From lace to late nights
Sports stars and literary heavyweights are mere pups in comparison to some of Monaghan’s historical stars. The county boasts several Bronze Age megalithic sites, a 10th-century High Cross in the middle of Clones, and the prehistoric Tullyrain Ring Fort near Shantonagh. Castle Leslie, a plush Victorian pile and a sometime venue for international celebrity weddings, was even home to the first plumbed bathtub in Ireland!
In the 19th century, lace-making also became important to the area, and you can see the intricate results on display at the Carrickmacross Lace Gallery. The name may already be familiar to you, as it’s famed for the lace used to adorn the late Princess Diana’s wedding dress.
If you want to mix all of Monaghan’s craft, culture and craic together, then hit the Harvest Time Blues Festival, the Flat Lake Festival, and of course, the Annual Patrick Kavanagh weekend…
Surely that’s enough to bring the inner poet out in you?