CAVAN, urban district and county town of Co. Cavan, Ireland, 851 m. N.W. of Dublin by the Great Southern railway and the terminus of a branch of the Great Northern of Ireland from Clones. Pop. (1926) 3,056. A Dominican monastery founded by O'Reilly, chieftain of the Brenny, formerly existed here and is the burial place of Owen O'Neill. There was also a castle of the O'Reillys now completely destroyed. The town was burnt in 1690 by the Enniskilleners under Wolseley when they defeated James II.'s troops under the duke of Berwick. There is a grammar school founded by Charles I. and rebuilt on another site in 1819. The town has some linen trade.