The Laois Cyclist: Mass Rocks

Tuesday 22 October 2019

Mass Rocks

I came across a website called Find a Mass Rock which reminded me that although I sometimes came across these antiquities I often overlooked them.

Below is pictured Oughaval Mass Rock outside Stradbally in Laois, which I had just passed days earlier.

In Irish a Mass Rock is called Carraig an Aifrinn from the Irish words for rock and mass.

It was then I realised that these places of interest which were all about evading the sanctions against freedom of worship imposed by the Penal Laws on Ireland and its inhabitants are probably much forgotten about.

The laws affected Catholics and dissenters such as Presbyterians and Methodists.

I'm no expert on the Penal Laws enacted in the 1600's however I do know they subjugated the population through harsh and extreme measures against practicing their religion, going to schools, property ownership, and a host of other things which today we take for granted.

I recently passed a mock up of a "Hedge School" at Garrymona in Offaly and it struck me as to how difficult those times must have been for the ordinary inhabitants of Ireland.

It is difficult to imagine the concept of going to school or a place of worship as being illegal.

I presume the abundance of Donkeys in Ireland was another example of the repressive laws of the time. It was illegal for a Catholic to own a Horse of high value so I guess the Irish stuck with Donkeys instead.

I imagine the ruling ascendancy feared large groups of natives on horseback or the idea that local Gaelic chiefs would be able to raise Mounted Militia's if they could own decent horses.

The website Find a Mass Rock looks like a work in progress and struck me as a very good idea indeed, a way of recording the past before it disappears forever.

It's likely if you asked today what's a Mass Rock or What's a Hedge School, what were the Statutes of Kilkenny or describe the Penal Laws ? you might well get a blank look in a lot of instances...... All the more reason for documenting history while it is still around us and we can.

Keep the Wheels turning.

The Wart Stone in Offaly, a single Bullaun in a large and elongated rock platform is believed to have been used as a Mass Rock. I've pictured it below amongst others.

These are some photographs of a few Mass Rocks from Offaly, Carlow, Tipperary and Kilkenny.

You will often pass a roadside sign indicating their presence although some are occasionally unsigned.

Keep the wheels turning.

The Wart Stone, a Mass Rock in Offaly.