Council area.
Cullyhanna lies on the main road between Newtownhamilton (4.9 mi (8 km)) and Crossmaglen (4.8 mi (8 km)).
It's 13.3 mi (21 km) west of Newry, 49.1 mi (79 km) south west of Belfast, 13.3 mi (21 km) north west of Dundalk, and 64.7 mi (104 km) north of Dublin.
In June 1920, during the Irish War of Independence, the Irish Republican Army ambushed Royal Irish Constabulary officers in Cullyhanna. Three officers were wounded, one fatally. The RIC returned fire, killing a civilian. [2]
Cullyhanna, along with the rest of South Armagh, would have been transferred to the Irish Free State had the recommendations of the Irish Boundary Commission been enacted in 1925. [3]
Cullyhanna is in South Armagh, a region that has been a stronghold of support for the Provisional Irish Republican Army, earning it the nickname "Bandit Country". The British Army nicknamed the local IRA unit the "Cullyhanna Gun Club". The village and the surrounding area were among the most dangerous areas in Northern Ireland for the British security forces.
For more information see The Troubles in Cullyhanna, which includes a list of incidents in Cullyhanna during the Troubles resulting in two or more fatalities.
Cullyhanna is home to St Patrick's Gaelic Football Club (Cumann Naomh Pádraig). It consists of men and women's football teams and also has camogie teams.[ citation needed ] The recently built[ when? ] club house facilities are a focus for community activity. They beat Crossmaglen Rangers on 2 October 2016 to reach the Armagh Senior Championship final for the first time in their history.[ citation needed ]
Ashfield Golf Course is an 18-hole course at Cullyhanna.[ citation needed ]
Cullyhanna forms the Newry & Armagh constituency for elections to the Westminster Parliament. The Member of Parliament is Mickey Brady of Sinn Féin. He won the seat in the 2015 United Kingdom general election, retaining it in 2017 and 2019. [8]
Newry and Mourne District Council was a local council in Northern Ireland. It merged with Down District Council in May 2015 under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland to become Newry, Mourne and Down District Council.
Crossmaglen is a village and townland in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 1,610 in the 2011 Census and is the largest village in South Armagh. The village centre is the site of a large Police Service of Northern Ireland base and formerly of an observation tower.
Newry and Armagh is a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The current MP is Mickey Brady of Sinn Féin.
Tomás Séamus Cardinal Ó Fiaich, KGCHS was an Irish prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the Catholic Primate of All Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh from 1977 until his death. He was created a Cardinal in 1979. Ó Fiaich was born in 1923 in Cullyhanna and raised in Camlough, County Armagh.
Conor Terence Murphy is an Irish republican Sinn Féin politician, who has served as Minister for the Economy since 2024. He is a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Northern Ireland for Newry and Armagh. He served as the Member of Parliament for Newry and Armagh from 2005 until 2015.
Camlough is a village west of Newry in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The village is named after a lake, known as the Cam Lough. South of the village is Camlough Mountain, part of the Ring of Gullion and is designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Camlough had a population of 1,074 at the 2011 Census.
The South Armagh Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) operated during the Troubles in south County Armagh. It was organised into two battalions, one around Jonesborough and another around Crossmaglen. By the 1990s, the South Armagh Brigade was thought to consist of about 40 members, roughly half of them living south of the border. It has allegedly been commanded since the 1970s by Thomas 'Slab' Murphy who is also alleged to be a member of the IRA's Army Council. Compared to other brigades, the South Armagh IRA was seen as an 'independent republic' within the republican movement, retaining a battalion organizational structure and not adopting the cell structure the rest of the IRA was forced to adopt after repeated intelligence failures.
Cullaville or Culloville (from Irish Baile Mhic Cullach, meaning 'MacCullach's townland' or McCulloch's ville or town is a small village and townland near Crossmaglen in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is the southernmost settlement in the county and one of the southernmost in Northern Ireland, straddling the Irish border. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 400 people. The village is on a busy crossroads on the main Dundalk to Castleblaney road ; three of the roads lead across the border and the fourth leads to Crossmaglen.
Lislea is a small village and townland near Slieve Gullion in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is within the civil parish of Killevy and the historic barony of Orior Upper. Today it is within the Newry, Mourne and Down District Council area. It borders the townlands of Ballard, Carricnagalliagh, Aghmakane, Duburren and Drumilly. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 84 people.
The Troubles in Cullyhanna recounts incidents during, and the effects of, the Troubles in Cullyhanna, County Armagh, Northern Ireland.
Mickey Brady is an Irish republican politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Newry and Armagh since 2015. He was previously a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Northern Ireland for Newry and Armagh from 2007 to 2015.
Pat McNamee is a nationalist politician in Northern Ireland. He was elected in the 1998 election to the Northern Ireland Assembly as a Sinn Féin member for Newry & Armagh.
Killeen or Killean is a small village and townland in the civil parish of Killeavy, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It lies about four miles (6.5 km) south of Newry, near the border with County Louth in the Republic of Ireland.
Aughanduff is a small village and townland in the civil parish of Forkhill, in the former barony of Orior Upper, and County of Armagh, Northern Ireland. The townland is roughly co-existent with Upper and Lower Aughanduff Mountains, both of which form part of the Ring of Gullion geological formation, which has been described as the most spectacular example of a ring-dyke intrusion in Ireland or Britain, and was the first ring dyke in the world to be geologically mapped. Aughanduff has been populated since prehistoric times and has been recorded as a distinct district since at least the early 1600s. The area's history is both well documented and reflects its location both in rural Ireland and on the borderlands of the Pale, the Plantation of Ulster, and latterly Northern Ireland; indeed, part of the district's northern boundary was proposed for forming part of the northern border of the Irish Free State by the Irish Boundary Commission in its final report of 1925. The Boundary Commission's report was never implemented and today, the area remains within Northern Ireland, some five miles from the border with the Republic of Ireland. Part of the area has been designated by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency as an Area of Special Scientific Interest, and the district lies within the Ring of Gullion Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The South Armagh Sniper is the generic name given to the members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army's (IRA) South Armagh Brigade who conducted a sniping campaign against the British Army from 1990 to 1997. The campaign is notable for the snipers' use of .50 BMG calibre Barrett M82 and M90 long-range rifles in some of the shootings.
James McAllister, known as Jim McAllister, was an Irish republican activist and former politician from Ireland.
Maria Caraher is an Irish republican activist, school principal and former politician.
Fergal Caraher was a Provisional IRA volunteer and Sinn Féin member who was killed by a group of Royal Marines at a checkpoint in Cullyhanna, County Armagh, Northern Ireland.
On 19 March 1994, a British Army Lynx helicopter was shot down by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Northern Ireland. A unit of the IRA's South Armagh Brigade fired a heavy improvised mortar at the British Army base in Crossmaglen, County Armagh. The mortar round hit and shot down the helicopter, serial number ZD275, while it was hovering over the helipad. Three British soldiers and a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) member were wounded.
On 11 August 1970, two Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers were killed by a booby-trap bomb planted under a car by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) near Crossmaglen, in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. They were the first RUC officers to be killed by republicans during the Troubles and the first security forces to be killed in South Armagh, an IRA stronghold for much of the conflict.
54°08′N6°35′W / 54.133°N 6.583°W
