Town in County Monaghan, Ireland
Town in Ulster, Ireland
Monaghan
(
MON
-?-h?n
;
[2]
Irish
:
Muineachan
[3]
[?m??n??xaːn?]
) is the
county town
of
County Monaghan
,
Ireland
. It also provides the name of its
civil parish
and
Monaghan barony
.
The population of the town as of the
2022 census
was 7,894.
[1]
The town is on the
N2 road
from
Dublin
to
Derry
and
Letterkenny
.
[4]
Etymology
[
edit
]
The Irish name
Muineachan
derives from a diminutive plural form of the Irish word
muine
meaning "brake" (a thickly overgrown area) or sometimes "hillock". The Irish historian and writer
Patrick Weston Joyce
interpreted this as "a place full of little hills or brakes".
[5]
Monaghan County Council
's preferred interpretation is "land of the little hills", a reference to the numerous
drumlins
in the area.
History
[
edit
]
Early history
[
edit
]
The Menapii Celtic tribe are specifically named on
Ptolemy
's 150 AD map of Ireland, where they located their first colony ? Menapia ? on the Leinster coast
c.
216 BC
. They later settled around Lough Erne, becoming known as the Fir Manach, and giving their name to Fermanagh and Monaghan.
[
citation needed
]
Mongan mac Fiachnai
, a 7th-century King of Ulster, is the protagonist of several legends linking him with
Manannan mac Lir
. They spread across Ireland, evolving into historic Irish (also Scottish and Manx) clans.
The
Battle of Clontibret
, fought between the forces of
The Earl of Tyrone
,
An O Neill
(The O'Neill), of
Tir Eoghain
, and the
English Crown
, was fought in northern County Monaghan in May 1595. The territory of Monaghan had earlier been wrested from the control of the
MacMahon
sept in 1591, when the leader of the MacMahons was hanged by authority of the Dublin government; this was one of the events that led to the
Nine Years War
and the
Tudor conquest of Ireland
.
In 1801, Monaghan Town, along with the rest of the Rossmore Estate, became the property of the Westenra family.
[6]
: 460
The Rossmore Estate was inherited in August of that year by
Warner Westenra, 2nd Baron Rossmore
, from his uncle.
[6]
: 460
The Westenra family remained as the principal landlords of Monaghan town up into the early twentieth-century. Their '
ancestral seat
' was established at
Rossmore Castle
(also known as Rossmore Park), a large
country house
mainly built in stages during the nineteenth-century on the south-western edge of Monaghan Town.
[6]
: 483
The castle was mainly built in the
neo-Jacobean
style of architecture.
[6]
The castle stood on the south-western edge of Monaghan town and was abandoned just after the
Second World War
.
[6]
: 483
The ruins of the castle were blown up by
Monaghan County Council
in 1974.
[6]
: 483
Transport
[
edit
]
The
Ulster Canal
through Monaghan linking the
River Blackwater
at
Moy
with the
River Erne
near
Clones
was built between 1825 and 1842. By the time it was completed, competition in the form of the
Ulster Railway
from Belfast to Clones was already under construction.
[7]
The canal was never a commercial success and was formally abandoned in 1931.
The Ulster Railway linked Monaghan with
Armagh
and
Belfast
in 1858 and with the
Dundalk and Enniskillen Railway
at Clones in 1863.
[7]
: Map 8
It became part of the
Great Northern Railway
in 1876.
[7]
: xiii
The
partition of Ireland
in 1922 turned the boundary with
County Armagh
into an international frontier, after which trains were routinely delayed by customs inspections. In 1957 the
Government of Northern Ireland
made the GNR Board close the line between
Portadown
and
the border
, giving the GNRB no option but to withdraw passenger services between the border and Clones as well.
[7]
: Map 39
CIE
took over the remaining section of line between Clones, Monaghan and
Glaslough
in 1958 but withdrew goods services between Monaghan and Glaslough in 1959 and between Clones and Monaghan in 1960, leaving Monaghan with no railway service.
[7]
: Map 39
Twentieth century
[
edit
]
In February 1919 the first self-consciously proclaimed
soviet
in the United Kingdom was established at Monaghan Lunatic Asylum.
[8]
This led to the claim by
Joseph Devlin
in the
House of Commons of the United Kingdom
that "the only successfully conducted institutions in Ireland are the lunatic asylums".
[9]
On 17 May 1974 an
Ulster loyalist
car bomb
exploded in the Friday evening rush hour, killing seven people.
