Local Knowledge

This is a quiet trail bringing you through the tranquil rolling landscape of North Monaghan  to its highest point  “Bragan” or Slieve Beagh. You will pass through Emyvale, Carrickroe, Knockatallon, Scotstown and Tydavnet villages along the way. (It is a journey of approx. 45 kilometres requiring a degree of fitness for anyone not too used to cycling or can easily be achieved on an electric bike. This tour should take approximately 2 and a half to 3 hours to complete without stopping or without electric power assistance).

Proceed towards Emyvale village bearing left at the football field on the edge of the town. You will see the Mountain Stream river underneath the bridge at the south end of the Main Street. Emyvale was known by its Gaelic translation of “Scairbh na gChaorach” meaning the “place of the Sheep Crossing” or more commonly by the shortened version “Scarnageeragh”. You will note that the river as it flows through the edge of the village is quite shallow here and would have been an excellent spot for guiding farm animals across from one side of the river to the other prior to the construction of bridges. Cycle along the Mountain Stream river  and you can cross the main N2 Dublin /Derry road here at the bridge.  When you cross the main road continue cycling away from the village with the river to your left until you arrive onto the Carrickroe road at the point where you will see Gola Furniture factory just opposite you.

Not surprisingly furniture craft played an enormous part in the industrial skills of the north Monaghan population. In the eighteenth century it had its genesis in nearby Glennan situated between the villages of Glaslough and Emyvale which in those days gave employment to upwards of a couple of hundred workers. These days with the influence of global markets and the trend of modern décor towards minimalist style more and more consumers are shifting towards the cheaper flat-pack type of throwaway furniture in preference to the traditional crafted style. This puts a lot of pressure on factories like Gola to cost their goods at a price which can compete with the raft of cheap flat-pack material and still provide workers with an adequate wage packet.

Alongside Gola on the right Universal Graphics is located.

Turn right here and continue to the next junction and turn right again. At the first crossroads turn left in the direction of Tydavnet. Over a kilometre away at the brow of a hill take a right turn. A signpost opposite this junction indicates Emyvale to one side and Tydavnet on the other. So as you travel along this road you will pass through a crossroads, but the road is mainly straight until you arrive onto the L1135 Carrickroe road at which point you will turn left in the direction of Sliabh Beagh mountain. Traffic on these roads is minimal and allows you to take in the quiet stillness of the countryside. From the sound of water trickling from a nearby stream to the sweet chirping of the birds, or cows or sheep grazing in the fields along your route  Mother nature is all around you on your journey.

Having turned left in the direction of Sliabh Beagh you will pass through the Monaghan Clogher R186 crossroads junction.  You will now begin to use your low gears as you prepare to make your ascent of Bragan (Sliabh Beagh). At the first right hand bend on this road is the entrance the Bragan water company. Proceeding onwards you will be passing through forestry and nearer the summit you will be surrounded by some of the finest examples of blanket bog in Ireland. Bragan is home to one of wildlifes threatened species the “Hen Harrier”, and the local Wildlife organisation under the auspices of Knockatallon Walks (Knockatallon Rambling Club) has adopted it as their symbol which you can see on some of their signposted walking nature trails throughout the area.

At this summit you will find a picnic area where you may rest awhile before your return journey. Here is the site of a penal days martyr Fr McKenna who was shot while celebrating mass about the year 1754.  A cross was erected to his memory in September 1938 . Views of several landmarks can be seen from this location on a clear day. The spires of several cathedrals  and the many mountain ranges can all be viewed towards the North, East and West especially. Other wildlife species which are common to Sliabh Beagh are the pine marten, kestrel, cookoo and buzzard. There are several little lakes throughout Bragan nearest to here being Bradan to your right going downhill. Nearby also is the source of the Blackwater and MountainRiver the latter which passes through Emyvale which accompanied you on the earlier part of your cycle. Making your way downhill proceed right at the first right junction ahead of forest on right. Turn left when you come to the T-junction and soon you will arrive onto the Knockatallon road where you will turn right in the direction of Knockatallon and Sliabh Beagh Hotel where you can have some refreshments if you have not picnicked on top of Bragan. Here too is a tourism information centre where you can pick up details of the various nature walking trails in the area. Once refreshed you can proceed towards the next crossroads junction where you will be taking the road left for Scotstown village.

Along this route you can be conscious of the fact that a heroine of the 1916 Rising called Margaret Skinnider often visited this area in her youth. Her father was born and raised in the townland of Cornagilta nearby, although he emigrated to Scotland where he married and where Margaret and her siblings were born. The ruins of the Skinnider homestead are still to be seen in that same townland. This route which you are cycling was frequently travelled by Margaret as she visited the place of her ancestors at the earlier part of the last century. The hardships which her ancestors endured during those extremely tough times may have given her cause to take up the role she did during the Easter Rising. Retired teacher Mackey Rooney from Scotstown wrote her biography.

In Scotstown take a left turn for Tydavnet. As you pass by the GAA grounds and complex on your right bear in mind that this small club has always produced some of the finest Gaelic players in Monaghan County’s Gaelic football. In 1979 they reached the All-Ireland Club championship final losing to Nemo Rangers. Scotstown is also home to former GAA President Sean McCague to whom the club owe much of it’s inspiration.

Next T-junction turn left for Tydavnet so-called after St Dympna. The village is twinned with Geel in Belgium which also has St Dympna as it’s patron saint. Although some historians differ as to whether it is the one saint shared by both communities, one thing is sure that a common bond of friendship has followed the twinning process. Nearby, in the townland of Caldavnet is St Dympna’s Holy well.

As you pass through the village turn right in the direction of Emyvale as you head towards the N2 Derry/Dublin main road. Turn left in the direction of Emyvale but just past the Church and School at Corracrin take the next turn right signposted for Glennan Church.

As you leave the main Derry/Dublin road and as you leave Corracrin behind you also you might like to know that Revd Canon Moynagh who organised a huge exodus of parishioners from this and neighbouring parishes to Prince Edward Island in Canada in 1839 is interred there. He was a man of enormous energy going about his priestly duties on horseback. He was prior of St Patrick’s Purgatory, Lough Derg. After his death he bequeated a large amount of money to be distributed amongst the poor of the parish.

The site for the erection of the church at Corracrin may have been well chosen there as it was in the next townland of Derryhallagh that St Oliver Plunkett confirmed many children of the parish prior to Catholic Emancipation.  As you come to a sharp left-hand bend it is because of the Mountain river which twists and turns and which is flowing from the same Bragan mountain which you have just visited.

Turning left at Glennan on the Emyvale/Glaslough road you are headed back for base at Drumlin Trails.  Remember you are crossing over the Mountain river at Glennan here.