County Dossier
Monaghan
A county of drumlins, border roads and old Gaelic lordship.
Monaghan lies in north-central Ireland, where a countryside of drumlins, small lakes and pasture creates one of the island's most recognisable regional landscapes.
At a glance
Monaghan at a glance
A county of drumlins, border roads and old Gaelic lordship.
- MacMahon country and border drumlins
- Named from the little thicket
- Lakes, farmland and rolling ridges
- Area: 500 sq miles / 1,295 km²
- Population: 60,483
- County Top: Slieve Beagh East 1,224ft / 373m
County Geography
Monaghan meets Tyrone to the north, Armagh to the north-east, Louth to the east, Meath to the south, Cavan to the west and south-west, and Fermanagh at the north-western side. The county is shaped by its borderland drumlin system, the river lines on parts of its outer edge, and the slight rise toward Slieve Beagh in the north.
Monaghan is easy to recognise through its drumlin ridges, small lakes, and northern rise toward Slieve Beagh.
Map Reference
View Monaghan on the map
Monaghan is the county. The map shows its boundary, places, and neighbouring counties.
The county.
The county boundary.
Nearby counties and places.
Places and routes
Monaghan, Carrickmacross, Castleblayney, Clones, and Ballybay show the county from its central town and southern road side to its western market line and lake country.
Connections
The county’s routes have long crossed the ridge-and-hollow landscape between Monaghan town, Carrickmacross, Castleblayney, and Clones. Movement follows the same drumlin-and-market-town pattern.
Names
- Monaghan
- County Monaghan
- County of Monaghan
- Muineachán
Muineachán is the Irish form of Monaghan. County Monaghan is the formal historical style, the county name means the little thicket, and the older background reaches into Airgíalla and the later MacMahon lands of this border district.
Monaghan became a county in the late sixteenth century, but the drumlin borderland had long been a recognisable territorial block. That ridge-and-hollow landscape still gives the historic county a clear shape.