[10]
It was detonated outside Greacen's public house on North Road in a car that had been stolen earlier that afternoon in
Portadown
,
Northern Ireland
. The bomb killed Paddy Askin (44), Thomas Campbell (52), Thomas Croarkin (36), Archie Harper (73, died four days later), Jack Travers (28), Peggy White (45) and George Williamson (72).
[11]
It also injured scores of civilians and caused extensive damage to the fabric of the town with North Road and Mill Street among the areas worst affected. This was one of the few car bombings in the Republic during
The Troubles
, which were centred on
Northern Ireland
; three other bombs exploded on the same day in Dublin in what became known as the
Dublin and Monaghan bombings
. The Ulster loyalist paramilitary group
Ulster Volunteer Force
(UVF) claimed responsibility in 1993.
A monument in memory of the victims was unveiled by the eighth
President of Ireland
Mary McAleese
on 17 May 2004, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the atrocity. The sandstone and metal column containing seven light wells bearing the names of each of the seven victims of the bombing was designed by Ciaran O'Cearnaigh and stands as a reminder of one of the darkest days in Ireland's modern history.
Culture
[
edit
]
Monaghan continues to host one of Ireland's most prestigious and established blues festivals,
[12]
the
Harvest Time Blues
Festival. It is hosted every September across Monaghan town.
[13]
The Fiddler of Oriel Muineachan Competition (also known as Feile Oriel) first held in 1969 returned in 2009 to celebrate its fortieth anniversary.
[14]
It is held every May
Bank Holiday
weekend.
Founded in 1974, Monaghan County Museum is recognised as one of the leading provincial museums in Ireland, with a prestigious
Council of Europe
Award conferred in 1980, among others, to its credit. The museum is located in a mid-Victorian stone building of three stories, formerly two separate town houses, on Hill Street. It aims to acquaint its visitors with the history of
County Monaghan
and its people.
The Garage Theatre is an arts facility located on the Monaghan Education Campus. It hosts a wide range of activities including drama, music, dance and film.
[15]
The town is home to
Monaghan United Football Club
, formerly of the
League of Ireland Premier Division
.
Local government
[
edit
]
Local issues are dealt with by the Monaghan Municipal Council which elects six members, all of which are elected as members of Monaghan County Council. The town forms part of the Monaghan ward for local elections for elections to Monaghan County Council and part of the
Cavan?Monaghan constituency
for elections to
Dail Eireann
.
Monaghan Town Hall
is a former bank branch dating from around 1880.
[16]
The largest party on the municipal council is
Sinn Fein
, which holds two of six seats.
Fine Gael
and
Fianna Fail
each hold one seat and there are two independent members.
[
citation needed
]
Town layout and architecture
[
edit
]
The centre of the town is made up of four interconnecting squares: Market Square (or Street), Church Square, The Diamond and Old Cross Square.
Dating from the seventeenth century, the oldest remaining architectural feature in Monaghan town is the "Old Cross" ? located in Old Cross Square. It is not fully agreed that it is in fact a cross, but may in fact have been a seventeenth-century
sundial
. It was originally located in the Diamond, the traditional centre of the town, and was used as a hiring cross and for the attaching of proclamations. It was moved to its present location in 1876 to allow for the construction of the Rossmore Memorial. Two landmark buildings remain from the eighteenth century, Aviemore House (built in 1760) on Mill Street and the "extremely elegant"
Market House
(from 1792) on Market Square.
[17]
: 16
Monaghan is notable for the quality of its nineteenth-century architecture, which adds a sense of dignity to the attractive town centre and its environs. Of its Victorian buildings, the
Monaghan Courthouse
on Church Square, designed by
Joseph Welland
and built in 1830, is the most stately. With its sandstone facade of Doric columns supporting a pediment that bears the royal arms of the House of Hanover, Monaghan Courthouse constitutes an integral part of Church Square.
The Rossmore Memorial in The Diamond was built in 1876 as a memorial to
The 4th Baron Rossmore
, who died after a hunting accident at
Windsor Castle
in 1874. This
Victorian
monument, described by architectural historian C.E.B. Brett as "formidable and striking"
[17]
: 10
is octagonal in shape, with central marble columns supporting a fountain. Around it, the eight grey columns support the pinnacled superstructure which rises to a dome. The dome is surmounted by a spire supported by yet more columns. The letters of Rossmore (also eight in number) are spaced out around the monument.
