From 1591 until 1704, there were no Roman Catholic churches in Castlemagner. They were either converted to Protestant use or burned by Lord Brohill in the aftermath of the Battle of Carrigadrohid (1652). The era of the mass rock and Sunday Wells spanned this period in the parish of Castlemagner. Mass rocks were used in times of suppression of the Catholic religion to celebrate mass clandestinely since the celebration of the mass was forbidden by law.
There is a least one authenticated mass rock in the parish of Castlemagner. This is located in the extreme northern part of the parish in the townland of Kilguilky on the farm of Mr. Paddy Cronin. A 2004 celebration of mass by Father Stephen O’Mahony PP Castlemagner ( at the mass rock) gives a powerful image of what it must have been like to practice the Roman Catholic faith in Ireland during penal times.
[metaslider id=481]