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Situated at the centre of Convent Lake, which was called Spark’s Lake (OS 1834). This is a subrectangular lake (dims c. 180m NW-SE; c. 150m NE-SW) in Monaghan town, and it is c. 500m SW of the town centre. A map of 1591 depicts Macmahoon’s house on an island in the lake (Mooney 1957, Pl. 12), but one of Bartlett’s map of 1602-03, which has been thought to depict this crannog (O’Sullivan 1998, Pl. 58) is a representation of Roosky Lake (pers. comm. Grace Moloney 2012) with its two crannogs (MO012-050----; MO012-051----). This crannog is likely to have been the ‘caislean’ or castle of Mac Mahon mentioned in 1492 (AU; AFM). It is now a subcircular overgrown mound (dims 16m N-S; 14m E-W; H 0.7m), and erosion on the N and W shores reveals a matrix of boulders (dims c. 0.2-0.3m). The tops of four oak piles can be seen on the N side. The mound shelves off into deep water within 3-4m and a boulder kerb can be seen beneath the water. (Smyth 1954, 4)
The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Monaghan' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1986). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.
See the attached image of the 1591 map showing the Franciscan abbey and Macmahoon's house on the crannog, after Mooney 1957, Pl. 2
Date of revision: 13 December 2017
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