an inland county in the province of Ulster, in Ireland, is bounded on the north by the county of Tyrone, on the east by those of Armagh and Louth, on the south by those of Louth and Cavan, and on the west by those of Cavan and Fermanagh. It extends over a surface of 327,048 acres, of which 309,968 acres are capable of cultivation, 9236 are unprofitable mountain or bog, and 7844 are under water.
According to Whitaker, the tribe of the Scotti, which spread itself over the greater part of the interior of Ireland, inhabited this county in the time of Ptolemy. In a subsequent period of Irish history it formed part of the territory of Uriel or Orgial; and, from the principal family which then resided in it, was also known by the name of McMahon's country. In the reign of Elizabeth it was reduced into shire-ground, and was divided into the five baronies which still exist, namely, those of Cremorne, Dartry, Farney, Monaghan, and Trough. These are subdivided into nineteen parishes, and four parts of parishes, the remainder of which are in some of the adjoining counties.
According to the ecclesiastical arrangements of the country, Monaghan is wholly included in the diocese of Clogher, the see of which is in the city of the same name in the county of Tyrone. It contains twenty-one parishes.
The general appearance of the surface is hilly, yet not rising into heights of considerable elevation. Its principal mountain range is that of Slievehaugh, a rugged and barren tract which separates it from Tyrone. Its highest summit, called Cairnmore, commands an extensive view of the surrounding country on every side. Crieve Mountain, in the south, is still more elevated, but of smaller superficial extent. There are no rivers of any consequence. The Finn, which rises near the centre of the county, scarcely merits the title of river until after its entrance into Fermanagh; and the Blackwater, forming part of the northeastern boundary towards Tyrone, is the receptacle of many of the smaller rivulets which take their rise here. But, though deficient in rivers of magnitude, it is amply furnished with streams of running water, well suited to the purposes of agriculture and of manufacturing industry; nor can any other county boast of such a number of lakes, although few of them are of an extent such as to entitle them to specific notice. The number of these lakes is 184, thirty of which are considerable sheets of water. The most remarkable are Lough Eagish, on Crieve Mountain, which supplies water for a long succession of mills and bleaching-greens; Lakes Damby, Camm, and Oona. Others near Castleblaney, Dawson Grove, and Mount Lewis, are celebrated for the beauty of the surrounding scenery.
The soil is of various kinds. In the central parts it consists of a rich limestone. The southern districts are partly of the same quality, and partly a deep clay, capable of a high degree of cultivation under judicious management. The north consists mostly of a stiff retentive clay, marshy in winter, and hardening quickly by the heat of summer, yet interspersed in many parts with tracts of valuable limestone soil. Whilst the limestone formation predominates in the level districts, the more elevated portions exhibit traces of a different character. To the north the hills show sandstone; but those in the south are of basalt or whinstone. Coal has been found in more than one place, but in veins so poor and scanty as not to encourage the outlay of capital upon its exploration. Slates of good quality are quarried in Crieve Mountain. A lead mine was also worked there, but has long since been relinquished as unprofitable. Ochre, potters' clay of such quality as to cause an exportation of it to Dundalk for the manufacture of glazed earthenware, brick clay, manganese, antimony, and fullers' earth, are also found here. There is a chalkybeate spring at Drumtubberbay, on Cairnmore, the water of which casts up a thick scum of ochre. A well near Clones is much celebrated for its efficacy in cases of jaundice, whence it has acquired its name of Granabuymore, or "the great yellow curc." A spring at Tullaghan throws up water which, although perfectly tasteless and clear, deposits an incrustation on the banks near its source. This county has a large proportion of bog, which, together with its great number of lakes, and its exposure to the north-western winds, render it very damp, although it is far from being unwholesome.
The results of inquiries as to the population, made at different periods, are as follow:
| Year | Authority | Population | |------|-----------|------------| | 1760 | De Burgo | 49,848 | | 1792 | Beaumont | 118,000 | | 1812 | Parliamentary return | 140,433 | | 1821 | Ditto | 174,697 | | 1831 | Ditto | 195,521 |
The comparison of the amount of population, according to the latest of these returns, with the superficies of the county, gives a result of one individual to every acre and a half.
This population was represented in the Irish parliament by four members; two for the county at large, and two for the borough of Monaghan. Those for the borough were struck off at the period of the Union; and no alteration to the arrangement then made has taken place under the reform act.
