Blackwatertown

Blackwatertown (Irish: An Port Mór) is a small village in the north-west of County Armagh in Northern Ireland. It sits on the River Blackwater, in the townland of Lisbofin, at the border with County Tyrone. The village is around north of Armagh city, and the villages of Benburb and Moy are nearby. Blackwatertown had a population of 371 in the 2021 census. The River Blackwater enters Lough Neagh west of Derrywarragh Island and is navigable from Maghery to Blackwatertown.

==History== In 1575, during the Tudor conquest of Ireland, the English built a fort at what is now Blackwatertown, to control this important river crossing in the heart of Gaelic Ulster. Most of the fort was on the eastern bank of the river, and there was a stone tower on the western bank. In February 1595, at the outset of the Nine Years' War, a Gaelic force led by Art MacBaron O'Neill assaulted and captured the fort from the English.