ABSTRACT
In Ireland, the period 1530–1750 witnessed major changes in the organization of Irish society. The Penal Laws were passed between 1695 and 1756, although it is reasonable to argue that Ireland’s Roman Catholics had remained in a state of suppression from as early as Tudor times. The introduction of the Banishment Act of 1697 required all regular clergy, bishops, and those exercising ecclesiastical jurisdiction to leave Ireland. Priests were forced into hiding, and the doors of Catholic chapels and Mass Houses were closed. Irish Catholic documentation can often be more about the history of ideas and high politics than about popular Catholic beliefs or practices. Many government officials paid little attention to them so that, even with updated sources available from Ordnance Survey Ireland, the majority of Mass sites remain absent from cartographical sources. By their very nature, Mass Rock sites are well hidden from sight and difficult to find and access.
