Cavan

Cavan (/ˈkævən/ KAV-ən; Irish: An Cabhán, meaning 'the hollow') is the county town of County Cavan in Ireland. The town lies in Ulster, near the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The town is bypassed by the main N3 road that links Dublin (to the south) with Enniskillen, Ballyshannon and Donegal Town (to the north).

Cavan was founded by the Irish clan chief and Lord of East Breifne, Giolla Íosa Ruadh O’Reilly, between 1300 and his death in 1330. During his lordship, a friary run by the Dominican Order was established close to the O’Reilly stronghold at Tullymongan and was at the centre of the settlement close to a crossing over the river and to the town's marketplace. It is recorded that the (Cavan) Dominicans were expelled in 1393, replaced by an Order of Conventual Franciscan friars. The friary's location is marked by an eighteenth-century tower in the graveyard at Abbey Street which appears to incorporate remains of the original medieval friary tower. The imprint of the medieval town can be followed in the area of Abbey Street, Bridge Street and Main Street (townlands of Tullymongan Upper and Lower).

Clan O'Reilly later built a new castle in the late fourteenth century on Tullymongan Hill, overlooking the town centre. In the 15th century, the local ruler, Bearded Owen O'Reilly, expanded the town marketplace which attracted merchants from Dublin and Drogheda. The phrase "life of Reilly" is believed to derive from the great wealth and power of the Chief of Clan O'Reilly, some of which came from the market. The Chiefs also allowed, however, counterfeit English and Scottish coins to be minted in their territory at this time.

During the Elizabethan era religious persecution of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Archbishop Dermot O'Hurley, who would be one of the most celebrated of the 24 Irish Catholic Martyrs, was covertly sheltered by Thomas Fleming, 10th Baron Slane at Slane Castle, where the Archbishop was allegedly concealed inside a priest hole, but from whence O'Hurley covertly travelled to and from Cavan to visit with some fellow priests whom he had known while living in Catholic Europe.

King James I granted the town a charter in 1611. This also entitled Cavan town to send two members to the Irish parliament. In February 1690, during the Glorious Revolution, the Battle of Cavan took place after Williamite Inniskillinger forces led by Colonel William Wolseley attacked the strategic fort overlooking Cavan town at Tullamongan which was held then by the Duke of Berwick Jacobite army. During the battle much of the town was burned by Colonel Wolseley's soldiers and Jacobite general William Nugent was killed. Later, during the 18th century, local administrative influence and power passed to the Maxwell family, descendants of Robert Maxwell, Church of Ireland Bishop of Kilmore (1643–1672), a family who later entered the peerage as Baron Farnham.

Farnham House, located at Farnham, a small rural district to the north-west of Cavan, is one of the largest country houses in the county. It was built for Barry Maxwell, 3rd Lord Farnham (later created, by the second creation, Earl of Farnham), head of the Maxwell dynasty, around 1780. The house was designed by James Wyatt. It was extended in 1810 to the design of Francis Johnston, a County Armagh-born, but Dublin-based, architect. It was sold by Diana, Lady Farnham (widow of Barry Maxwell, 12th Lord Farnham), to a local entrepreneur in 2001, and the house and estate has per 2006 been converted into a luxury hotel and leisure complex under the Radisson SAS international hotel group.

Developments in Cavan during the early 19th century saw the building of a new wide street that still bears the name 'Farnham Street'. This was lined with comfortable town houses, public buildings (such as Cavan Courthouse which dates from 1824) and churches. From the mid-19th century, Cavan became an important rail junction for the Midland Great Western Railway (MGWR) and those of the Great Northern Railway (GNR). Cavan Town Hall was built between 1908 and 1910.

The area saw little violence during the 1920-22 troubles in Ulster.