School: Clochar na Toirbhirte, Mainistir na Corann (roll number 512)
- Location:
- Midleton, Co. Cork
- Teacher: An tSr. Seosamh
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0395, Page 224
Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.
See copyright details.
DownloadOpen data
Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Note: We will soon deprecate our XML Application Programming Interface and a new, comprehensive JSON API will be made available. Keep an eye on our website for further details.
On this page
- About a mile east of Midleton there is a stone quarry with high steep rocks.
On one of these rocks is a large flat stone about two and a half feet in length, on top of which is a carved image of Our Lord.
It was there that mass was celebrated during the Penal times and the flat rock served as an altar.
When the priest and his clerk arrived at the rock the clerk used to travel around the country-side to tell the people that mass was about to be celebrated. When the people heard this, they used to go secretly and kneel on the bare rocks, while mass was going on. All around this rock were caves and bushes, where the people used to hide from their enemies. If they were taken unawares the priest was sometimes killed and the sacred vessels were destroyed and so were the priests vestments.
When they were discovered the place was well guarded for weeks after.
We are told that when St Colman was on a mission around the country he visited it and blessed it.
- Collector
- Mary Hennessy
- Gender
- Female
- Address
- Midleton, Co. Cork
- Informant
- Mrs Hennessy
- Relation
- Parent
- Gender
- Female
- Address
- Midleton, Co. Cork
