Cavan County Museum, housed in an old convent building in Ballyjamesduff, is the main repository of the county's history and material culture. The collection ranges from prehistoric artefacts — including the remarkable Cavan Sheela-na-Gig, a Romanesque stone carving of uncertain purpose — to medieval ecclesiastical objects, and from the Famine era through to the twentieth century.
The museum gives context to the landscape around it: the drumlins were formed by glaciers, the ringforts were built by early medieval farmers, the big houses were built by landlords whose tenants emigrated in their thousands during the 1840s. Understanding that timeline makes the quiet countryside more legible. The museum is open Tuesday to Saturday; entry is free.