County Monaghan

The county of Monaghan (Muínechain in gaelic) is an inland county bounded by the counties of Cavan, Louth, Fermanagh, Tyrone and Armagh, consisting of many lakes and undulating hills. translates as "The place of little thicketed hills". It should be noted that the counties of Fermanagh, Tyrone and Armagh are part of the state of Northern Ireland, while the counties of Monaghan, Cavan and Louth are part of the Republic of Ireland. All these counties are part of the province of Ulster, except Louth (which is part of the province of Leinster). There are two other provinces in Ireland, Munster in the south of Ireland and Connaught in the west.

In the old Gaelic system of land division, Monaghan was part of the Kingdom of Oriel. lt was also known as McMahon's county after the dominant family of the area. The McMahons and their allies, the McKennas and O'Connollys, maintained effective domination of the county even after the arrival of the Normans in the twelfth century. The county boundaries were not established by the English administration until the late sixteenth century.

Common Names in the County

Analysis of the Hearth Money Rolls of 1663 shows that the commonest names in the county at the time (in descending order) were McMahon, McKenna, O'Duffy, O'Connolly, McCabe, McWard, McArdle, McIlmartin, O'Byrne, O'Callan, McCallan, O'Kelly, O'Murphy, McNancy, McTreanor, O'Gowan or McGowan, O'Boylan, McIlcollin, O'Finnegan, O'Cassidy, and McPhilip. The McCabes were a Gallowglass, or mercenary family, probably brought into the county by the McMahons following the Norman invasion. The O'Byrnes, who are relatively numerous in the county, are probably descendants of the Kildare or Wicklow O'Byrnes. This family was driven from it's Kildare territories by the Normans in the late twelfth century. lt is suggested that part of this clan may have migrated into Monaghan. The major settlers in the county were Scottish farmers brought over from the area of Strathclyde. Common names among these settlers were McAndrew, Mackay, Sinclair, Stewart, Buchanan, McKenzie, Davidson, Ferguson, Blackshaw, McCraig, Walker, Cameron, Gordon, Patterson, and McCutcheon.

A general indication of the proportion of the population of Irish or Norman extraction, or of English or Scottish descent, can be derived from the statistics on religious persuasions of the inhabitants. These groups were, respectively, predominantly Catholic, Church of Ireland, or Presbyterian. In 1861, when the census first determined religion, the respective proportions were 73, 14, and 12 percent.

(Portions taken from "Lewis' Topographical Dictionary")