County Monaghan
(in
Gaelic
Irish
:
Contae Mhuineachain
) is a
county
in
Ireland
. It is part of the
province
of
Ulster
. It is also part of the
Border Region
, as it borders
Northern Ireland
. It is named after the town of
Monaghan
. 60,483 people live in the county according to the 2011 census.
The main towns and villages are:
Largest Towns in County Monaghan (2011 Census)
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1.
Monaghan
- 7,452 people
2.
Carrickmacross
- 4,925 people
3.
Castleblayney
- 3,634 people
4.
Clones
- 1,761 people
5.
Ballybay
- 1,461 people
Shannahergoa countryside.
There is a lot of countryside in County Monaghan. There are a few mountains like Mullyash Mountain,
Slieve Beagh
(on the border with
Tyrone
and
Fermanagh
) and Coolberrin Hill (214 m, 702 ft). Lakes include
Lough Egish
, Lough Fea, Muckno Lough, Lough Avaghon, Inner Lough (in
Dartrey Forest
), Drumlona Lough, White Lough and Emy Lough.
Rivers in Monaghan include the
River Fane
(along the Louth border), the
River Glyde
(along the Louth and Meath borders), the
Ulster Blackwater
(along the border with
County Tyrone
) and the Dromore river (along the border of
County Cavan
, linking
Cootehill
to
Ballybay
). The
Ulster Canal
runs through Monaghan, but is not fully open to navigation.
Monaghan has a number of forests, including Rossmore Forest,
Dartrey Forest
and
Dun na Ri Forest Park
. Managed by
Coillte
since 1988, the majority of trees are
conifers
. Due to a long history of
intensive farming
and recent intensive forestry practices, only small pockets of native woodland remain.
Clones Round Tower
In 1585, the English lord deputy of Ireland,
Sir John Perrot
, visited the area and met the Irish
chieftains
. They wanted
Ulster
to be divided into counties, and that land in the kingdom of
Airgialla
be split up and given to each of the
McMahon
chiefs. That is how County Monaghan was created. The county was divided into five
baronies
:
Farney
, Cremorne,
Dartrey
,
Monaghan
and Truagh, which was left under the control of the
McKenna
chieftains.
After the defeat of the rebellion of
Hugh O'Neill, The O'Neill
and the Ulster chieftains in 1603, the county was not
colonised by the English ("planted")
like the other counties of Ulster. The lands were instead left in the hands of the native chieftains. In the
Irish Rebellion of 1641
, the McMahons and their allies joined the general rebellion of Irish Catholics. Following their defeat, some plantation of the county took place with Scottish and English families.
County Monaghan is the birthplace of the
poet
and writer
Patrick Kavanagh
, who based much of his work in the county. Kavanagh is one of the most significant figures in 20th century
Irish Poetry
. The poems
Stony Grey Soil
and
Shancoduff
refer to the county.
Castle Leslie
George Collie
(1904?75) is a famous painter from Monaghan. He was born in
Carrickmacross
and trained at the
Dublin Metropolitan School of Art
.
Monaghan was also the home county of the Irish writer
Sir Shane Leslie
(1885?1971), 3rd
Baronet
of
Glaslough
, who lived at
Castle Leslie
in the north-east corner of the county. He was a Catholic convert, Irish nationalist and first cousin of
British Prime Minister
Sir Winston Churchill
. Leslie became an important literary figure in the early 1900s. He was a close friend of many politicians and writers of the day including the American novelist
F. Scott Fitzgerald
(1896?1940), who dedicated his second novel,
The Beautiful and Damned
, to Leslie.
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