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IMPRESSIVE MONUMENT UNVEILED AT CORNAGILTA
A significant milestone in the affairs of the Margaret Skinnider Appreciation Society (MSAS) was
celebrated on Sunday 6th December with the unveiling, by Ms Shirley Clerkin, Heritage Officer,
Monaghan County Council, of a monument marking the contribution of the redoubtable Máiréad Ní
Scineadóra to Irish life from 1914 until her death in October 1971. Erected on the lands of Patrick and
Mary Rafferty in Cornagilta, equidistant to Tydavnet and Scotstown, this impressive nine-feet high
monument may be accessed via the L1020 (Mullaghmore-Cornagilta) on the Scotstown-Tydavnet road
or the R186 (Monaghan-Clogher road) at Killylough. A lasting tribute to Margaret Skinnider was first
mooted at a public meeting convened by locals Pat McKenna and Patsy Brady (and chaired by
Josephine O’Hagan) in the Sliabh Beagh Hotel, Knockatallon, all of six years ago. The unveiling of the
monument was the culmination of that aspiration.
The Skinnider Monument is nine feet high and eight feet wide. The inscription on the base
acknowledges that the sandstone used was from the on-site ruins of the ancestral home and that the
project was part-funded by Monaghan County Council. The die of the main structure incorporates two
plaques giving a short résumé of her family background and Margaret Skinnider’s public life. The
triangular pediment features a twelve-inch circular granite cameo of Margaret. The plaques and the
cameo are from Treanor Stone-Tec, Clontibret, while the afore-mentioned Pat (Phat) McKenna
executed all other aspects of the monument from conception to completion. Mr McKenna is a master
craftsman at stonework: the monument on the site of the former workhouse in Belgian Square in
Monaghan is a sample of his work.
Read the full report HERE
Margaret Skinnider:
Annivesary of her death HERE