Lemgare Mass Rock

Lemgare Mass Rock, in the parish of Clontibret, County Monaghan, 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. Church law at the time explains why some penal-day Mass sites were to be found centrally situated in a parish, others on the borders of two or more parishes to convenience the worshipers.

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 (Catholic Historical Society of Ireland (1913) ‘Report on the State of Popery in Ireland, 1731, Archivium Hibernicum, 1, pp. 10-27).

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.[3][4] This survey was aided by Very Rev Larry Marron Adm. of Clontibret Parish at the time.

Rev. 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.

At the time of the survey Lemgare Rock was reported as being on the lands of a John Brennan.

Status

Lemgare Mass Rock has now been listed by the National Monuments Service in their Sites and Monuments Record as "MO015-008----".

The report was compiled by Michael Moore (National Monuments Service) and uploaded onto their viewer on 25 January 2016.[5]

Location

Lemgare Mass Rock would have been a good location for the people from the surrounding parishes to attend mass. In those times there were no physical borders in Ireland and people went to and from county to county and parish to parish with relative ease. Indeed, up to the 1930s a lot of young people from Derrynoose Parish would have indeed come to school in Lemgare. The location of Lemgare Mass Rock would have been strategically important due to its;

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
  • Clogher's Altars of the Penal Days. A Survey Author(s): P. Ó Gallachair Source: Clogher Record,Vol. 2, No. 1 (1957), pp. 97–130 Published by: Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27695446[6]
  • "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
  • "Find A Mass Rock". Find A Mass Rock. Retrieved 25 January 2016. Find a Mass Rock
  • "Geograph:: Lemgare Mass Rock (C) Maurice McAdam". www.geograph.ie. Retrieved 25 January 2016. Geograph.ie - Lemgare Mass Rock

Notes
  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. 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.
  4. "Find A Mass Rock - Monaghan". Find A Mass Rock. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  5. http://webgis.archaeology.ie/historicenvironment/
  6. 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.

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