This is an unusual site in that some people clearly knew about it while many others didn’t know anything at all. The Mass Hole is located on the left hand side as you enter the Elderwood Estate in Castlebridge Village. Maire O’Leary told me that when she was growing up that they were told that mass was said there during the penal times.   These Mass Holes, Mass Hollows, Mass Pits or Priest Holes as they are referred to, crop up in the landscape of many communities in Ireland. One can be found in Killeshin outside of Carlow town, while another supposedly existed in Ballindaggin.  This particular site in Castlebridge survived the digger and dumper during the recent building boom and it remains enclosed and un-touched to this day. Although no sign of this appears on the old OSI maps, this is unsuprising, as they would have been quite secretive sites and possibly unremarkable to the eye. In the case of the mass pit near Ballindaggin, the only account of its existence appears in the Schools Folklore Commission from the 1930’s. Has anyone any further information on this?

The Mass  Hole

Elderwood Estate, Castlebridge, Co. Wexford

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