ANCIENT CHURCH RUINS AT MALIN HEAD The door must have been in this gable I some reason or other the priest reand very i)robably the lintel through turned the next day, summoned his time beoame dislodged and so caused helpers re-opened the grave and rethe wall to c·ollapse. If tradition, in placed the tooth. this case, is to be regarded as trustworthy it·s preservation from complete In the face of the cliff about demolition is not entirely due to an t:wenty yards from the south western innate horror of desecration on the c.orne·r of the church is a. cave known part of rthe natives. as the "Wee House of 1Malin". This Adjacent to the church is an inlet oaive is circular with a diameter of rused by the fishermen for landing ten feet and a height of eight feet and theLr boats and the story is still told iit 1aippears ;to have been hewn out of that the first stone taken from the the rock. It was in all probability the walls was removed by a crew of fisher- home of some eccle3iastical hermit m·en ·who · intended using it as an an- connected 1With the place. chor for their boat. The cable was bo h d ed d f th A ut a un r yar s rom e securely tied to the stone and· the men iw"ent off to the fishing ground near ruins of the church in a_ reef of rocks Inishtrahull six miles-a1Way. On reach- that-is completely covered by the sea ing their destination ,the stone was put art high water is a well about four feet overboard but if immediately became in depth and three feet in width. This unfa:stened and the men believed it is known as "Malin Well". Like that had gone to the bottom of the sea. We f Do w 11 th at ·of M·al· w. n . . h . . o on e , e rw er m e can imagme t e1r surprise when they . . . . . . returned to rthe pori, for the story says 1s believed to possess m1raculou~ curthe stone was there before them. and-aitive poweirs which are specially efresting s·ecurely · in the· place from f ect1ve in tihe; case Qf thosie sutf.erdng which it had been dislodged. This from rheumatism. Up to about a dozen seems incredib~e but a miracle of·this years ago a pattern or fair was held kind is probably within the range· of annually on the fi:fiteenth of August in possibilities. On the other hand , the th · a· t · hb h d f. the . e imme aa. e1 ne1gi 1 our oo o. . tale may have been invented -to save . 1he church from destruction and if church and was aittended by large such was the case it served the purpose numbers from Malin and the neighwell for never since did fishermen "'or bounng parishes. Taking into considany other person interfere with ··the eration .tne }'east day on which the fai~ the walls of the old building. was held it seems very probable its or- --- · · igin was the .result of re1igious fervour. Another itradition says that ·sever- · . . al generations ag·o the Catholic Curate Through the succeeding generations, of Malin Head took a number -of men however, the religious aspect disapfo 'explore beneath the floor of the peared 1and the sanctity of the spot was church. On removing the earth they nc1t being rmrere~ced as it should have discovered a large flag stone which the priest believed to be the table of-.the altar. On lifting the nag a skeleton was found underneath. The t1ale goes on to say that the priest removed · a rtooth and took it with him to preserve as a relic. The flag was replaced and the eartth iagain placed over it, but for been and for this reason the discontin!Uen.ce of the fair is not to be regretted. Many of the older inhabitants of Malin Head still visit the old ruins on· May eve anq make the Turus. 504.
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