Tassan

The townland of Tassan or Tasson is situated approximately two miles north east of Annyalla, close to the border with Northern Ireland, between the towns of Monaghan and Castleblayney, off the old N2 primary road, which linked Dublin and Derry. The area is located close to the Armagh border which provided an option for people to make a living during periods of economic recession also the Cashel and Tonagh bogs supplied a source of fuel to people for many years up to the late 1960s. Two lakes dominate the landscape in the townland, Lough Nahinch (The Island Lough) and Tassan Lough Natural Heritage Area, both of which have been used by anglers for pike and perch fishing over the centuries.

Tassan is located in the postal district of Clontibret where in 1595 in the adjacent countryside the Battle of Clontibret occurred. The territory of Monaghan had been wrested from the control of the MacMahon clan in 1591, when the clan leader was executed by English authority. Subsequent encroachments by the English into the province of Ulster led to the Nine Years War (1595–1603). The battle was the earliest clash between the two sides, with the Irish led by Hugh O'Neill and the English by Sir Henry Bagenal. Although O'Neill won the battle, the war ended with the completion of the English conquest of Ireland. In 1610 the Plantation of Ulster was established, an event that still defines certain political allegiances in the north of Ireland.

• Sylvester Mulligan, Roman Catholic Archbishop was born in Tassan on 12 Mar 1875 and was educated at the Capuchin College, Rochestown, County Cork, and at Louvain. In 1892 he entered the Capuchin Order and was ordained in 1901. He taught moral theology at Louvain and in 1925 was elected Minister Provincial of his order, a year later becoming Definitor General. In 1937 he was the last non-Indian to be appointed to Delhi-Simla as archbishop. For a period he was editor of the Father Mathew Record. He died on 23 Oct 1950 and is buried in the Capuchin plot in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin.[4]
• Brendan Comiskey, former Roman Catholic Bishop of Ferns, County Wexford, was born in Tassan on 13 August 1935. He was auxiliary Bishop of Dublin from 1980 until his appointment to Ferns in 1984. He resigned as Bishop of Ferns in 2002.
• John Brennan, Fianna Fáil member of Seanad Éireann from 1960 until 1977 and a member of Monaghan County Council from 1942 until 1974, was also from Tassan.

• List of towns and villages in Ireland