Latest Folklore

Household Tales with Other Traditional Remains by S O Addy (1895) says that

There is a stone called “the wishing stone” in a wood known as the Faybrick at Ashover, in Derbyshire. If you sit upon it and wish three times your wish will be granted.

I think it’s less of a wood now, but it’s marked on old maps as Fabrick Wood, and the stone is renowned locally if the discussions on Rootsweb are anything to go by. Some say it was used to build the church (which is 14th century) which gives a bit of a holy link. But it’s pronounced ‘Fay Brick’ – could it be named after the fairies? The rootsweb forum mentions someone local who ‘always believed it was a ‘fairy stone’.’ Just be careful with the wishing. You might get what you ask for.

... a ploughman was ploughing an area within the nearby graveyard, and was advised not to continue as it was holy ground. He responded by saying ‘St. Mobhí or St. Mobhó, I’ll plough my frough before I go’, at which point the ground opened up and swallowed him, with his horses and plough.

from: Ancient & Holy Wells of Dublin
by Gary Branigan
published by The History Press Ireland

The third [fort in the area] is much defaced but of greater note. It is called Doonmeeve on the maps, but Doonmihil and Dooneeva, locally. There are two segments of curved fosses coming out at a slope near the shore; they are cut through drift, and when a block of shale was met with it was neatly cut to the slope of the bank. the inner is dry, but a water runnel courses down the outer one. They are 6’ to 10’ deep and wide at the bottom in parts, the inner 28’, and the outer 20’ wide at the top. The bank between these is 22’ wide at the top. It probably enclosed a space on the cliffs, and could hardly be a promontory fort whose promontory was washed away by the unresting sea. Bronze implements have been found on the shore at the foot of the cliff which bounds its enclosure.

A very curious tradition as told us in the neighbourhood. A certain man, in not very remote past years, began to dig up the space inside its trenches, before he had been long at work he fell down and lay to all appearance dead. News was brought at once to his wife a reputed “wise woman,” who was evidently equal to the emergency. She rushed to the nearest fairy spot, did magic, and ran to Dooneva to her apparently lifeless husband. She then addressed herself to the unseen inhabitants of the fort and imperiously ordered them to bring back her husband at once. Rapidly as the deceased brother of the unvirtuous de Birchington, of Ingoldsby, the insensible man sat up and recovered complete strength, while a stick was carried off in his stead. After all the story in its facts, apart from their deductions, may very well have happened, and even the charms may have been done in as good faith as many others worked to our personal knowledge.

In Thomas Johnson Westropp’s Ancient Remains Near Lehinch, Co. Clare, online at Limerick City Library.

There’s a rather amusing photo of the author posing amidst ancient stones (and clutching his umbrella in a prepared fashion) on Wikipedia.

I wonder if the ‘stick carried off in his stead’ alludes to when the fairies replace healthy babies with a ‘stock’, a lump of wood disguised to look and act like a sickly baby.

Close by but now apparently dried up, Pastscape records the site of “St Boniface Wishing Well” (SZ 5676878118):

“St. Boniface Wishing Well”, a spring formerly much venerated, especially by seamen, because an impervious stratum caused it to rise high up on the side of a chalk down.

From “Undercliff of the IOW”, 1911, 118-9. (J.L. Whitehead)

From Ward Lock’s Illustrated Guidebook:

The Wishing Well is interesting to the geologist on account of its unusual height, and to the superstitious from the reverence formerly paid to it on account of a popular belief that if one achieved the difficult feat of climbing to the spring without looking backward, any three wishes formed while drinking its waters would be gratified.

invectis.co.uk/iow/wl_ventnor.html

From that spa-town [Lisdoonvarna] we go eastward, crossing the river valley, and seeing on a bold bluff a lofty mound – a reputed “fairy hill.”

Lissateeaun, Lis an tsidhean, the fairy fort, lies in a townland called Gowlaun, from the “fork” (Gabhal) of the stream. It is a mote-like mound, shaped out of the natural bluff, but raised and rounded so as to form a high flat-topped platform sufficiently imposing as seen from the road bridge to the east. A shallow fosse runs round it on the side of the plateau in a semicircle. There are no other mounds or hut sites, nor is it easy to fix its actual height, as it runs into the natural slopes. The summit lies about 400 feet above the sea.

