Lemgare Mass Rock

Lemgare Mass Rock is one of several Mass rocks in the parish of Clontibret, County Monaghan. It is situated adjacent to the neighboring townlands of Lisdrumgormley and Crossbane which is in County Armagh (Archdiocese of Armagh). A Mass rock (Carraig an Aifrinn in Irish) was a rock used as an altar in mid-17th century Ireland as a location for Roman Catholic Mass.

Looking North west standing above Lemgare Mass Rock
Lemgare Mass Rock - Frontal Picture

From a statute (No. 15) of the Synod of Clones, held by Oliver Plunkett in 23 August 1670, we can see how a local Mass-site could have been selected in those times. It was decreed at the time that a place be appointed that was convenient to the parish priest and the parishioners.

Records

1731 report

The "Report on the State of Popery of 1731"[1][2] identifies "Atlars ut supra" in the parish of Clontibret. "Ut supra" is Latin for "as stated above", and the entry reads "one Altar made of earth & stones uncovered".

The entry also relates to multiple altars, these possibly being those located at Lemgare and Tassan.[3] This means that knowledge of the Mass rocks in the townlands of both Lemgare and Tassan potentially dates back to at least 1731.

1957 survey

Lemgare Mass Rock was, along with Tassan Mass Rock, Doohamlet Mass Rock, Lisglasson Mass Gardens and Dunfelimy Mass Hut, recorded in a survey of Mass rocks in Clontibret carried out by Rev P O'Gallachair in 1957 on behalf of the Diocese of Clogher.[4][5][6]

O'Gallachair mentions the "Mass Rock" in Dunfelimy being "on the site of old church of Annyalla". In making this reference he is picking up a point by over thirty years earlier by Fr James E McKenna in his ‘Parishes of Clogher’, Vol. I (Enniskillen, 1920, p. 527). The opinion is that there may be a mix up between a Mass Rock in Dunfelimy and perhaps a structure (usually a hut) which predated the old chapel at Annyalla which was built in the late 1790s.

21st century

Lemgare Mass Rock is listed, as entry "MO015-008----", in the Record of Monuments and Places of the National Monuments Service. A related report was compiled by Michael Moore (National Monuments Service) and uploaded onto the archaeological survey database on 25 January 2016.[7]

Location

Lemgare Mass Rock would have been a good location for the people from the surrounding parishes to attend mass. Because of the site's elevation (including from the "Carnan", which is a lookout point above the rock from which four counties are visible) it would have near on impossible for any approaching army to surprise the parishioners whilst they prayed.

References
  1. "Report on the State of Popery, Ireland, 1731". Archivium Hibernicum. 1: 10–27. 1 January 1912. JSTOR 25485452.
  2. Hibernicum, Archivium (1731). "Report on the State of Popery, Ireland". Archivium Hibernicum. Catholic Historical Society of Ireland. 1: 10–27. JSTOR 25485452.
  3. Catholic Historical Society of Ireland (1913) Report on the State of Popery in Ireland, 1731, Archivium Hibernicum, 1, pp. 10-27
  4. Gallachair, P. Ó (1 January 1957). "Clogher's Altars of the Penal Days. A Survey". Clogher Record. 2 (1): 97–130. doi:10.2307/27695446. JSTOR 27695446.
  5. "Find A Mass Rock - Monaghan". Find A Mass Rock. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  6. "Find A Mass Rock - Monaghan". findamassrock.com. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
  7. "ArcGIS Web Application". webgis.archaeology.ie. Retrieved 25 January 2016. Historic Environment Viewer- National Monuments Service Sites and Monuments Record (SMR) and the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage Report / Lemgare

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