Castleblayney

A Monaghan town above Lough Muckno, the county's largest lake, near the Armagh border. It was founded by Sir Edward Blayney on forfeited MacMahon land, and its wide main street was laid out by the 11th Lord Blayney, whose regiment was known as Blayney's Bloodhounds. Hope Castle took its name from the family that later sold the Hope Diamond, and was burned in an arson attack in 2010.

The town came out of the Nine Years' War. In 1611 the Crown granted MacMahon lands to Sir Edward Blayney of Montgomeryshire, later 1st Baron Blayney, who founded a small town recorded as Castleblayney by 1663. In 1762 there was a protest here linked to the Oakboys, against unpaid road work forced on labourers. The 11th Lord Blayney, who inherited in 1784, reformed and laid out the town, had Robert Woodgate design a new Blayney Castle around 1800, and paid for the Catholic, Anglican and Presbyterian churches. The town hall dates from 1790 and the workhouse from the early 1840s.

In 1853 the 12th and last Baron sold the castle and estate to Henry Thomas Hope, and it became Hope Castle. Lord Francis Hope, who sold the Hope Diamond, inherited it after 1887; the Duke of Connaught leased it from 1900 to 1904. The British Army used it as a barracks from 1919 to 1921, and Franciscan nuns occupied it from 1943 to 1974. On 7 March 1976 a bomb outside the Three Star Inn killed Patrick Mone and injured 17, an attack linked to the Glenanne gang.

Drawn from the History section of the Wikipedia article on Castleblayney ↗, rewritten here and adding nothing it does not say; licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

• Mullyash Kerbed Cairn · tomb · 8 km
• Annaghmare Court Tomb · tomb · 8 km
• Hope Castle · castle · under 1 km
• Mannan Castle · castle · 13 km

Straight-line distances from the town centre, from each site's documented coordinates.

• Faughart · Where Edward Bruce, King of Ireland for two years, was killed in 1318 — on the hill of St Brigid's birthplace.
• Knockbridge — Cú Chulainn's death · The standing stone Cú Chulainn tied himself to so he would die on his feet, facing his enemies. Only when a raven landed on his shoulder did they dare approach.
• Emain Macha — Deirdre of the Sorrows · Deirdre, promised to King Conchobar, fled with Naoise; when Naoise was killed on their return to Emain, Conchobar kept her, then gave her to his killer, Éogan. She threw herself from the chariot against a rock. Later tellings have her die of grief, and in some, yew trees grew from the two graves and twined together.
• Slieve Gullion — the Cailleach's lake · Fionn swam in the summit lake for a maiden's lost ring and emerged an old man — the Cailleach's trick. Even now, they say, swimmers' hair turns grey.

All of these are pinned on the Hidden Ireland map.