Its resemblance to a burial mound may have helped its reputation as a sidh, but it very probably was, if not in origin, at least in use, a true lis or residential fort, as its name implies. Sidhean in Co. Clare living usage, by the way, implies rather a passing gust or whirl of wind in which the fairies travel. It is a prophylactic usage to bow or take off your hat as the gust reaches you.

The fort is reputed to give its name to the Castle of Lisdoonvarna, “the fortified fort of the gap.” The gap is the river gully, and the levelled ring wall at the head of the slope to the north is Caherbarna.

From Thomas Johnson Westropp’’s article on the Burren in Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland v 5 (sixth series) 1915.

Above the stone and the houses here is Parc Common and its modern gorsedd circle.

Carreg Fasnach
A spot, with a natural outcrop of rock, where tradition has it that Machynlleth markets were held during an outbreak of plague, the money used in barter being washed in the adjoining brook, called Nant yr Arian. -- Visited, 20th April, 1910.

An inventory of the ancient and historical monuments of the county of Montgomery (1911).

There are here two white stones, known as ‘y fuwch wen a’r llo,’ ‘the white cow and calf,’ standing close to one another on the moorland near the source of the Severn. They are best approached from Eisteddfa Gurig. The larger of the stones is 6 feet high, and the smaller 4 feet high. no local tradition would seem to be connected with them. -- Visited, 5th July, 1910.

An Inventory of the Ancient and Historical Monuments of the County of Montgomeryshire.

Ffynnon Geiliog.

A well situated about 20 yards to the west of the camp on Allt Dolanog, of great popular resort on Trinity Sunday. The name (’The Cock Well’) may have been derived from the practice of cock fighting which was carried on close to the spring.

An inventory of the ancient and historical monuments of Montgomery (1911).

Lled Croen yr Ych, ‘the Width of the Ox’s Hide’.

The tradition explanatory of this name is thus given by the late Mr. Richard Williams, F.R.hist.S.: “Once upon a time two ‘ychain bannawg’ (long-horned oxen) were separated, one being placed on the top of this mountain and the other on the top of the hill between Llanbrynmair and the Cemmes; that the two bellowed to each other until both died of grief because of their separation, and that the one which died here was skinned, and his skin spread out over the spot where he was buried, this circle of stones being set up to mark its dimensions” (’Hist. of the Parish of Llanbrynmair,‘ Mont. Coll., 1888, xxii, 308).

Quoted in An inventory of the ancient and historical monuments of the county of Montgomery (1911).

Near the top of the hill is a huge stone in the hedge to the right of the road. This is the Buck Stone, and in olden days, when the passengers used to toil up the hill behind the coach, a practical joke was often played on guileless travellers. They used to be told to put their heads near the stone to listen to the tide coming in over the Bay miles away, and if they did so their heads were knocked against the stone. Now the narrow old coach road is private, but Mr. Bainbridge at Greenlands Farm would allow anyone to inspect the stone if desired.

From T Pape’s Warton and George Washington’s Ancestors

(1913).

I can’t see this marked on a map so I’ve given it the grid reference for the Dog Holes cave for now.

Not far from the Dog Lots is a large natural seat in the face of a great limestone boulder, which towers to a height of eleven feet. The seat will accommodate three or four people, and is known as the Bride’s Chair. It was customary years ago when a marriage took place at Warton Church for the bridal party to repair to this spot and for the bride to sit in this seat and look out over the wide expanse of Morecambe Bay. By doing so happiness in their married life was ensured to the newly wedded couple.

Almost sheer down two hundred feet below is the road to Silverdale, and in the direction of that village can be seen the large stone column at Jenny Brown point.

From Warton and George Washington’s Ancestors by T Pape (1913).

I think this stone and its tradition was mentioned in Lucas’s history of Warton, written in the first half of the 18th century (but i’ve not seen a copy – in fact, has anybody, full stop?!).

The Dog Holes Cave is known locally as “Three-fingered Jack’s Cave.” According to tradition the cave consisted of two storeys and a highwayman used one for his horse and the other for himself.

From Warton and George Washington’s Ancestors by T Pape (1913).

On the eastern side of Warton Crag is a small fissure cave situated in the face of a cliff immediately below one of the numerous limestone terraces. It is called the Fairy Hole, which trends for twenty-five feet in a north-easterly direction. In this cave also there were fragmentary human remains. According to report the cave extends to Leighton Hall. It certainly does not come to a full stop at the limit of twenty-five feet. If more debris were removed the chamber would open up considerably.

