A Derrynane day
Give Derrynane in County Kerry a day of its own. Begin at the mass rock in the dunes, take the Mass Path through shore and woodland, then visit Daniel O'Connell's house. The rock and the house sit within sight of one another. The house belongs to the man who led the campaign for Catholic emancipation, so here the later chapter has a name and a front door. The stone offers no equally tidy date.
A local account recalls people coming by boat from Scariff and Deenish islands to worship here. Follow the published loop, or make the rock and house the shorter outing. The other places in this story are separate trips. I taught history for years; even I would refuse a drive across Ireland to see them all in one day.
Start at the Derrynane House car park near Caherdaniel. The Mass Path loop is 6.3 kilometres. The house charges €5 for an adult in 2026 and offers online booking.
Killaclohane keeps the layers
For another Kerry outing, go to Killaclohane Wood near Milltown. The woodland walk passes a megalithic tomb, an inscribed stone and the remains of an old church before the mass rock. Irish centuries seldom wait politely for one another to finish. The tomb does not make the mass rock prehistoric. Kindly put that sentence in the correct column before Gethin Rees gets hold of it.
A schoolchild's account gathered in the 1930s calls the place Poll an Aifreann, the Mass Pit, and places its use in Cromwell's time. It also tells of worshippers hiding in hollows when soldiers came. That is the remembered tale. Coillte confirms that an October Mass is still celebrated there, a later use again at the same place.
Killaclohane Wood lies east of the N70 between Castlemaine and Milltown. Coillte's Mass Rock Loop is an easy 2 kilometre walk, and the wood has parking.
The rock that vanished
At Gortnaclohy in County Limerick, the approach tells more than the object. Cobs Road carried people from Ashford towards Mass. The county walking guide leads up that steep old path, then down the road to the site. There is a cross shrine and a concrete altar. An archaeological visit in 1997 recorded no visible remains of the original mass rock. Here is an excellent examination answer: a memorial can preserve the place while the old stone has disappeared.
The council dates worship here to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. That is a claim about people gathering, not a date stamped on the concrete. The climb is severe enough to make a pupil stop asking whether the congregation had comfortable shoes.
The green arrow Gortnaclohy Loop begins beside the church in Ashford. The council lists it as a strenuous 8 kilometre walk with rough, steep sections.
A cross with a date
Oughaval Wood in County Laois supplies the dates Gortnaclohy will not. Coillte places secret worship here in the penal years. The cross was put up in 1957. The altar and seats followed at the millennium. A child can read those additions in order without mistaking the year of the cross for the year anyone first prayed here.
The wood also belonged to the Cosby estate. Its longer walk goes near Cobbler's Castle, a folly built during the famine years. Another era on the same afternoon, with a name that sounds as if a shoemaker won the estate in a card game. He did not, so far as Coillte tells us.
The forest car park is about 2 kilometres southeast of Stradbally along the N80. Coillte's Mass Rock Walk and Beech Way each run about 2 kilometres and pass the site.
Clashganny by the river
After the hill and the dated cross, take the children to Clashganny Wood in County Carlow. Coillte's loop puts the mass rock above the River Barrow, with the towpath, small waterfalls and Clashganny Lock on the same walk. The photographed altar has a slab resting on two supports. It looks rather like a rough garden table, which may be the most useful historical comparison I have made this year.
The moderate Clashganny Lock Loop is 3.6 kilometres. Start at Coillte's viewing area off the R729 or at the parking by the lock.
Mullaghgarve makes you climb
Sport Ireland describes the Mullaghgarve altar in County Leitrim as tucked behind a tall pinnacle on Sliabh an Iarainn. The hiding place has become the destination of a named walk. That is quite a reversal for a stone associated with worship out of public sight. The photograph shows steps rising towards it, and my knees have submitted a formal objection.
Start at the Famine Memorial Seat near Drumshanbo. Sport Ireland lists a waymarked, moderate 1.4 kilometre return walk with 270 metres of ascent.
The blue pencil
Peggy found a woman missing from my index before I had finished checking the first chapter. She has written Thursday beside the correction in blue pencil. Even my index has a dance card now.
About the writer
Barney Quinlan71, retired history teacher from Kilkenny. Knows which century you're standing in, and will tell you.
Writing a book called Which Century Are You Standing In. Eleven publishers have said no; he keeps count. He still follows his late wife Nóra's old route notes. He and Gethin do not get on. Peggy from the bridge club keeps asking him to the Thursday dance. His daughter Siobhán rings from Boston every Sunday to ask if he's eating.
Story 24 of 25 from Barney.← Barney's last story: Stirling Castle needed a bridge. Scotland fought for both.Barney's next story: Six stops around North Northamptonshire's castles →Everything by Barney Quinlan
Sources behind this story
- National Monuments Service, Monument Class and Scope Notes
- Killaclohane Wood, Coillte
- Killaclohane Wood, National Folklore Collection Schools' Collection
- The Schools' Collection, National Folklore Collection
- Poll an Aifrinn annual Mass, Dominican Church Tralee
- Gortnaclohy Loop, Limerick City and County Council
- Gortnaclohy Mass Rock survey record, IrishHistory.com
- Gortnaclohy Loop, Discover Ireland
- Clashganny, Coillte
- Oughaval, Coillte
- Derrynane Mass Path, Kerry Gems
- Derrynane House, Heritage Ireland
- Derrynane House and Catholic emancipation, Heritage Ireland
- Horses Sheltering Under Big Lime Tree, Wikimedia Commons
- Mullaghgarve Mass Rock, Sport Ireland
