Hidden among the hills near Altamuskin, Ballygawley, the Altar Glen is a place where the faith of earlier generations remains written into the land. At its heart is an old Mass Rock, one of the many secluded places across Ireland where Catholics gathered for the celebration of Mass during times of persecution and restriction. The significance of such places in the story of Irish Catholicism is difficult to overstate.
During the Penal era, when Catholic worship faced severe legal restrictions and priests often carried out their ministry in secret, remote glens, hillsides and sheltered places offered communities somewhere to gather around the Eucharist. A natural rock or stone could become an altar, while the surrounding landscape provided shelter and concealment. In these circumstances the celebration of Mass became an extraordinary expression of fidelity, courage and communal faith.
The Altar Glen at Altamuskin carries this memory within the parish of Errigal Ciaran. Generations of local people have preserved the story of the place and the Mass Rock at its centre. What might otherwise appear to be a quiet corner of the Tyrone countryside therefore speaks of a community determined to gather, pray and celebrate the Eucharist even when doing so demanded sacrifice.
The site continues to draw people for prayer and the celebration of Mass. In recent years parishioners have once again walked together to the Altar Glen and gathered around the Mass Rock for the Eucharist, consciously following in the footsteps of those who worshipped there before them. During the Jubilee Year of 2025, for example, pilgrims gathered and walked to the Glen for Mass as Pilgrims of Hope, while the site also formed part of celebrations honouring St Oliver Plunkett.
There is something particularly powerful about celebrating Mass in such a place. The altar is not separated from the landscape around it. Earth, stone, trees and open sky surround the gathered community. Yet the real significance of the Altar Glen lies not simply in its setting, but in the faith of those who came there. They remind us that churches consist first of a people gathered around Christ, and that the Eucharist has sustained Christian communities through periods of hardship, uncertainty and profound change.
For the pilgrim today, the Altar Glen offers a place to remember and to give thanks. Walking into the Glen allows us to recall those who protected and handed on the faith, often at considerable personal cost. Their story asks something of us too: how deeply do we value the faith we have received, and how faithfully will we hand it on?
The Altar Glen at Altamuskin remains a treasured place within the Archdiocese of Armagh. Quiet and unassuming, it bears witness to the resilience of faith and to generations for whom gathering around the altar and encountering Christ in the Eucharist remained at the heart of Christian life.