Spatial Distribution and Location of Catholic Mass Rock Sites in the Diocese of Cork and Ross, County Cork, Ireland

Leading historians (Wall 1960; Whelan 1995; Elliott 2009) argue that the spatial distribution of Mass Rock sites in Ireland, during the Penal era, is reflective of areas of extreme Catholic poverty, where no parish chapel existed or where landlords were hostile to the overt presence of Catholicism. This paper argues that such traditional assumptions require revision and concludes that many locations do not conform to the mythical, secluded, upland sanctuaries that have traditionally been depicted and that their spatial distribution is more indicative of settlement patterns reflecting the cultural differences that existed within Irish Catholicism during this period