Mass (Aifrinn) and Rock (Carraig): so we have Mass Rock = Carraig an Aifrinn. In this instance the word 'Poll' or 'Poul' is used meaning hollow. Poll an Aifrinn = Mass Hollow.
It was here in August 1653 that Fr. Thaddeus (Tadhg) Moriarty was arrested by Crown forces while saying Mass and led off to his imprisonment and execution in Killarney for the crime of celebrating his faith.
Fr. Moriarty was born in the parish of nearby Castlemaine about 1603. He went overseas to prepare for the priesthood, studying in Toledo and later in the Dominican College of Corpo Santo in Lisbon. After ordination, Tadhg returned to his native Kerry. In 1636 he is numbered among the Dominicans ministering in the diocese, and became one of the four professors in the short-lived seminary founded in Tralee by Bishop Rickard O'Connell.
This was during the early 17th century when Ireland was assured of civil and religious liberty. Disunity, defeats and the arrival of Cromwell put paid to the dream. In July 1652, Ross Castle and Island, the last stronghold of the Irish in Kerry, surrendered to the Cromwellians. Ireland was divided into fourteen 'precincts', each under a military commander. Brigadier John Nelson was in command of the 'counties of Kerry and Desmond'. From 1652 to 1658 he wielded absolute power with ruthless cruelty.
On 6 January 1653, the four parliamentary commissioners for the affairs of Ireland issued from Dublin a decree banishing Catholic priests. Within twenty days of this date all priests were to present themselves to the authorities to express their willingness to be transported beyond seas at the earliest opportunity. Failure to comply rendered the priest guilty of high treason, for which the penalty was death. Deaf to all pleas, the commissioners reaffirmed the decree on June 10th of the same year.
With the final destruction of Holy Cross Abbey by Cromwellian forces, Tadhg left Tralee and withdrew to the Castlemaine/Milltown area. Disguised as a merchant he continued to celebrate Mass and administer the Sacraments to people under his care. Clearly, he was aware that if he was caught he would be executed. In spite of the obvious dangers he continued to celebrate the Eucharist at the Mass Rock in Kilclohane Wood. The Mass Rock in effect became the de facto parish church of the area.
On 15 August 1653, while celebrating Mass there, Father Tadhg Moriarty was taken into custody by soldiers (probably from Castlemaine Castle). They walked him all the way to Killarney (15 miles) and into the dungeons of Ross Castle. This was where Nelson had his area headquarters. For two months he was held there and tortured. When starved, stripped and flogged, the prisoner did not complain. His replies, when interrogated, were so unfailingly truthful, simple and direct, that his opponents concluded he was a man who knew not how to lie.
When asked by Nelson why he did not obey the law of the country, Tadhg replied he was bound rather to obey the law of God .
He was duly sentenced to death by hanging. Availing of the condemned man's privilege, he held a discourse on the scaffold at Martyrs' Hill in Killarney. He spoke briefly of the True Faith, of the Roman Catholic Church, of the brevity and uncertainty of life, and of martyrdom as the surest way to heaven. In death, his face (emaciated as a result of weeks of semi-starvation and bearing the signs of violence) seemed to change and be transfigured. Even the Cromwellians were forced into admiration. One of them is to have remarked: "If ever a papist were a martyr, he certainly should be accounted one." It was the 15th October 1653.
Fr. Tadhg Moriarty is linked to two other Kerry martyrs, Fr. Conor McCarthy, Parish Priest of Killeentierna, who was hanged in Killarney on 5th June 1653 and Br. Francis O’Sullivan, O.F.M. cut down by the sword on the island of Scariff in Derrynane Bay on 23rd June 1653. The skull of Brother Francis is kept in the Franciscan Friary, Killarney (shown), built on the site of Martyrs Hill.
Take the track to the left when you reach the parking area for the easiest access. The cache is located above the mass rock, which is in tranquil setting down some short steps into the wood.