Old people used to tell of the fairies, having been seen by other old people, dancing about heaps of gold or silver or bleaching fine linen or they were frequently heard batting their clothes. There are still some of the old people in the village who believe that the passage from the Fairy Hole extends to Leighton Hall.

From Warton and George Washington’s Ancestors by T Pape (1913).

Under the famous Hanging Stone, with its mystic “cup and ring” sculptures, the rock is hollowed out forming a deep overhanging cavity, and I am told that this ancient rock-shelter has been known from time immemorial as “Fairies’ Kirk,” and traditions of its having been tenanted by those tiny sprites, the fairies, still exist among old people in the neighbourhood. When the Saxons established themselves at Ilkley they were going to build a church up here, but the fairies strongly resented. They would have none of it, and so their little temple was erected in the vale below. The fairies distrust any intrusion upon their own sacred places [...] I cannot go into all the details I have heard of the antics of these mysterious little people here and in the neighbouring gills.

From Upper Wharfedale by Harry Speight (1900). He also writes:

Hanging Stones (west of Cow and Calf), cup and ring marked. Some vandal has been imitating the primeval sculptures by chiselling on the same stone, but the freshness of the recent work is at once seen. It is to be regretted that quarrying has been permitted to get so near this exceedingly valuable monument of antiquity, a relic which, as the ages roll on, must gather an ever-deepening interest.

The “Cow” which I find was called in 1807 “Inglestone Cow,” a name now quite forgotten, bears no mean resemblance to a castle, while the “Calf” may be likened to a keep; the two rocks having possibly been united by a wall or bulwark of turf and stones forming a secure and chief enclosure. The “Cow,” as it now stands, is I should say the largest detached block of stone in England, measuring eighty feet long, about thirty-six feet wide and upwards of fifty feet in height. From one point of view it presents, like the jutting face of Kilnsey Crag, as seen from the north side, the appearance of a huge sphinx, which may be intentional, or it may be natural, probably the latter.

The face of the rock bears a depression that looks like a human foot, and local tradition concerning it is that the genius of the moors, a certain giant Rumbald, was stepping from Almias Cliff on the opposite side of the valley, to this great rock, but miscalculating its height his foot slipped, leaving the impression we now see.

Both the “Cow” and the “Calf” have cups and channels on their surfaces, which were conjectured by Messrs. Forrest and Grainge in 1869 to be connected with Druidical priestcraft, and that their purpose was “to retain and distribute the liquid fuel which fed the sacred flame on grand festivals of the year.”

From Upper Wharfedale by Harry Speight (1900).
Another page reads:

Cow and Calf, basin, cup and channel marked. Described above. Some think the “basins” are due to natural weathering. I have heard it said the “Calf” fell from the “Cow” during a terrific storm about a century ago, but this is extremely doubtful. Anciently the Cow was known as the Inglestone.

And here:

Many of the rocks have been broken up for making the roads and other purposes in recent times. The largest and most notable of these was a monster slipped-boulder which stood near the road below the “Cow and Calf.” It was as large as an ordinary cottage and was known as the “Bull Rock.” To the regret of many it was destroyed. Old people tell me that these isolated rocks have borne the names of Bull and Cow and Calf time out of memory, but no legend is known to attach to them.

There is also a certain rent due unto the Lord of this hundred [Knightlow], called Wroth money, or Warth money, or Swarff peny, probably the same with Ward penny. Denarii vicecomiti vel aliis castellanis persoluti ob castrorum praefidium, vel excubias agendas, says Sir H. Spelm. in his Gloss. fol. 565, 566. This rent must be paid every Martinmas day in the morning, at Knightlowe Cross, before the sun riseth; the party paying it must go thrice about the cross, and say The Wrath money, and then lay it in the hole of the said cross before good witness, for if it be not duly performed, the forfeiture is thirty shillings and a white bull. The towns that pay this Wrath money are as follow: [...]

A word or two now of the place, whence it takes the name, which is a tumulus, or little heap, of earth, standing on the brow of the hill upon the great roadway leading from Coventre towards London, as you enter upon Dunsmore heath, commonly called Knightlow hill, or Knightlow cross, the latter syllable Lowe (as we now pronounce it) but anciently and more truly Lawe, signifying a little hill; and so Mr. Cambden in his Remains observes, that the Scots who border nearest to England do use the word in that sense to this day.

