The Mall

Beautiful Georgian tree-lined green at the heart of Armagh, former racecourse turned civic park

The Mall is Armagh's elegant central park — a long, tree-lined green flanked by Georgian townhouses, a courthouse, and the Royal Irish Fusiliers Museum. It was converted from a racecourse in the 1770s on the orders of Archbishop Richard Robinson, who considered horse racing incompatible with the civic dignity he was trying to give the city.

The courthouse at the northern end of the Mall is an impressive neoclassical building; the County Museum at the southern end holds a collection covering Armagh's history from prehistoric times through the 20th century. Both are worth a look. Between them, the park itself is simply pleasant — one of the better civic greens in Northern Ireland, with mature lime trees and benches.

Cricket has been played on The Mall since the 18th century, and the cricket pitch in the center of the green is one of the most picturesque settings for the game in Ireland. If you happen to visit on a summer afternoon when a match is in progress, it is worth stopping to watch.

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A story
The Mall was a racecourse until 1773, when Archbishop Robinson — the same archbishop who funded the observatory and library — decided that horse racing in the city centre was undignified and had it converted into a public park. He then built handsome Georgian townhouses around the perimeter to give the green a proper civic frame. The racecourse's influence is still visible in the shape of the park, which retains the oval outline of the original track.