During a nineteenth century O'Donavan townlands survey of County Cavan it was noted that the Milltown area was traditionally referred to as Bellanaleck (Beal Atha Na Leice - the mouth of the ford of the flagstone), there are no other records with this name.

The Archaeological Inventory of County Cavan notes (507) Derrygeeraghan , a raised circular Rath area with two substantial earthen banks and a wide deep fosse dating from earlier medieval times.

A Griffith Valuations survey of tenement dwellings was carried out in 1856/7 and shows the village predominantly formed part of the Earl Annesley estate (County Cavan's second biggest landholder).

Later Ordnance Survey maps produced between 1888-1913 show a range of buildings including a School, Smithy (blacksmith forge), the RC Church, Parochial House and a Temperance Hall.

At the time of the Famine in 1848, it went reported that the parish population stood at around 400 persons and there was opposition locally to the building of a Fever Hospital in the village, then built at the townland Milltown/Monea crossroads.

By the end of the nineteenth century there were several local businesses including shops, a Wayside Inn which changed ownership several times and later became known as the Drumlane Bar.