The Gothic-Revival
St Macartan's Cathedral
by
James Joseph McCarthy
is recognised as being "one of McCarthy's best works: an excellent example of the High Victorian ecclesiastical style at its best, rich without ever being over-ornate".
[17]
: 26
The building comprises a delicate rose window and an impressive soaring spire and took over thirty years to complete. Construction work began in 1861 and the cathedral was finally dedicated in 1892. Originally the nave was intended to be two bays longer but lack of funds meant that the design was cut back. The Cathedral sits on an imposing site overlooking the town. Occupying a similarly commanding site on the opposite side of the town is
St Macartan's College
for boys (from 1840), a 17-bay classical structure with a bell tower and private chapel, by the Newry-born architect
Thomas Duff
.
Church Square is very much an environment in which the civic pride of Victorian improvers lives on in the satisfying essay in the Ruskinian-Gothic style that is the Bank of Ireland building, as much as in the peaks of St. Patrick's
Church of Ireland
and the Dawson Obelisk. One of the most interesting aspects of Monaghan's Victorian architectural heritage, which also includes the former railway station, the Orange Hall on North Road and the Westenra Hotel on the Diamond, is the rounded corners that connect the town's buildings from one street or square to the next. This practice of rounding corners in order to open up panoramic vistas was carried out with unprecedented frequency in the town of Monaghan, and is still reflected today in the edifices of The Diamond, Church Square and Mill Street, helping to secure Monaghan's status as one of Ulster's more attractive large towns.
Economy
[
edit
]
The town is a centre for the timber-frame house building industry with
Kingspan
Century being the largest of its kind in Europe. It is also the centre of a thriving agri business most notable of which is the mushroom industry. Engineering also features in the region with both Moffett
[18]
and Combilift
[19]
major participants in the
materials handling
market.
[20]
There is a campaign to boost tourism by reopening the
Ulster Canal
in a scheme which would eventually allow boats to travel from towns in
Northern Ireland
, such as
Newry
, by way of Monaghan to places as far south as
Limerick
, as well as
Dublin
.
Monaghan once had a thriving furniture manufacturing industry. Since 1990, this has diminished greatly under global competition. However, manufacturers such as Rossmore Furniture (which took its name from
Rossmore Forest Park
, situated just outside the town) continue to operate from the town.
Transport
[
edit
]
Public transport operator
Bus Eireann
routes
32
(Dublin/Letterkenny)
,
[21]
65
(
Galway
/
Athlone
/Monaghan)
,
[22]
162
(Monaghan/
Dundalk
)
,
[23]
175
(Monaghan/
Cootehill
/
Cavan
)
,
[24]
182
(
Drogheda
/
Collon
/
Ardee
/Monaghan)
[25]
all service the town.
TFI Local Link
services the town via the following routes:
Notable people
[
edit
]
- Jonathan Douglas
, footballer
[
citation needed
]
- The Rt Hon.
Sir Charles Gavan Duffy
, politician and co-founder of
The Nation
, subsequently the eighth
Premier of Victoria
, was born at 10 Dublin Street.
[30]
- Jim Lynagh
, Republican martyr who was a
volunteer
in the
East Tyrone Brigade
of the
Provisional Irish Republican Army
- Juan MacKenna
, hero of the
Chilean War of Independence
[31]
- Caoimhghin O Caolain
, politician
[
citation needed
]
[
relevant?
]
- Nathaniel Walter Swan
(1834?1884), Australian writer, was born in Monaghan
[32]
- William Temple
, recipient of the
Victoria Cross
[
citation needed
]
- Sir William Whitla
, politician and physician
[33]
- Alexander Williams
, artist
[34]
Sister city
[
edit
]
Monaghan is twinned with
Miramichi, New Brunswick
.
[
citation needed
]
Gallery
[
edit
]
-
Entrance detail of Masonic Hall, 1989
-
Glaslough Street, 1989, looking west
-
Glaslough Street, 1989, looking east
-
Orange Hall, North Road, 1989
-
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"Interactive Data Visualisations: Towns: Monaghan"
.
Census 2022
.
Central Statistics Office
. Retrieved
26 September
2023
.
- ^
"Monaghan definition and meaning"
.
Collins English Dictionary
.
Archived
from the original on 10 March 2021
. Retrieved
4 January
2020
.
- ^
"Muineachan/Monaghan"
.
Placenames Database of Ireland
(logainm.ie)
. Retrieved
13 March
2023
.
