MonaghanTown.

Monaghan town probably owes its existence to the foundation of the Franciscan Abbey founded in 1462, it was at the centre of the present town. The McMahon's were the local chiefs, their power eventually being broken by the English in the late sixteenth early seventeenth century.

In 1604 Sir Edward Blaney was appointed Governor of Monaghan. 1623 saw the town created a borough, and giving it the right to send two members to parliament, this charter also gave the town the right to hold fairs and levy tolls.

During the 1641 rebellion the town was captured by insurgents, and Lord Blaney's son was hanged from a pear tree. Cromwell's forces took the town in 1642, in 1688 the Irish took the town, they held it only for a short time before the Williamite's took control. For the proceeding two centuries the town became the colonial centre of government and commerce.

The Blaney's and Rossmore's were the main ruling classes during that period. In 1792 Lord Rossmore built the Market House. The courthouse was erected in 1829 at a cost of £10,000 on the site of an old jail. The novelist William Carlton nicknamed this jail "Johnny Short's Hotel" in his novel "The Fair of Emyvale" Short who was the prison governor would, on fair days when the town was crowded with rich farmers and merchants, would release thieves and pickpocket, on condition they return and share their spoil with him.

In 1838 the Ulster Canal reached the town, no doubt bringing employment and prosperity. Monaghan was linked to the rail system in 1858 with the arrival of the Ulster Railway later to become the GNR. The railway station on the north road was built in 1860, the railway survived for just over a century, the branch line closing in 1957.

The town is a typically Irish country town with shops and services catering for all requirements, there are a good selection of guest houses, hotels, and amenities in and around the town, making it an ideal location to explore the northern midlands of Ireland. Almost in the town centre is Peter's Lake a beautiful tree and reed fringed lake, upon which many ducks go about their unhurried business, watched and fed by local children.