Tayto Northern Ireland
The crisp castle
The O'Hanlons held the hill from medieval times. Sir Oliver St John got the castle and 1,500 acres in the Plantation of 1610 and rebuilt it. The O'Hanlons burnt it back down in 1641 and it stayed ruined for two hundred years. The 6th Duke of Manchester rebuilt it in baronial style in 1837. The Manchesters held it until 1955 — then sold to Thomas Hutchinson, who started making crisps inside it the next year. The Hutchinsons still own Tayto NI. They run factory tours twice daily Monday to Thursday, once on Friday. Pre-book.
Closed-roads racing
The Tandragee 100
Run by the North Armagh Motorcycle and Car Club since 1958. A 5.3-mile circuit on closed public roads — the kind of racing the rest of the world stopped doing decades ago and Northern Ireland never quite did. It's usually the first weekend of May, but the 2023 and 2024 events were cancelled while the council resurfaced the circuit. It came back on 27–28 June 2025. Michael Dunlop won the Open Superbike race by 0.4 seconds and set a new outright lap record. The town is full of leathers, motorhomes and people who know the names of the corners.
Apple country
The Bramley
Armagh's apple-growing tradition is documented back to St Patrick. The Bramley — a tart cooking apple — is the dominant variety here, granted Protected Geographical Indication status as the Armagh Bramley in 2012. The blossom is white-pink and arrives mid-May. The Armagh Food and Cider Festival in early September is the main public moment. Drive any small road out of Tandragee in the right week and you'll see the orchards in flower or in fruit, depending.
The parish church
St Mark's, Ballymore
Beside the castle on Church Street. Records go back to 1343. Burnt by Edmond O'Hanlon in the 1641 rising — same year as the castle — and reconstructed in 1812 when the congregation outgrew the ruin. The transepts and chancel were added in 1846. CWGC graves in the churchyard from both wars.