From The Antiquities of Warwickshire illustrated by Sir William Dugdale. This is the 2 volume edition of 1730, the 1656 version doesn’t seem to mention it in such detail.

(moth --> flame)

The largest tumulus, which is nearly circular, is about 60 feet in diameter and 5 feet high at the highest part. In the centre it is only 2 feet 6 inches. The site of this tumulus is marked upon the ordnance map and it is locally known as the “Punch Bowl” or “Devil’s Punch Bowl,” a designation which, as is well known, has been often applied to barrows, and originated doubtless in the legends and superstitions which found favour with the country people in former days; the bowl or cup-like form being due either to the pernicious habit of explorers, when excavating tumuli, of excavating a shaft or pit in the very centre of the mound, with the expectation of dropping at once on the anticipated treasure, perhaps finding nothing and abandoning the work, or from the fact of the barrow having been raised over cists containing urns or interments by inhumation, which gradually perishing and giving way, led to a subsidence of the soil in the crown of the tumulus.

There is a tradition current among the labourers on the estate that in this hollow portion of the “Bowl” a large stone formerly existed, and it was removed from its position by mischievous people, and sent rolling down the hill, and that, for some time after, it was to be seen near to a ditch or path adjoining Nunwell House. We instituted a careful search with one of the labourers, but was unable to trace the stone. It is possible that it had some association with the tumulus, and perhaps some significance as a limitary mark, or it may have been only placed there in recent times for the support of a staff or pole, the situation of the mound being one which might even be selected for a beacon.

From Excavations of Tumuli on the Brading Downs, Isle of Wight by John E Price and F G Hilton Price, in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, February 1882. There is a drawing of the antler artefact that TSC mentions.

On the south side of the railway on Ty Llwyd Lands is a stone marked in the Ordnance Map as “Carreg Myrddyn”, which has Oghams, and on its north-western side a hollow near the top. The tradition respecting this monolith is that Merlin Ambrosius prophesied that a raven would drink up a man’s blood off it; and a rather remarkable coincidence is said to have taken place within the memory of persons who were alive about fifteen years ago. A man hunting for treasure-trove sought, by digging on one side, to get at the base. The earth gave way, and the stone fell upon and crushed him to death. The proprietor of the soil ordered the stone to be placed back in its original position, to effect which it took the full strength of five horses drawing with strong chains.

From Archaeologia Cambrensis for 1876.

These stones are mentioned by Sara Maitland in her book “Gossip From The Forest – The Tangled Roots of Our Forests and Fairytales” in her chapter on Purgatory Wood. She relates their dark history as a a non-native spruce plantation and associations with Pugatory Burn which marked the western boundary of a nearby leper colony.

“The track I took into the Purgatory Wood meets the Southern Upland Way as it climbs up from New Luce, and a single path crossed the Purgatory Burn and runs eastward to Laggangairn ... and then beyond it to the Laggangairn standing stones – the last vestiges of a Bronze Age stone circle, carved with eighth century christian graffiti left by the pilgrims to St Ninians shrine at Whithorn”

From:

“The History and Antiquities of Tallaght In The County of Dublin” By William Domville Handcock, M.A.
Second Edition Revised and Enlarged. Dublin, 1899

The mountains and hills in the parish are :- Mountpelier; Slievenabawnoge, or the mountain of the lea; the hill of Ballymorefinn, or Finn’s great town; Slievebane, or the white mountain; the mountain of Glassavullaun, or the stream of the little summit; Kippure, or the trunk of the yew tree; the Black hill; Seeghane, or the seat; Carrig (i.e., the rock); and Bryan’s hill.
Amongst objects of archaeological interest dating from primeval times there are in the townland of Ballinascorney a rath called Raheendhu, or the black fort, and two stone circles enclosing the remains of a cromlech called the cairn of the second rock or the red hero?; in the townland of Ballymana a place of sepulture called Knockanvinidee, or the rennet hill?; in the town -land of Mountseskin a place of sepulture called Knockannavea, or the ravens’ hill, and a mound called the Bakinghouse hill; and in the townland of Glassamucky a place of sepulture called, Knockanteedan, or the little hill of the blasts or gusts; while in the townland of Castlekelly there are a number of sepulchral mounds including three known respectively as Meave’s hill, the hill of the rowan tree, and the red hill, as well as a cromlech and some stone circles; and on the hill called Seeghane, or the seat, there are a cairn and two cromlechs.

