Monaghan

Monaghan lies among the low hills and lakes of the old Gaelic territory of Oriel. The MacMahons ruled this country through the later Middle Ages, and the settlement grew in a landscape shaped by their lordship and by conflict with neighbouring powers. In the early seventeenth century changes to landholding and the arrival of settlers transformed the town. A charter of 1613 established Monaghan as a borough, and its market and streets developed as a centre for the surrounding farms. The new town retained a name rooted in the older Gaelic landscape.