Altar — Mullaghcloe

This monument was described by J. Mc Cabe in 1971 as 'it consists of roughly mortared uncoursed masonry with a dressed stone flag and concrete forming a flat top. Rising almost vertically from the back of the altar is some rough mortared masonry forming a facing to the scarp which was made when digging into the side of the rise when erecting the altar. Embedded in the masonry is a broken fragment of a dressed flag with part of an illegible inscription. The site is enclosed by a wire fence with a wooden gate in front of the altar. An iron cross stands in the top of the masonry at the back of the altar' (ASI file 1971). The site was revisited in 1984 and described as 'The altar has deteriorated since visited in 1971. The cross is gone; the gate is broken and in general the site is overgrown and neglected. The inscribed slab is of limestone 52cm x 42 cm and according to local informants it commemorates a priest, Fr. Dalton, killed in penal times. The site was also apparently a mass rock. The inscription is on the long axis of the slab and less that half of it survives. It reads 'MERED …AI DALTON SACED?..29 AUG…ANNO D..'. All that can be clearly read are the words DALTON, 29 AUG, ANNO. ['ME FIERI FECIT JOANNES DALTON, SACERDOS 29 AUG. ANNO DOMINI 1689] The location on the side of a hill which commands excellent views in all driections would have been suitable for a mass rock. There is a well, called Sunday Well (WM024-008002-) on the OS 6-inch map to the NE of the altar about 5 meters distant.