placenamesActon
An Chora Uachtarach
Acton’s history is distinct from neighbouring Poyntzpass, although the two settlements share estate families and the name of their parish church.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- An Chora Uachtarach · Irish · main form
- Acton · English · main form
Place & story
Charles Poyntz and the settlement
Local historical research places Acton’s development in the early seventeenth-century Plantation of Ulster. Charles Poyntz received land in the area and established a fortified residence with a bawn, together with cottages for settlers from England. He named the new village after his Gloucestershire home. The settlement stood on land formerly associated with the O’Hanlons, linking its foundation to the wider transfer of estates and settlement of newcomers that reshaped this part of County Armagh. [2]
Acton House and famine relief
Alexander Thomas Stewart built the present Acton House in the later eighteenth century, replacing an earlier Poyntz residence. The property subsequently became home to a branch of the Alexander family. Barbara Best’s study reproduces an 1847 letter thanking Robert Quin Alexander for his work with the Loughbrickland Famine Relief Committee. His reply praised cooperation across political and religious differences. These family papers connect the estate with relief work beyond its immediate neighbourhood, providing a more personal record than the house’s architectural history alone. [3]
The parish church moved to Poyntzpass
The name Acton Parish Church can be misleading on a map: the present church stands at the entrance to nearby Poyntzpass. Built in 1789, it replaced Sir Toby Poyntz’s earlier church of 1684 at Acton. Later work involved architects Welland and Gillespie. A distinctive feature is the 1819 memento mori sundial by Thomas McCreash on the tower, combining timekeeping with a reminder of mortality. The succession of churches preserves an institutional connection between the older settlement and its developing neighbour. [4]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Armagh
- Barony
- Orior Lower
- Civil parish
- Ballymore
- Within
- Acton
- Coordinates
- 54.30666, -6.37133 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1165883 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Acton. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Acton · Terry Murray, Poyntzpass and District Local History Society
- The Alexander Family of Acton House · Barbara Best, Poyntzpass and District Local History Society
- Acton Parish Church, Poyntzpass · National Churches Trust, information supplied by parish
- Acton Parish Church near Acton, County Armagh illustration: based on a Acton Parish Church by P Flannagan. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2021-12-20. How this page was prepared.