rm a through line from north to south. The Great
Northern has branches to Belturbet from Ballyhaise, and to Cootehill
from Ballybay; the Midland Great Western has a branch to Killashandra,
and from Navan in Meath to Kingscourt, just within Cavan. The Cavan &
Leitrim railway starts from Belturbet and soon leaves the county to the
west.

_Population and Administration._--The population (111,917 in 1891;
97,541 in 1901), of which about 80% are Roman Catholics, shows a
decrease among the most serious of the Irish counties, and emigration
returns are among the heaviest. The population is almost wholly rural,
the only towns being the small ones of Cavan (pop. 2822, the county
town), Cootehill (1509), Belturbet (1587) and Bailieborough (1004). The
county is divided into eight baronies, and contains thirty-two parishes
and parts of parishes. It is almost entirely within the Protestant and
Roman Catholic dioceses of Kilmore. The assizes are held at Cavan, and
quarter sessions are held at Cavan, Bailieborough, Cootehill and
Ballyconnell. Before the Union the county returned six members to the
Irish parliament, two for the county at large, and two for each of the
boroughs of Cavan and Belturbet; but since that period it has been
represented in the imperial parliament by two members only, for the east
and west divisions.

_History and Antiquities._--At the period of the English settlement, and
for some centuries afterwards, this district was known as the Brenny,
being divided between the families of O'Rourke and O'Reilly; and its
inhabitants, protected by the nature of the country, long maintained
their independence. In 1579 Cavan was made shire ground as part of
Connaught, and in 1584 it was formed into a county of Ulster by Sir John
Perrott, and subdivided into seven baronies, two of which were assigned
to Sir John O'Reilly and three to other members of the family; while the
two remaining, possessed by the septs of Mackernon and Magauran, and
situated in the mountains bordering on O'Rourke's country, were left
subject to their ancient tenures and the exactions of their Irish lord.
The county subsequently came within the scheme for the plantation of
Ulster under James I. The population is less mixed in race than in most
parts of Ulster, being generally of Celtic extraction. Some few remains
of antiquity remain in the shape of cairns, raths and the ruins of small
castles, such as Cloughoughter Castle on an island (an ancient crann