Special symbol
disappears from Inishtrahull
By Liam Porter, Inishowen
Independent
BAFFLED locals in Glengad and Malin Head have
expressed their shock and dismay this week at the
news that a Mass Rock has disappeared from
Inishtrahull Island - Donegal’s most northerly
offshore island.
While the island which lies about five miles north
of Malin Head has been unoccupied since the late
1920s, many local families still have strong
connections to the island.
“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,” local
fisherman Denis Glackin said yesterday.
Many locals continue to frequent the island, some
occasionally camping overnight and it is understood
that the disappearance was noticed on one such
visit.
“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,” Mr. Glackin said.
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,” he said.
Mr. Glackin who said he loved Inishtrahull despite
having no family connections with it, is a regular
visitor to the tiny island that measures about a
mile long and a half a mile wide.
“The school was built on the island in 1901 and I
think Mass was 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. |
