JULY 2009

Local Mass Rock Disappears

The Glengad and Malin locals expressed their shock at the news that a Mass Rock has disappeared from Inishtrahull Island, Donegal's most northerly off-shore island. The island lies about five miles north of Malin Head and has been unoccupied since the late 1920s.

Local Fisherman, Denis Glackin said "There are an awful lot of people in Glengad whose people came from the island and they visit regularly and I know they are very upset about this. A few lads from Glengad were over there for a night and they noticed that the rock was gone. That was about ten days ago and it's hard to know why anybody would want to take it".

Describing the rock itself as 'not in any way spectacular' Mr. Glackin said its place as the Mass Rock made it valuable to those who had a connection with the island. "I don't know what use it would be to anybody, as a rock it wasn't square or spectacular in any way and it would have been heavy enough, maybe three hundredweight, but as a Mass Rock it had a special significance for the people".

Denis said "The school was built on the island in 1901 and I think Mass was held in the schoolhouse after that, but until then the Mass would have been celebrated at the Mass Rock and it is easy to see why people with links to the island are annoyed about this."

While small numbers of people visit Inishtrahull on a regular basis, the last time a large number visited was in 2001, when several hundred people visited the island for an open air Mass.

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