Monaghan is drumlin country, so most walking here is short, undulating and tied to a village or a town rather than to open hill. The six on this page bear that out. Glaslough, in the north of the county beside the Castle Leslie estate, has a 2 km heritage trail running from the Famine Monument to Saint Salvator’s Church, with an audio app, ‘One Village, Two Voices’, to follow along the way. The Monaghan Town Heritage Trail is the same idea on a larger canvas, a free self-guided loop taking in the Franciscan abbey site, the McMahon crannóg on the lake and the Georgian and Victorian streets around them.
The exception is Sliabh Beagh, up where Monaghan, Fermanagh and Tyrone meet. That is blanket bog and peat hill, with short waymarked loops for a couple of hours and the Sliabh Beagh Way for a full day. Bog underfoot and wind off the plateau make it a different proposition in winter than the village trails are.
South of that, Inniskeen holds the Patrick Kavanagh Centre and its signposted trail through the drumlins to the sites of the poems, and neighbouring Donaghmoyne spreads from Carrickmacross towards Castleblayney, taking in St Lastra’s holy well and the grassy motte of Mannan Castle. Clones has the reopened Ulster Canal, with a 4.2 km greenway on the old towpath at Monaghan town.
A twice Tidy Towns-winning village of stone-cut houses beside Castle Leslie, with a 2 km heritage trail and an audio app to walk it by.
The county's only proper upland walking, a windswept bog plateau on the Fermanagh and Tyrone border with short loops or a long waymarked way.
Inniskeen's centre and signposted trail take you through the drumlin fields of the poems to the church where Kavanagh is buried.
The parish where Carrickmacross lace began in 1820, spread across drumlins from Carrickmacross to Castleblayney with a holy well and a grassy motte.
A free, self-guided route through the town's oldest layers, from the abbey site and lakeside crannóg to the Georgian and Victorian streets.
6 of 6 shown — tap a pin for the place.
Glaslough, monaghan
Glaslough is a village of stone-cut houses beside the Castle Leslie estate in north Monaghan, twice a national Tidy Towns winner (1978 and 2019). Its 2 km heritage trail runs from the Famine Monument to Saint Salvator's Church, guided by the 'One Village, Two Voices' audio app. After partition its railway station became the first stop south of the border.
Three County Hollow, monaghan
Straddling the border where Monaghan, Fermanagh and Tyrone meet, Sliabh Beagh is a low, windswept plateau of blanket bog, peat hills and quiet loughs. Walkers can pick from short waymarked loops or take on the demanding Sliabh Beagh Way, passing ancient cairns, a holy well and replanted native woodland.
Inniskeen, monaghan
Patrick Kavanagh was baptised, served as an altar boy and is buried at St Mary's Church in Inniskeen, now the centre devoted to his life and work. Its exhibition turns on a triple-projection film and the Kavanagh hand-press, and a signposted trail links the sites of his poems through the surrounding drumlin country.
Donaghmoyne, monaghan
Monaghan Town, monaghan
Clones, monaghan
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