Mass-house

The National Monuments Service's description

Unlocated seventeenth century Mass House with townland, described in the History of Queens County as a place where Fr. Roger Moore, popish priest of Moyann, Oghmalt, Tymogue , Corclone and Fossy who resided at Garrans and the site of his Mass-house in this townland is still pointed out at a place called Chapel Hill, where in all probability Mass had been offered up in the open air before the Mass-house came into being. He was ordained a priest at Liege in 1662, and became P.P. ten years later (O'Hanlon and O'Leary 1914, vol. 2, 593).

Pre-development testing by Dominic Delany under licence no. 93E0051, at a potential archaeological site took place over a three-day period in April. The site is located in a forested area which was being cleared in advance of replanting. The first edition of the OS 6-inch map for Co. Laois (1841, Sheet No. 14) has the name 'Chapel Hill' at the south end of the forest. There is also a large L-shaped building shown here. This was pinpointed as the possible location of the late 17th-century Mass-house at Garrans, which is mentioned in the historical record. A spread of redeposited soil and crushed building material was located during trial trenching at the site. This feature covered an area measuring approximately 18m north-south x 6m-10m east-west and it had an average depth of 0.15m. The finds from this disturbed context consisted mainly of sherds of 18th/19th-century pottery. This feature undoubtedly represents the site of the L-shaped building. The nature of the surviving evidence indicates that this structure was demolished and the building materials removed, probably prior to planting in the late 19th century. There was no evidence to suggest that this was the site of the chapel.

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 17 December 2007