- ^
Monaghan Health Status Report
- ^
Joyce, Patrick Weston
(1870),
Irish Local Names Explained
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Mulligan, Kevin V. (2013).
The Buildings of Ireland
: South Ulster
. London:
Yale
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Hajducki, S. Maxwell (1974).
A Railway Atlas of Ireland
. Newton Abbot:
David & Charles
. map 9.
ISBN
0-7153-5167-2
.
- ^
Kostick, Conor (1996).
Revolution in Ireland: Popular Militancy, 1917?1923
. London:
Pluto Press
. p.
70
.
ISBN
9780745311234
.
- ^
Hansard
Archived
11 July 2009 at the
Wayback Machine
, 20 February 1919, accessed 18 July 2010
- ^
"Justice for the Forgotten"
.
www.dublinmonaghanbombings.org
.
Archived
from the original on 10 May 2017
. Retrieved
1 December
2016
.
- ^
"CAIN:Sutton Index of Deaths 1974"
.
CAIN (Conflict Archive on the Internet)
.
Archived
from the original on 26 February 2019
. Retrieved
14 August
2020
.
- ^
Monaghan Post, 6 September 2007. "
Who's Behind the Blues?
Archived
12 July 2009 at the
Wayback Machine
"
- ^
"www.HarvestBlues.ie"
.
Archived
from the original on 4 August 2009
. Retrieved
8 September
2009
.
- ^
Fiddler of Oriel Muineachan Competition
Archived
10 July 2011 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"The Garage Theatre"
.
The Garage Theatre
.
Archived
from the original on 7 July 2020
. Retrieved
4 July
2020
.
- ^
"Monaghan Town Hall, 1 Dublin Street, Roosky, Monaghan, County Monaghan"
. National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
. Retrieved
7 December
2023
.
- ^
a
b
c
Brett, C.E.B. (1970).
Historic Buildings, Groups of Buildings and Areas of Architectural Importance in the Town of Monaghan
. Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society.
- ^
"Maurice Moffett Ltd"
.
Archived
from the original on 29 September 2010
. Retrieved
5 October
2010
.
- ^
Combilift Inc.
Archived
25 October 2012 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"Combilift 2. Background"
. Enterprise Ireland. 2010. Archived from
the original
on 10 July 2011
. Retrieved
5 October
2010
.
- ^
"32-1669936108.pdf"
(PDF)
.
Bus Eireann
. Retrieved
25 August
2023
.
- ^
"3445.pdf"
(PDF)
.
Bus Eireann
. Retrieved
25 August
2023
.
- ^
"875.pdf"
(PDF)
.
Bus Eireann
. Retrieved
25 August
2023
.
- ^
"3032.pdf"
(PDF)
.
Bus Eireann
. Retrieved
25 August
2023
.
- ^
"2122.pdf"
(PDF)
.
Bus Eireann
. Retrieved
25 August
2023
.
- ^
"M1-Timetable-August-2023-web.pdf"
(PDF)
.
Local Link Cavan-Monaghan
. Retrieved
25 August
2023
.
- ^
"M2-Timetable-August-2023-web.pdf"
(PDF)
.
Local Link Cavan-Monaghan
. Retrieved
25 August
2023
.
- ^
"M3-Timetable-August-2023-web.pdf"
(PDF)
.
Local Link Cavan-Monaghan
. Retrieved
25 August
2023
.
- ^
"176-Timetable-June-22-web.pdf"
(PDF)
.
Local Link Cavan-Monaghan
. Retrieved
25 August
2023
.
- ^
"Birthplace of Charles Gavin Duffy, Dublin Street, ROOSKY, Monaghan, MONAGHAN"
.
Buildings of Ireland
.
Archived
from the original on 17 May 2021
. Retrieved
10 June
2021
.
- ^
Brett, C.E.B. "Historic Buildings, Groups of Buildings and Areas of Architectural Importance in the Town of Monaghan". Belfast, Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1973, p. 28.
- ^
Mennell, Philip
(1892).
"Swan, Nathaniel Walter"
.
The Dictionary of Australasian Biography
– via
Wikisource
.
- ^
"Ulster Medical Society: William Whitla"
.
Archived
from the original on 11 May 2021
. Retrieved
11 June
2021
.
- ^
Baker, Audrey (2009).
"Williams, Alexander"
.
Dictionary of Irish Biography ? Cambridge University Press
.
Archived
from the original on 28 January 2021
. Retrieved
11 June
2021
.
External links
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Monaghan
.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for
Monaghan
.
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