The constituency, as it was constituted at three periods, viz. 1st, previously to the disqualification of the forty-shilling freeholders; 2d, subsequently to their disqualification; and, 3d, under the reform act, exhibits the following changes:
| Year | L.50 | L.20 | L.10 | Total | |------|------|------|------|-------| | 1st Jan. 1829 | 300 | 107 | — | 12,453 | 12,860 | | 1st Jan. 1830 | 322 | 194 | 632 | — | 1,148 | | 1st May 1831 | 464 | 254 | 946 | — | 1,664 |
The local government is vested in a lieutenant, fourteen deputy-lieutenants, and sixty-one magistrates, who are supported by a constabulary force, consisting of four chief and eighty sub-constables. The constabulary establishment is maintained at an expense of about £4000, being at an Monaghan average of somewhat more than £47 per annum for each man. Under the provisions of the new constabulary act, this force consists of a sub-inspector, five chief constables, and ten head constables, with eighty constables and sub-constables.
The state of education, as collected from the parliamentary returns made in 1821 and 1831, is shown in the following table. The returns made by the commissioners of public instruction in 1834 cannot be stated, in consequence of their having been made up according to dioceses instead of counties:
| Year | Boys | Girls | Sex not ascertained | Total | |------|------|-------|---------------------|-------| | 1821 | 4517 | 2743 | | 7,260 | | 1824–6 | 6694 | 4205 | | 11,219 |
Of the numbers stated in the latter of these returns, 2471 were Episcopalian Protestants, 2166 Protestant Dissenters, and 6408 Roman Catholics; the religious persuasion of 174 was not ascertained. The proportion of Protestants to Roman Catholics, as far as can be inferred from the relative numbers of the children of each religious persuasion attending public schools, is as two to three nearly. The total number of schools was 281; of which 19, containing 1006 children, were supported by grants of public money; 37, containing 2551 children, were supported by the voluntary contributions of societies or individuals; the remaining 225 schools, which afforded the means of education to 7662 children, were maintained wholly by the fees of the pupils. The diocesan school of the see of Clogher is in the town of Monaghan. There is also an endowed school at Carrickmacross.
The population is chiefly rural, dispersed either in detached dwellings throughout the country, or in small villages. The total number of residents in towns containing upwards of one thousand inhabitants each, is only 13,000, out of a population which may be stated in round numbers at 200,000; and there are but five towns of this description, so that their average population is but 2600 souls each.
The estates in land are of every value, from L20,000 per annum to L20; being partly held under grants of the escheated lands in Ulster in the time of James I., and partly arising out of the forfeitures in the time of Cromwell. Leases are for short terms, usually twenty-one years, and one or three lives. The mountainous districts are frequently held in joint tenancy by a large number of occupants. The tenants of one of those mountain districts once formed a community of very singular character. Their village consisted of nearly two hundred cabins, on a tract of 500 acres of bog, at Blackstaff, near Carrickmacross, but so barren as not to afford the means of the lowest animal subsistence, so that they were forced to derive their support from patches of land rented by them at a considerable distance from their place of residence. The community allowed itself to be governed by a mayor, chosen annually by all the members. The holder of the largest potato-garden was sure to be elected. All disputes were referred to him, and no appeal was known to be made from his decision. His fee was a bottle of whisky, which was invariably shared by him with the contending parties. The office was one of honour rather than of profit; for there was no instance of a mayor holding his post for two successive years. The community was broken up in consequence of the rebellion of 1798, at which time the members were compelled to quit their village, and to reside upon their detached plots; yet, for several years afterwards, they held an annual convivial meeting on the site of their deserted village.
The mansions of the landed proprietors are numerous and elegant; the houses of the wealthier farmers, and more particularly of those who combine manufactures with agriculture, exhibit every indication of comfort; but the dwellings of cottiers and labourers are miserable in the extreme. The dress of the male peasantry is homespun, manufactured frize, dyed blue; that of the female generally cotton. Flesh meat seldom forms a part of their dietary. The cottiers in the districts remote from towns are unable to procure any food but potatoes seasoned with salt. Fuel is cheap and abundant, in consequence of the quantity of bog. The language is both English and Irish; but the latter predominates in the more retired parts of the county.
