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Castle Leslie, County Monaghan
Photograph: Lukiebaggs at English Wikipedia · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Province of Ulster

County Monaghan

Muineachán

“MWIN-a-khawn” · place of little thickets, from muine (thicket) + the diminutive

Known as The Drumlin County. For the drumlins, the low egg-shaped hills left by the ice that make the whole of south Ulster hard to cross and easy to hide in.

Did you know? Monaghan's drumlin fields, Patrick Kavanagh's 'stony grey soil', were shaped not by farmers but by the ice sheets of the last glaciation.
A fact like this for every county and every age →

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Monaghan by the numbers
Ulster province 65,288 people · 2022 census 1,295 km² · 28th of 32 by size County town Monaghan -29% in the Famine · 200,442 people in 1841, 142,000 in 1851 (approx.) 5 baronies · 1,849 townlands 1930s folklore · the Schools' Collection ↗ 19 surnames 4 towns on the site 724 daily Irish speakers Highest point Slieve Beagh, 373 m 0 senior All-Irelands 30 notable people born here 1,257 historic buildings recorded Everything on the site about Monaghan ↓
Carlow Cavan Cork Donegal Dublin Clare Galway Kerry Kildare Kilkenny Laois Leitrim Limerick Longford Louth Mayo Meath Monaghan Offaly Roscommon Sligo Tipperary Waterford Westmeath Wexford Wicklow Antrim Armagh Down Fermanagh Londonderry Tyrone

Open the atlas ↗

The history of Monaghan

Court cairns, dolmens and wedge tombs are scattered across Monaghan. In 1585 the local chiefs asked the Lord Deputy, Sir John Perrot, to divide Ulster into counties and share out the lands of Airgíalla among them, and County Monaghan was the result: five baronies, four held by the MacMahons and Truagh by the McKennas.

Unlike the other Ulster counties, Monaghan was not planted after 1603; its land was left with the native chiefs. The MacMahons and their allies joined the rebellion of 1641, and some Scottish and English settlement followed their defeat.

Drawn from the History section of the Wikipedia article on County Monaghan ↗, rewritten here and adding nothing it does not say; licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. The chronology above is this site's own; where the two differ, the article is the one to check.

The land — from Wikipedia

County Monaghan is the fifth-smallest of the Republic's 26 counties by area, and the fourth smallest by population. It is the smallest of Ulster's nine counties in terms of population.

Notable mountains include Slieve Beagh (on the Tyrone and Fermanagh borders), Mullyash Mountain and Coolberrin Hill (214 m, 702 ft). Lakes include Lough Avaghon, Dromore Lough, Drumlona Lough, Lough Egish, Emy Lough, Lough Fea, Inner Lough (in Dartrey Forest), Muckno Lough and White Lough. Notable rivers include the River Fane (along the Louth border), the River Glyde (along the Louth and Meath borders), the Ulster Blackwater (along the Tyrone border), and the Dromore River (along the Cavan border, linking Cootehill to Ballybay).

Read the full article ↗ · Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Clans & surnames of Monaghan
Boylan Ó Baoighealláin Gaelic sept · “descendant of Baoigheallán” Callan Ó Cathaláin Gaelic sept · “descendant of Cathalán, 'little battle-mighty one'” Carolan Ó Cearbhalláin Gaelic sept · “descendant of Cearbhallán, 'little Cearbhall'” Comiskey Mac Cumascaigh Gaelic sept · “son of Cumascach, 'the confuser' or 'mixer'” Connolly Ó Conghalaigh Gaelic sept · “descendant of Conghalach, 'valiant as a hound'” Corrigan Ó Corragáin Gaelic sept · “descendant of Corragán” Donegan Ó Donnagáin Gaelic sept · “descendant of Donnagán — a diminutive of donn, 'the dark one' or 'brown'” Duffy Ó Dubhthaigh Gaelic sept · “descendant of Dubhthach, 'the dark one'” Finn Ó Finn Gaelic sept · “descendant of Fionn, 'fair'” Finnegan Ó Fionnagáin Gaelic sept · “descendant of Fionnagán, 'little fair one'” Gorman Mac Gormáin Gaelic sept · “son of Gormán, 'the noble dark one'” Halpin Ó hAilpín Gaelic sept · “descendant of Ailpín” Hanratty Ó hAnrachtaigh Gaelic sept · “descendant of Anrachtach, 'unlawful'” McCabe Mac Cába Scots-gallowglass · “son of Cába” McKenna Mac Cionaoith Gaelic sept · “son of Cionaoth” McMahon Mac Mathghamhna Gaelic dynasty · “son of Mathghamhain, 'bear'” McNally Mac Con Allaidh Gaelic sept · “son of Cú Allaidh, 'the wild hound' — the wolf” Mulligan Ó Maolagáin Gaelic sept · “descendant of Maolagán, 'the little tonsured one'” Traynor Mac Thréinfhir Gaelic sept · “son of Tréanfhear, 'champion' — literally 'strong man'”

Tap a name for its full page — story, homeland map and neighbours. Or see all surnames from County Monaghan, with the other counties each name is tied to.