Amongst the wells in the parish are the following: – St. Paul’s well, in the town-land of Kiltalown; Moling’s well or the Piper’s well in- the townland of Corbally; the Fairy well, near Tymon Castle; the Lime Kiln well at Balrothery; the Chapel well, on the brink of the Dodder near Tallaght village; and St. Columkille’s well in the townland of Oldcourt.

(The parish he refers to at the beginning of the entry is Tallaght. This passage includes a mention of the rath, but it also contains mentions of other known, and less well-known sites. Hmmmm.)

Local stories reflect the feeling that sands have shifted and covered previous landscapes and towns:

The old people sometimes talk of an extensive forest called Coed Arian, ‘Silver Wood,’ stretching from the foreshore of the Mumbles to Kenfig Burrows [...] All this is said to be corroborated by the fishing up every now and then in Swansea Bay of stags’ antlers, elks’ horns, those of the wild ox, and wild boars’ tusks, together with the remains of other ancient tenants of the submerged forest. Various references in the registers of Swansea and Aberavon mark successive stages in the advance of the desolation from the latter part of the fifteenth century down. Among others a great sandstorm is mentinoned, which overwhelmed the borough of Cynffig or Kenfig, and encroached on the coast generally: the series of catastrophes seems to have culminated in an inundation caused by a terrible tidal wave in the early part of the year 1607.

From Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx by John Rhys (1901).

Marie Trevelyan has the following in Folk-lore and folk-stories of Wales (1909).

Kenfig Pool, near Porthcawl, Glamorgan, has a tradition attached to it. A local chieftain wronged and wounded a Prince, and the latter, with his dying breath, pronounced a curse against the wrongdoer. The curse was forgotten until one night the descendants of the chieftain heard a fearful cry: “Dial a ddaw! Dial a ddaw!” (Vengeance is coming!). At first it passed unnoticed, but when the cry was repeated night after night, the owner of Kenfig asked the domestic bard what it meant . The bard repeated the old story of revenge; but his master, to prove the untrustworthiness of the warning, ordered a grand feast, with music and song.

In the midst of the carousal the fearful warning cry was repeatedly heard, and suddenly the earth trembled and water rushed into the palace. Before anyone could escape, the town of Kenfig, with its palace, houses, and people, was swallowed up, and only a deep and dark lake or pool remains to mark the scene of disaster. In the early part of the nineteenth century traces of the masonry could be seen and felt with grappling-irons in the pool. The sands near by cover many old habitations.

Some stoney folklore from the large number of stories in ‘Folk-lore no. 1: The Fenian traditions of Sliabh-Na-M-Ban’ by John Dunne, in ‘Transactions of the Kilkenny Archaeological Society’ v1 (1851) pp333-362.

Drom-seann-bho, situate on the high road between Callan and Kilkenny. This means, “back of the old cow.” I have often been told that a neighbouring nobleman (the late Earl of Desart) blasted this rock, thereby reducing it to a level nearly with the road; and after the operation, he jokingly remarked to a seannchaidhe, who was stood hard by, and whose favourite theme was prophecy – “Now can the raven drink of human blood from the top of Drom-seann-bho?” Whereupon the seannchaidhe at once replied – “Until now, my lord, I had thought it impossible; but no longer does the shadow of a doubt remain on my mind as regards the prophecy; your lordship has now made Drom-seann-bho low enough for the raven, whilst standing upon it, to dip his bill in human blood – all will come to pass in due time!”

It is said to have been a detached fragment of rock, about five feet in height, of a different kind of stone from that of the locality. It was very remarkable from having in the centre of its smooth face an indentation resembling the impression of a giant hand on the soft surface of stucco. It is traditinoally said to have been cast by the hero Fionn, from the top of Sliabh-na-m-ban, and the indentation was looked upon as the impression made by his hand as he balanced it for the throw. As it lay by the road side it may have been considered an impediment to the traffic, or the object in removing it was, perhaps, to falsify the prophecy concerning which the peasantry were so credulous.

