What is recorded here

Behind the Hollimshill graveyard, a wide deep ditch once ringed a flat rock where priests risked everything to say Mass during the Penal Days. The earth has swallowed the ditch, but the rock still waits under the grass, holding the shape of every whispered prayer spoken in the dark.

Unlocated ditch (OF024-053002-) which enclosed a mass-rock (OF024-035001-) within the townland of Holimshill (Shaw 1971, 63). The site was described by Revd. Shaw as, located 'behind the graveyard (OF024-019001-), in former times, there was a wide and deep dyke (OF024-053002-) with a flat rock at its centre on which it is said, Mass was offered in the Penal Days. This dyke has been filled in for some years' (Shaw 1971, 63). The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Offaly' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 29 December 2011

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