Episode 30 – Mass Bush

During the Penal times in Ireland Catholics were persecuted and discriminated against and the celebration of mass was banned. Priests and their congregation were forced to find secluded areas of the countryside to have mass and these places were identified with rocks or bushes. In Kilmacow there is a hawthorn bush with a plaque underneath which says ‘The Mass Bush from the Olden Times’ Eddie Synnott a member of the South Kilkenny Historical society tells us about these times in the following programme