Fionn [Mac Cumhail], as the tale goes, like many a modern “gallant gay,” had from time to time paid his addresses to several of the fairest belles of his day, on all of whose hearts he had made a strong impression, but without actually committing himself to any by asking the important question which decides such delicate affairs. Each fair lady fondly flattered herself that she would be the chosen bride of the great chieftain, but each of course cordially hated her numberless rivals, and the result was a general quarrel amongst them, carried on with such implacable acrimony as threatened to throw the whole country into a hopeless embroilment.

Fionn saw that with him alone rested the power of putting an end to this very unpleasant controversy, but as it was possible that he could only please one of his admirers by taking her hand, and he was sure to make relentless enemies of all the rest – a consummation which he by no means devoutly wished – he found himself placed in a very unpleasant position, to relieve himself from which it was necessary that some stratagem should be resorted to without delay. Accordingly he made a public declaration of equal affection and admiration of all the numerous candidates for his hand, but announced that, as he could not marry them all, he would leave the decision of the important question to the agility of their own pretty feet.

Sliabh-na-m-ban was chosen as the site of the memorable race, and the chieftain himself stood at the top of the hill to receive and proclaim the successful competitor. Amongst the bevy of beauties, however, there was one whose charms had made a deeper impression upon the hero’s heart than all the rest, and to her he did not scruple to whisper in private a word of advice, by adopting which she might be certain to gain the much coveted prize. This lady was Graine, or Grace, the beauteous daughter of Cormac Ulihada, monarch of Ireland; and the counsel which her lover gave her was simply this, that she should not attempt to run too fast in the outset, so as to exhaust her breath.

The advice was strictly followed. Graine for some moments appeared to have been left far behind all the other runners, who put forth their utmost strength at once to breast the acclivity. The exertion, however, was too much for them; soon they became heated, lost breath, and finally sank down one after another, completely exhausted, on the heath; and had the mortification to see the princess, who had at first seemed to make little way, pass by them fresh and unruffled, and smiling triumphantly in full consciousness of possessing the secret of success. Several made a last effort again to outstrip her, but in vain; for she alone gained the summit and won the much coveted prize.

The princess had now gained as firm possession of the chieftain’s hand, as formerly she had won his heart, and a long life of connubial bliss was fondly anticipated for the distinguished pair. But the lady proved as frail and false as her lord was chivalrous and confiding, and after the expiration of a few short months she eloped with the most cherished friend of her husband, Diarmuid O’Duibhne.

From ‘Folk-lore no. 1: The Fenian traditions of Sliabh-Na-M-Ban’ by John Dunne, in ‘Transactions of the Kilkenny Archaeological Society’ v1 (1851) pp333-362.

The Clare County Library has put the Ordnance Survey Letters on the web here, which is a superb thing.

There is a long version of the story about the Glas Ghoibhneach cow and her owner the smith Lon Mac Loimhtha here.

The Field Book of 1839 states:--

“[...]Ballinaltigbeg Altar. A rock situated near the centre of Ballynaltigbeg townland, on a gentle rising ground, and about one and a half miles north of Castletownroche.

This altar is a rock (which stands near the northern boundary of a field), on the four sides of which there are projecting parts about two feet from the ground. It is altogether a natural rock, which is said to have been formerly used as an altar, and is up to the present time held in great veneration by the inhabitants, who often come to pray at it.”

I fear it must have lost some of the veneration claimed for it in 1839, as I found some difficulty in finding it. People living near it, whom I questioned as to its locality, had never heard of it. I fortunately met Dr. Johnson, of Lisnagourneen House, who accompanied me to the spot. The above description from the Field Book is a very fair one as it is at present (see photo).

Dr Johnson writes:-- “The country people say there is a  passage running from Corbally covert in the direction of the ‘Altar,’ that it runs right under the stone. The length would be about four hundred yards, but as no one has apparently ever explored it, it is only conjecture.”

[...] Mr Thomas Furlong, who is now an old gentleman of eighty-nine years of age, and who lives at this place, has heard that, in the reign of King James I., when Roman Catholics were not allowed to have chapels to worship in, they used frequently to meet at the “Altar,” where Mass would be celebrated.

There is a cave at Corbally fox covert, with passage running toward the Altar.

From Colonel James Grove White’s notes about Cork, v1 (1906?).
Pleasingly, the outcrop is on the Sheduled Monuments list, number CO026-071.