The Bath Estate Series - The Gate of the Pale

The Gate of the Pale: Farney Before, During and After 1641

For centuries, the barony of Farney stood at the frontier — "the gate of the Pale" — where the world of the MacMahon lords met the ambitions of the English Crown. In 1576, with a stroke of Queen Elizabeth's pen, this corner of Monaghan was granted to the Earl of Essex, setting in motion a story of survey maps and rent rolls, resistance and lawsuits, that would erupt in the rebellion of 1641 — when Essex Castle at Carrickmacross fell to men its inhabitants knew by name.

Drawing on the remarkable Irish papers preserved at Longleat House and the testimony of Farney's own people in the 1641 Depositions, Dr Michelle McGoff-McCann uncovers how this land was mapped, contested and remembered — and what the archives reveal about the neighbours who lived through it all.

Part of the annual Bath Estate Lecture Series.