Museum to tell the story of Monaghan Protestants who found themselves on ‘wrong’ side of Border

For much of its history Co Monaghan has been a borderland. The Black Pig’s Dyke, earthworks around 2,400 years old, have been found in the county and are thought to mark the ancient border into Ulster.

It was also where the Pale met the rest of Ireland and since 1922 the Border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The Monaghan County Museum in Monaghan town opened in September 1974 just three months after the town’s darkest day when seven people were killed during the Dublin-Monaghan bombings.

On Saturday it marks its 50th birthday along with the opening of the relocated museum, which is now part of the €22 million Peace Campus in the town.

The museum has 50,000 artefacts, but one of its most startling images is that of Culloville Bridge on the river Fane which marks the boundary between the Republic and Northern Ireland. The different road markings can clearly be seen from the aerial photograph.

Curator Liam Bradley said Borders is the recurring theme in the museum. Bordering Realities – Monaghan People and Stories tells the story of a county that has existed for the last 100 years as a Border.

Monaghan has also been the county in the Republic with the highest number of Protestants and a separate part of the exhibition is devoted to the Ulster-Scots story as it pertains to the county.

“Monaghan Protestants felt betrayed by the Border. They were cut off essentially and many people from Monaghan moved up North, especially after 1949 with the declaration of the Republic,” said Mr Bradley.

A more contemporary angle is an exhibition and interviews with four of its most famous citizens – Barry McGuigan, Tommy Bowe, Caitríona Balfe and Ardal O’Hanlon, all of whom have donated items to the collection.

There is also a section devoted to events around the Decade of Centenaries and a prize exhibit is the Victoria Cross won by Monaghan man Private Thomas Hughes during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. It is on loan to the museum for the next year.

Mr Bradley said Monaghan has been a town marked by division, with Catholic and Protestant children going to different schools. The museum is intended to provoke conversations about the nature of Borders, both real and imagined.

“Monaghan itself is a classic diamond Ulster town,” he explained. “There is a unique story here not just about the Border but the borders all around us. I spent a long time thinking about the concept of that.”