The state of agriculture has improved with great rapidity during the last twenty or thirty years. The accounts given shortly after the year 1800 describe the old country plough of clumsy construction, the slide-car without wheels, the conveyance of the manure and field produce on horses' or asses' backs, and the application of manual labour and spade-husbandry as being generally prevalent. At present all the improvements introduced by scientific agriculturists are to be seen in practice here, as far as they have been found consistent with the peculiar nature of the soil and climate. Ploughs on the most improved plan, Scotch carts, and implements of various kinds to supersede the improvident exertion of manual labour, are universal; yet in some parts where the nature of the ground forbids the use of the plough, considerable tracts of land are still cultivated by the spade. The old, stunted, and ill-conditioned breeds of black cattle, sheep, and hogs, have given way to the most esteemed British or foreign stocks, the character of which has not unfrequently been made more suitable to the agricultural localities by judicious crossings with the native breeds. Wheat and oats are the principal species of grain. Barley and bear are largely grown in the hilly districts. Clover is much encouraged, and few farmers are without a patch of it, however small. It is cut green for soil, and is found extremely economical. The tops of furze or gorse are also used, when pounded, as food for horses, and prove highly palatable to the animal, as well as very nutritious. Flax, for the growth of which the soil is peculiarly favourable, is very generally raised. The manure is formed of composts, of which lime and burned turf mould are generally component parts; marl, though common, is little used. The fences in some parts are of white thorn, interspersed with sallows; in others a slight mound of earth serves rather to determine the boundary than to prevent trespassing. Asses and pigs are numerous. Fish abound in the numerous lakes. The county was once almost a continuous forest, excepting the higher lands, which appear to be of a nature ungenial to the growth of trees. The numerous demesnes of the nobility and gentry are richly embellished by plantations of modern growth. Ash and sycamore are much encouraged. The wood of the latter is in great repute for some parts of mill-machinery. Osieries are frequently to be found in the marshy bottoms at the foot of hills, and prove highly profitable.
The principal manufacture is that of linen, which was long carried on with great spirit, and produced a considerable export; but it has latterly declined, partly in consequence of the increasing preference given to cotton goods. The woollen manufacture is chiefly employed in supplying the domestic consumption. The sand or gritstone of Cairnmore has given rise to a manufacture of millstones there, which are in considerable demand. Tannyards are frequent. Coarse earthenware is manufactured at Glasslough, and a small iron-work near Clones supplies most of the agricultural implements used in the county.
The remains of antiquity are but few. The most remarkable are two round or pillar towers; one in the burial-ground of Clones, and the other at Inniskeen, on the borders of Louth. The former consisted of five stories, the traces of which are still visible in the walls; and its door is about four feet above the level of the ground. Near it is a large stone coffin, above ground, with a cover of the same Monadh material shaped like the roof of a house. The latter of these towers is in a much inferior state of preservation, and is unique, as having its door upon a level with the surrounding country, although this is supposed by some to be the effect of a modern alteration. Near Clones are two large raths; one in good preservation, exhibiting distinct traces of its fosses and embankments; the other smaller, and much decayed. Danish forts are numerous. The only monastic structure of which any vestiges remain is that of Clones, which was a foundation of regular canons. It was destroyed by Hugh de Lacy, shortly after the arrival of the English; but was rebuilt soon afterwards, and secured from a similar fate by the erection of a castle in its neighbourhood. An abbey of Conventual Franciscans was founded at Monaghan by one of the McMahons; but it was afterwards totally destroyed, and a castle erected on its site, which also was in a ruinous state in the reign of James I. Ruins of castles are to be seen at Donaghmoyne and Dawson's Grove.
county town, is situated near the centre of the county, at a short distance from the Blackwater, to the south. Its ancient name was Muineechan, "the town of Monks," given to it from the religious establishment formerly existing there. The principal buildings are a market-house, in which a brisk linen trade is carried on, erected by Lord Rossmore in 1792; a court-house; and a parish church. In the immediate vicinity of the town is a Roman Catholic chapel, a Presbyterian meeting-house in the New Market, the county infirmary, the diocesan school-house, the barrack for cavalry at the northern entrance of the town, and an extensive county prison, which has been built at an expense of £20,000. The town contains a brewery, and carries on a pretty considerable trade in linen. Its population in 1831 amounted to 3848 souls. The other towns whose population exceeds 1000 souls are as follow:—Carrickmacross, 2979; Clones, 2381; Ballinbay, 1947; and Castleblayney, 1828.