Doon Mass Rock In County Donegal

Doon Rock is easily found as it is well sign posted; it is situated 8 miles outside of Letterkenny and 2 miles from Kilmacrennan on the main road to Creeslough.

It has a spacious car park and has toilet facilities but no other amenities.
Doon Rock is a lofty, wild, barren place but the atmosphere that you feel is one of majesty. You can almost sense the presence of the mighty clansmen of the O’Donnell clan who were inaugurated there.

It is an uneven climb to get to the top but very well worth the slight effort as the panoramic view you get from the top is spectacular. Heather grows between the gorse covered rocks and you are overlooking a sparkling natural Lough.

Immediately you are transported back in time and if you close your eyes you can picture what the inauguration of the kings must have been like but also of the secret religious ceremonies that took place here.

Finding the Mass Rock at Doon

Follow the path and you will find a secret place where there is situated a mass rock. This is a very Holy place and you can feel a certain reverence come over you. It is an amazing place that pilgrims still come to to-day, this is evident by the amount of Holy relics that have been placed on and around the mass rock and there is a beautiful figurine of the Virgin Mary surrounded by smaller statues of Our Lady.

The mass rock was used during the penal years (1695 – 1741) when Catholics were not allowed to openly practice their faith. Doon was one of the secret places that Catholics could meet up and attend mass. Priests said mass under pain of death because if they were caught they faced a horrendous death by being placed in a barrel of nails and thrown over a cliff called ‘Binn an Sagairt’ (hill of the priest) near Doon.

Although there is no official mass said there any-more thousands of pilgrims flock there every year for prayer and devotions.

Mass Rock at Doon

Mass Rock at Doon

Holy Well at Doon

No-one can go to Doon and not go to see the Holy Well. Every home in Donegal will have a bottle of Holy water from Doon.

Situated beside Doon Rock Doon Well is very accessible and is wheelchair friendly, placed in a pretty little garden beside a house the owners tend to the well and garden.

Doon Well’s origins are definitely pre-Christian as the natural spring water would have been used in the pagan inauguration ceremonies of the O’Donnell clan.

Bronze age artefacts have been unearthed near the well and there is a ‘togher’, an ancient wooden road that runs underneath the bog adjacent to Doon Rock.

It is a very special place and has a holiness and peaceful stillness about it. You almost feel as though you should whisper as you would in a church.
In fact, stations and rosary are still walked from St.Columba’s chapel to Doon Well every New Years Eve and on the day before May 1st.

Doon Well became a Holy well possibly in the 15th century when a man called Lector O’Friel blessed the well.

Holy Well At Doon

Holy Well at Doon

Lector O’Friel was a powerful healer and a very holy man. Sufferers of all sorts of illnesses and incurable conditions came or were carried to see him in the hope of a cure. Many stories are told of the miracles that he preformed.
Legend says that when he was in his old age and death was upon him the people became upset at the thought of losing such a holy man into whom God had placed such a wondrous gift.

On hearing the peoples lament, Lector O’Friel is reported to have said, “When i die, my powers will live on after me.” With this he blessed the well and told them that those who drank or applied the water would benefit from his prayers of intercession.

The well itself is behind two little wooden doors and there is a plaque that tells you what prayers need to be recited it reads:

Doon Well Prayers of Station

Repeat Our Father and Hail Mary 5 times
And apostles creed for your intention
Repeat same for each bottle of water
Our Father and Hail Mary for Father O’Friel who found it
Our Father and Hail Mary for Father Gallagher who blessed it
Our Father and Hail Mary for the person who put the shelter around it
N.B These prayers must be recited with bared feet.

Prayers of Station at Doon

Prayers of Station at Doon Well