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TASSAN

CO. MONAGHAN · IE

Tassan
An tEasán, Co. Monaghan

The Ireland's Ancient East
STOP 06 / 06

An tEasán · Co. Monaghan

A drumlin townland of two fishing loughs and an abandoned lead mine, two miles from Annyalla and a stone's throw from the border.

Tassan (Irish: An tEasán) is a townland, not a village. There is no square, no main street, no shop and no pub in Tassan itself - it is a scatter of farms across a couple of drumlins about two miles north-east of Annyalla, in the parish of Clontibret, close enough to the border with Northern Ireland that you could walk to it. If you want a counter and a pint you go to Annyalla or down to Castleblayney. What Tassan has instead is two loughs and a hole in the ground.

The loughs are the draw. Tassan Lough is a designated Natural Heritage Area; Lough Nahinch, the second sheet of water, carries the name The Island Lough. Anglers have fished both for pike and perch for generations, and the grasslands around the water are reckoned ecologically valuable. This is the soft, lake-pocked drumlin country that defines south Monaghan - small hills, small fields, water in every hollow.

The hole in the ground is the other half of the story. The Tassan Mining Company opened a lead mine here in the late 1840s, in the worst years of the Great Famine, and worked it until about 1865 or 1866. It went down roughly 160 metres on at least five shafts and produced 742 tonnes of ore - 546 tonnes of lead and a little over 37 grams of silver. The engine house, crusher house and mine offices are long abandoned, and the spoil heaps sit grassed-over near Tassan Lough. It is a quiet, overlooked piece of industrial archaeology in a county people do not associate with mining.

Come for the water, the walk around it, and the sense of a border townland that has stayed exactly itself. Do not come expecting anything to be open. Tassan is somewhere you bring a flask.

Population

A townland, never separately counted; the wider Annyalla area is about 205 (2022)

Founded

Townland; lead mine worked from the late 1840s

01 / 06

At a glance.

Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.

01 The water

Two loughs - Tassan Lough and Lough Nahinch - and the fishing that goes with them.

Tassan Lough is a Natural Heritage Area; Lough Nahinch is The Island Lough. Pike and perch in both. The water is the whole reason to come, and on a still morning it is reason enough.

Walks & outings → 02 The mine

A famine-era lead mine, worked from the late 1840s to the mid-1860s.

The Tassan Mining Company sank shafts here in the aftermath of the Great Famine, pulled out 742 tonnes of ore, and shut around 1866. Spoil heaps and the old mine offices are still in the ground by the lough.

Stories & lore → 03 The setting

Clontibret parish, the old N2, and the line into the North a few fields away.

Tassan sits in the parish where the 1595 Battle of Clontibret was fought, off the old Dublin-Derry road, in the drumlin-and-water country that runs right up to the border. More townland than village.

Stories & lore →

02 / 06

Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

Late 1840s to c. 1866

The Tassan lead mine

The Tassan Mining Company was established in the late 1840s, almost certainly as famine-relief employment as much as a commercial venture - a way to put wages into a parish that was burying its dead. The workings went down to around 160 metres on at least five shafts, with an engine house, a crusher house, workshops and the captains' offices on the surface. Total recorded output was 742 tonnes of ore: 546 tonnes of lead and 37.478 grams of silver. The mine closed around 1865 to 1866. What survives is the grassed-over spoil and the ruined buildings beside Tassan Lough - one of the very few lead-mine sites in Co. Monaghan, and the reason this townland has a Wikipedia entry at all.

Archbishop and bishop

Two churchmen from one townland

For a place this small, Tassan has form for producing senior clergy. Sylvester Patrick Mulligan was born here on 12 March 1875, joined the Capuchin order in 1892, was ordained in 1901, and in 1937 was appointed Roman Catholic Archbishop of Delhi and Simla in India. He resigned in ill health in August 1950 and died in Dublin that October, buried in Glasnevin. Six decades later the townland produced another: Brendan Comiskey, born in Tassan on 13 August 1935, who became auxiliary Bishop of Dublin and then Bishop of Ferns, a post he resigned in 2002.

Junior GAA, founded 1937

Tassan Rovers

The local Gaelic football club, Tassan Rovers, was founded at the start of 1937 and played in the Mid Monaghan junior section. Its high point came on 21 April 1940, when the team won the Dr Ward Cup final replay against Killanny, played in Castleblayney. A small club for a small place, but the name still ties the townland to the parish football that runs through every corner of Monaghan.

03 / 06

Things to do outside.

Wear waterproofs. Bring a sandwich. Tell someone where you're going if it's the mountain.

The two-lough wander There is no waymarked trail - this is quiet country lane and farm-track walking around Tassan Lough and Lough Nahinch. Fishing stands and the grassed-over mine spoil are the landmarks. Boots, not trainers; the ground holds water. Best on a still morning when the loughs go to glass.

3-4 kmdistance

1 - 1.5 hourstime

04 / 06

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

The drumlins green up and the lough grasslands come into their own. A good window before the midges find the water.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Settled light on the loughs and the main fishing season. Long evenings make the wander around the water worth it.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

Pike fishing comes into its own and the low light over the drumlins is the picture. Probably the best month here.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

The loughs go grey, the lanes go to mud, and there is nothing open to retreat into. For the committed angler only.

◐ Mind yourself

05 / 06

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

If a local was sitting beside you, this is the bit where they'd lean in.

Expecting a village

Tassan is a townland. There is no street, no shop, no pub and no church in Tassan itself - the parish church and the nearest counter are in Annyalla or Clontibret. Bring everything you need with you.

Looking for a tidy mine museum

The lead mine is abandoned, unsigned and largely grassed over - ruined buildings and spoil heaps on private-feeling farmland, not a visitor site. Look, do not climb, and do not expect an information board.

Getting there.

By car

Tassan is off the old N2 Dublin-Derry road, between Monaghan town and Castleblayney. Annyalla is about two miles south-west; Monaghan town is roughly 30 minutes, Castleblayney about 20. The last stretch is narrow country lane - go slowly.

By bus

No service to Tassan itself. The nearest Bus Éireann and Local Link stops are on the Monaghan-Castleblayney corridor; you will need a car for the last few miles.