- Very comprehensive collection on local history, traditions and crafts.
- Non-partizan exhibition on sectarian traditions highlights mixed heritage of the "border county".
- Pagan and early Christian statuary (including a Sheela-na-Gig).
- Museum deals with local history and may seem parochial at times.
- Museum is located on the outskirts of Ballyjamesduff, a typical market town.
- Diverse collection on local history includes all fractions - exemplified in the treatment of sectarian societies.
- A coffee shop and small gift shop are available.
Cavan has always been a "border county", even before partition. Here the Catholic South and the predominantly Protestant North merged. Southern Ulster was given to the Free State, but in 1913 a local Cavan Volunteer Force was raised by Protestant landowners to prevent exactly this. And in 1981 Kieran Doherty, one of the dying Republican hunger-strikers, was elected TD for Cavan-Monaghan.
It is exactly this microcosm of sectarian and political divisions that provided one of the poignant exhibitions in the Cavan County Museum. Sharing the same room are the banners and regalia of the respective organizations that provided the public front for activists from both sides of the sectarian divide. In the green corner the Ancient Order of Hibernians with its nostalgic images of a semi-mythical Ireland. In the orange corner the Loyal Orange Lodge, combining the trappings of freemasonry with a pro-British political agenda. To encounter such a comprehensive and diverse collection in one room is virtually unheard of - and may well be a prime reason for visiting the Ballyjamesduff museum.
The other collections highlight local history, from the successes of the local GAA teams (not many) to religions practiced (quite a few), from prehistoric art (including a reare Sheela-na-Gig) to local crafts. All combining to allow a glimpse into Ireland's past. A glimpse that is always inclusive of all traditions.
Though the collection and exhibition may seem parochial at times, it certainly reaches across divides. Ballyjamesduff and the Cavan County Museum are signposted from the N3, making a quick detour possible when travelling between Dublin and Ireland's Northwest.
