Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [496]
Andy’s Bar & Restaurant ( 047-82277; www.andysmonaghan.com; 12 Market St; mains €15-25; restaurant 6-10.15pm Tue-Sat, 5-10pm Sun) A local favourite, Andy’s is an old-school place still proudly serving the likes of deep fried brie, prawn cocktails and pavlova. There’s a good choice of more modern mains though, with a house speciality of monkfish and crab claws sautéed in lime. The Victorian pub downstairs serves good bar food.
Squealing Pig ( 047-84562; The Diamond; mains €16-27; noon-4pm & 5-10pm Mon-Sat, 4-9pm Sun) This popular bar and restaurant is one of the town’s liveliest spots, with a young, fun vibe. It’s all comfort food here with steaks, burgers, rich pastas and stir-frys dominating the menu. By night the Pig really takes off with three bars and a nightclub keeping the energy and noise levels pumped up.
Drinking & Entertainment
Sherry’s ( 047-81805; 24 Dublin St) Walking into Sherry’s, one of Monaghan’s oldest bars, is like stepping back into a spinster’s parlour from the 1950s. The old tiled floor, beauty board and dusty memorabilia probably haven’t been touched in decades.
Market House ( 047-38162; Market St) This restored 18th-century market hall-turned-arts-venue hosts exhibitions, concerts and drama. Ring for event listings. The centre acts as the main stage for the annual May traditional music festival (www.feileoriel.com) and the September blues festival (www.harvestblues.com).
Getting There & Around
From the bus station ( 047-82377; North Rd), there are numerous daily intercity services within the Republic and into the North. These include 10 buses daily to Dublin (€13.50, two hours); 11 to Derry (€13, two hours) via Omagh; and three (one Sunday) to Belfast (€11.30, two hours). There are also frequent daily local services to Carrickmacross.
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ROSSMORE FOREST PARK
Crumbling remains of the Rossmore family’s 19th-century castle, including its entrance stairway, buttresses and the family’s pet cemetery can be seen at Rossmore Forest Park ( 047-433 1046; www.coillteoutdoors.ie; car/pedestrian €5/free), where rhododendrons and azaleas blaze with colour in early summer.
Along with forest walks and pleasant picnic areas, the park contains several giant redwoods, a fine yew avenue and Iron Age tombs. A gold collar (known as a lunula) from 1800 BC was found here in the 1930s and is now on display in the National Museum in Dublin. The park is located 3km southwest of Monaghan on the Newbliss road (R189).
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CLONES & AROUND
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Once the site of an important 6th-century monastery that later became an Augustinian abbey, Clones’ main sights are ecclesiastical. There’s a well-preserved 10th-century high cross on the Diamond, decorated with drama-charged biblical stories such as Daniel in the lion’s den.
Along with the remains of the abbey founded by St Tiernach on Abbey St, there’s a truncated 22m-high round tower, which dates from the early 9th century, in the cemetery south of town. Nearby is the supposed burial place of Tiernach himself, a chunky 9th-century sarcophagus with worn animal-head carvings.
More recently, Clones found fame as a lace-making centre. To learn about the history of Clones lace, see it on display or purchase samples, visit the Ulster Canal Stores ( 047-52125; www.cloneslace.com; Cara St; 8.30am-5pm Easter-Sep, 9am-5pm Mon-Fri Oct-Easter).
For a small town, Clones has produced its fair share of famous names. It is the hometown of both heavyweight Kevin McBride, whose defeat of Mike Tyson in 2005 was so crushing that it prompted Tyson’s immediate retirement; and former featherweight boxer Barry McGuigan, who won the world championship in 1985.
Clones-born writer Patrick McCabe set his dark novel The Butcher Boy in the town, and in 1997 Neil Jordan filmed the twisted tale here.
Clones’ greatest secret however, is the Flat Lake Literary and Arts Festival (www.theflatlakefestival.com). A ‘no-brow’ event in mid-August, it aims to mix high art and popular culture. Expect