BOUNDARIES AND DIMENSIONS:

Monaghan, an inland county in the province of Ulster, is bounded on the north by county Tyrone, on the east by counties Armagh and Louth, on the south by counties Meath and Cavan and on the west by county Fermanagh. Its greatest length south-east by north-west is nearly 40 miles, and its breadth south-west by east about 22 miles.

NAME AND FORMER DIVISIONS:

The town which gave its name to the county is Muinichán, which in Irish means “Little Shrubbery”. Down to the time of Queen Elizabeth the county belonged to the McMahon family. The barony of Farney was the ancient Fearnmhagh, or the Alder-plain. The barony of Monaghan was the old Hy Meith Macha. The baronies of Cremorne and Dartree were anciently called Crioch-Myhughdhoma and Dartraighe.

PHYSICAL FEATURES:

There are only two ranges of Mountains in the county, the Slieve Beagh and the Fews, and of these only parts are within the boundary. In the former range Eshbrack (1,190’) and Eshmore (1,103’) have their summits in the county, but Essagalvane (1,196) and Essaheery (1,078’) have their slopes inside the boundary. North-east of Castleblayney in the Fews Range stands Mullyash (1,034’).

Rivers: The western part of the county drains into Lough Erne, but the rivers only indirectly belong in county Monaghan. The Ferm forms part of the boundary. The Blackwater forms the north boundary for about 12 miles and flows by Moy and Charlemont into Lough Neagh. Eastwards the county water forms the boundary with Armagh for seven miles before it loses its identity in Muckno Lake. The Clarebane and the Fane also form part of the boundary. The Lagan forms the boundary between the county and Louth into which it disappears.

There are numerous Lakes in the county. Near Carrickmacross lie the pretty Lough Fea, Lough Monalty and Lough Boughagh, and not far distant lies Lough Nagarnaman. In the south of the barony of Cremorne a chain of lakes stretches across the county, Muckno containing 600 acres forms a very pretty site. West of this is Lough Egish, a mile and a half in length. Near Rockcorry is a group, the chief of which is Inner Lake. In the vicinity of the town of Monaghan there are many small lakes. Near Glasslough is a very beautiful lake which gives its name to the town. There are a great number of other small and interesting lakes through the county.

ANALYSIS OF THE CENSUS FOR COUNTY, 1821-1926

Year	Males	Females	Total Pop.
1821	85,505	89,192	174,697
1831	95,679	99,857	195,536
1841	98,071	102,371	200,442
1851	68,827	72,996	141,823
1861	61,942	64,540	126,482
1871	55,961	59,008	114,962
1881	50,077	52,671	102,748
1891	42,727	43,479	82,206
1901	37,108	37,503	74,611
1911	35,953	35,502	71,455
1926	33,240	31,903	85,131

Families and Houses in 1926:

The number of families in the county was 14,856 the average number in each family being 4.2 The number of inhabited houses was 14,951, showing an average of 4.4 persons to each house. The special inhabitants of public institutions are omitted from these calculations.

There were in the county 10,642 Occupiers or Heads of Families, who were in occupation of less than five rooms, being 71.4% of the total for the county. Of these 239 or 1.6% of the families in the county occupied one room; 2,515 or 16.9%, two rooms; 4,827 or 32.5%, three rooms; and 3,061 or 20.6%, occupied four rooms.

There were in the county 152 tenements in which the room had only one occupant; 74 cases where the room had 2-4 occupants, 12 cases in which there were 5-7 occupants and 1 case where eight persons occupied the same room.

Birthplace of Inhabitants:

Of the population in 1926, 84.16% were born in the county, 7.32% in other counties in Saorstat Eireann. 6.32% in Northern Ireland, 1.73% in Great Britain, and 0.47% were born abroad.

Education:

In 1911 there were in the county 59,419 persons aged 9 years and upwards; of these 50,176 or 84.4% could read and write; 2,791 or 4.7% could read only and 6,452 or 10.9% were illiterate. As this census is the starting point where the age was raised from 5 years to 9 years; no comparison can be made with previous figures from other censuses. The report states that the percentage of those of 5 years and upwards who were unable to read and write was 17.8% in 1891, 13.7% in 1901 and in 1911 had fallen to 12.8%.

IRISH SPEAKING (1861-1911)

No. of people	1861	1871	1881	1891	1901	1911
Irish only	311	138	10	0	0	0
Irish & English	7,106	4,964	6,594	2,847	5,324	5,430
Irish Total	7,417	5,102	6,604	2,847	5,324	5,430
% of population	5.8	4.4	6.4	3.3	7.1	7.6

RELIGIONS, 1871-1926 (% of population)

Religion	1871	1881	1891	1901	1911	1926
Roman Catholic	73.4	73.7	73.3	73.39	74.68	78.50
Church of Ireland	13.6	13.3	13.0	12.77	12.21	9.84
Presbyterians	12.1	11.9	12.6	12.78	11.91	10.61
Methodists	0.4	0.5	0.6	0.56	0.55	0.45
Others	0.5	0.6	0.5	0.50	0.65	0.60

EMIGRATION (1861-1911)

1861	1871	1881	1891	1901	1911
28,842	14,953	13,356	13,427	5,301	4,333