Mass-rock in Tomhaggard

Situated just off the crest of an E-facing slope with a low lying basin extending to the E, and on the W side of a NNW-SSE, stone-faced field bank. Fr. Nicholas Meyler was murdered on Christmas morning 1653 while celebrating Mass (Grattan Flood 1915, 67), and Mass is celebrated every year at the location on Christmas morning to commemorate the event. The mass-rock, a small stone (dims c. 0.4m x c. 0.3m) with a decoration like a three-pointed leaf cut into one face was re-discovered at the location c. 1982 (Murphy 1983-4) and it is now installed beneath a limestone slab (dims 0.8m x 0.45m; T 3cm) on a shelf (H 0.48m) at the W side of the field bank and in a hollow (diam. c. 4m) of the dry field drain. (Murphy 1983-4) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 21 Octiber, 2013

Fr. Nicholas Meyler, a Catholic priest, was murdered on Christmas morning 1653 while celebrating Mass at this site, making the mass-rock a significant location in the history of religious persecution in Ireland. The rock is associated with the tradition of secret Catholic worship during the Penal Times.