Towns, saints and legends of Monaghan

Towns. Carrickmacross Carraig Mhachaire Rois (5,745, 2022), Castleblayney Baile na Lorgan (3,926, 2022), Monaghan Muineachán, Clones Cluain Eois. What every town name means →

Saints. St Dymphna (30 May).

Legends set here. The Black Pig’s Dyke. On the atlas →

First names that belong here. Damhnait, Ardghal, Colla, Éibhear.

Irish in Monaghan today

At the 2022 census, 23,571 people in Monaghan said they could speak Irish. 724 speak it every day outside school, and 1,358 weekly.

4 primary schools here teach entirely through Irish (2025/26, 918 pupils), and 1 secondary school.

CSO, Census 2022, table SAP2022T3T2CTY. Every county compared →

The top of Monaghan

Slieve Beagh (Sliabh Beatha), 373 metres, in the Fermanagh/ S. Tyrone.

Rivers and loughs: River Blackwater, River Annalee, Fane River.

MountainViews, via Wikipedia. Every county's highest point → · Rivers and loughs →

Monaghan in the All-Ireland

Hurling: no senior title.
Football: no senior title; 1 final lost.

Every county's All-Ireland titles →

Born in Monaghan

From Wikidata: people whose recorded birthplace is in the county, who have a Wikipedia article and are no longer living, with dates shown only where the article confirms them, ordered by how many languages Wikipedia covers them in. Traditional birthplaces of early saints are as Wikidata records them.

People in Monaghan, census by census

Monaghan had 200,442 people in 1841 and has 65,288 now (-67%). Its peak was 200,442 in 1841; its low point 45,732 in 1966, -77% of 1841. It has never regained the population it had before the Famine.

1821183118411851186118711881189119011911192619361946195119561961196619711979198119861991199620022006201120162022
174,697195,536200,442141,823126,482114,969102,74886,20674,61171,45565,13161,28957,21555,34552,06447,08845,73246,24250,37651,19252,37951,29351,31352,59355,99760,48361,38665,288

Census returns as tabulated in the county's Wikipedia article. All 32 counties, 1821 to today →

Hidden Monaghan — the places the buses miss
  • Clones
    Tigernach’s 6th-century monastery. A round tower, a stone sarcophagus said to be the saint’s, and a five-metre high cross whose shaft was carved between 825 and 875 — the head added later, by other hands.
On the ground in Monaghan

Every pin is placed by its documented coordinates. All the monuments of Ireland →

Everything on the site about County Monaghan

The county

History

Monuments and heritage

Coast and country

People and culture

Quick answers
What is the Irish name for County Monaghan?

Muineachán. Monaghan is one of the 9 counties of Ulster (Cúige Uladh).

Who ruled County Monaghan in the Middle Ages?

Around 1014 it was held by Airgíalla (Oriel); by 1450, Oriel (MacMahon). The full era-by-era chronology is on this page.

What surnames come from County Monaghan?

Names historically associated with Monaghan include Boylan, Callan, Carolan, Comiskey, Connolly, Corrigan, Donegan, Duffy, among others.

What does Muineachán mean?

Muineachán, said “MWIN-a-khawn”, means place of little thickets — from muine (thicket) + the diminutive. Little hills of scrub, which is exactly what the drumlin country looks like.

What is the population of County Monaghan?

65,288 at the 2022 census, against 200,442 in 1841, before the Famine.

What is the county town of Monaghan?

Monaghan. County Monaghan covers about 1,295 km², which makes it the 28th largest of the 32 counties.

Who are famous people from County Monaghan?

Among the best-known people born in Monaghan are John Bagnell Bury, Patrick Kavanagh, James Cecil Parke, Eoin O'Duffy, John McKenna, Mary Bailey. The full list, with their birthplaces, is on this page.

What did the Famine do to County Monaghan?

The census counted 200,442 people in Monaghan in 1841 and 142,000 in 1851 (the 1851 figure is approximate): a change of -29% in ten years, through death and emigration.

Sources for this page

A clean copy for school projects or the family file; collapsed sections print in full.

The chronology of who held the county is this site's own reading of the standard histories onto today's county borders, and says so where the fit is rough. Quoted passages are marked and licensed. Spotted an error? Say so — corrections are credited.

Trace your ancestors in Monaghan

Free, from the holding institutions. How to begin: the six-step guide → · Spotted an error on this page? Suggest a correction.