Historic county of Ireland
Monaghan
Muineachán / County of Monaghan
Province: Ulster
Drumlin after drumlin, with lakes and wetlands between.
Monaghan is one of Ireland’s clearest drumlin counties. Rounded hills repeat across the landscape, with small lakes, wetlands, pasture and enclosed fields occupying the hollows between them.
The effect is distinctive both on a map and on the ground. Roads constantly rise, fall and bend with the glacial terrain rather than crossing a broad uninterrupted plain. None of the hills needs to be especially high: their sheer number creates an exceptionally broken landscape. Monaghan’s identity is written in ridge, hollow, lake and pasture.
- 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
A landscape left by ice
The county’s characteristic drumlins were shaped by glacial deposition.
Poor drainage between the rounded ridges helped produce the numerous small lakes and wetlands which reinforce the landscape’s patchwork appearance.
Low hills, constant relief
Monaghan lacks a dominant mountain range, but it seldom feels flat.
Repeated short rises and hollows create a landscape in which small changes of height occur almost continuously, giving the county a strong character without dramatic altitude.
MacMahon country
Before the county took its later form, the territory belonged to the older Airgíalla or Oriel world and became particularly associated with the MacMahon lordship.
The later county framework therefore developed across a territory with much older Gaelic identities.
County questions
Questions about Monaghan
Is Monaghan in Ulster even though it is in the Republic of Ireland?
Yes. Monaghan is one of the nine geographic counties of Ulster. Ulster is a province and must not be confused with Northern Ireland.
Why does Monaghan seem so hilly when its hills are not especially high?
Because much of the relief comes from thousands of drumlins. Individually modest hills collectively create the county’s distinctive rolling, broken terrain.
County record
Names and continuity
- Formal name
- County Monaghan
- Local name
- Muineachán
- Province
- Ulster
- Alternative name
- County of Monaghan
- Foundation
- c.1584-85
Monaghan is one of the nine geographic counties of Ulster. Its drumlin landscape gives it an unusually consistent physical identity from one side of the county to the other.