Lagg is situated about four miles from the village of Malin. As one drives along the beautiful Trawbreaga Bay and reaches the Rock, a completely new vista opens up, a wild and rugged and desolate place, conductive to prayer and reflection; it recalls the many references in the Gospels, telling us of Our Lord retiring to the hills, or to the desert “Himself alone to pray”

It is natural that the monks of the early Church would be attracted by the environment. Indeed the fact is borne out by the hill which bears the name Knockamany – the hills of the monks. Here they studied, worked and prayed and chanted the psalms in adoration of their Maker.

From all the indications available, we feel that Lagg was favoured as a place of worship down the centuries. From the sixteenth century onwards the burial grounds adjourning the Church was shared by both Catholic and Protestant communities.

1784 is the date reliably given for the foundation of the present church. It has been remodelled and renovated several times  since then.

This excerpt was taken from a pamphlet written by Malin’s leading historian: Conall Byrne on the occasion of the bi-centenary of Lagg Church on 24th June-1984. 

As a tribute to Conall Byrne, Malin’s leading Historian, we are publishing an article penned by him for the Solemn Dedication of St. Mary;s Church Lagg on the occasion of its Bi-Centenary held on Sunday 24th June 1984, The people from Bree mentioned in this Article are the Ancestors of the Glackin and the McGrory Families of Bree.
Lagg is situated about four miles from the village of Malin. As one drives along the beautiful Trawbrega Bay and reaches the Rock, a completely new vista opens up, a wild and rugged and desolate place, conductive to prayer and reflection; it recalls the many references in the Gospels, telling us of Our Lord retiring to the hills, or to the desert “Himself alone to pray”
It is natural that the monks of the early Church would be attracted by the environment. Indeed the fact is borne out by the hill which bears the name Knockamany – the hills of the monks. Here they studied, worked and prayed and chanted the psalms in adoration of their Maker.
From all the indications available, we feel that Lagg was favoured as a place of worship down the centuries. From the sixteenth century onwards the burial grounds adjourning the Church was shared by both Catholic and Protestant communities. 1784 is the date reliably given for the foundation of the present church. It has been remodeled and renovated several times since then.
Countless numbers of parishioners have been baptised, made their First Holy Communion, received Confirmation, attended Mass and were married here; at the end of their lives they were interred side by side with their priests in the sacred ground around the Church to await the day of their glorious Resurrection. All of us wish to honour the faith of the people who built and maintained this Church in the past, and we pray that it will continue to serve us well in the years to come.

PARISH OF CLONCHA (Cluain Catha)
The Parish got its name from St. Catha (feast day 8th September) but there is little word of him now nor is there any tradition as to where his cell is located. Old people point to Creg na Managh at Umgall and to the friar’s well behind Patrick McLaughlin’s house and suggest this is where he may have lived. Certainly the location, especially the Cairn, was held in great veneration.
Muirgheallach was the patron of Gorman where the ruins of his church still stand at Malin Well. He is also referred to as Marawee and is sometimes associated with the turas at Cnoc a’ Lough. Here he is reported to have driven certain monsters from the area but to have left their reflection on picture hill. The Lough was called Suil ‘ic Fharraige (according to Joyce a dark skinned people who inhabited the North of Ireland before the MacColla) and a turras was made there at any time of the year. Its pagan origin can be seen from the fact that to obtain a cure, some articles of clothing belonging to the suppliant had to be left at the lake. It’s alleged that the Harveys of Malin Hall decided to channel the waters of Cnoc a’ Lough to turn a mill at Keenagh (the school there was always known as the mill school) but that when the flood arrived at the mill the water was turned to blood and wrecked the place. The Patron Saint of the parish was Calm Gille and this can be seen from the following poem, given by Shane O’Doherty of Bree to John O’Donovan in 1835.

“Cha cuirtear i Malainn i dteampall cois mara
Ta le h-aighaidh crabhaidh ag braithre is ag manaigh Ta Gorman mar ta se in ait
Muirgheallaigh
da coirceall ta ionn mo mhalla Cha fhagtar ag mo bhallaibh
Ta Cluain Catha ag Colmcille, as Cul Dabhach ag Buadan Cha leigeann siad da
g-comhair cailleach ratha na ruagain.”

This same man gave O’Donovan his ancestry back to Conor an Einigh, the first of the clann to conquer lnishowen (1413). He is buried on the west side of Lagg graveyard. He was the great grandfather of Captain Daniel Doherty of Bree who is buried with him. These O’Dohertys had famous relations who lived in Keenagh. They were also related to the Brathair Dubh and like him were poets of some renoun. The most spoken of is Sean Mac an Mereige, a major in the army of James the Second, and from whom the Harveys are reputed to have got their first land in Malin and built the present house in 1758.
Sean owned several quarter lands in the area and also in the Isle of Doagh but he was fond of drink and squandered his inheritance. He records his philosophy and addiction in the following poems.

“Dubhairt Colmcille gur go h-ifrinn go brath nach dteadh an fial lucht na h-ircise go
milleann siad a pairt le Dia
Gur mor an tubaiste do dhuine ar bith a dearn ariamh e oiread cruinniu a dhean amh is
choinneodh as Parrthas e.
Nuair a gheobhas mise bas geobhaidh me ciste beag den bhord Cha gheobhann
muintir an tsaibhris moran mor den tseort.”

and again:

“Mise an creatur tinn tolglach ar an mhulleach ansuid thall Nil duine le mfhiafrai anois
luath no go mall
Da mbeadh spre caoraigh, ba is capaill agamsa le roinn Bheadh go leor annsin a
Deirfadh “Maise, a Sheain, ta tu tinn”.
Acht go breachtair mo mhalaidhe is go liathar mo cheann comh geal leis an eala ar an
chnoc is ar linn go dteidh mo bhean sa talamh is ina dhiaidh i fein a clann beidh mo dhuil ‘sna cannai is go siorrai ins an dram.”

After the rebellion of Cahir Rua when Chichester got the lands of lnishowen parts were left with some of the sept. Phelimy O’Doherty (Cahir’s uncle) got the quarter land of Glentogher, 6Dortach Mor na dTulcha got Rockstown and part of Urris and the Mac an Meirige O’Dohertys got Bree, Keenagh and parts of the Isle of Doagh. The people believed that it was to the Isle that O’Doherty’s cattle were driven for safe keeping in time of war. The small peninsula on the Carn side of the Isle was alloted to O’Doherty’s hangman, hence the name, Roinn a Crothadach.
Of all the tribe, however, the most talked of was the Brathair Dubh or sometimes known as Brathair na Dubhacha. He was born, according to tradition, near Carraig a Bracaidh in the Isle and he had two other brothers who were priests, one of these was a professor in Louvain and the other hanged in the Diamond in Derry.
The Brathair Dubh ministered to the people of Malin before 1784 and lived at times in the “Friars Den” at Peggy Crampsey’s. Lore has it that he was a jolly man and that at one time, for a penance, he had to be on the shore of Trabreige “till theCrotach grew on him”. He sojourned all over lnishowen ministering to the people and describes his wanderings in a poem beginning:-
“Baile an Mhullaigh os ceann ardach Is aoibheann aluinn barr na mbeann,
Tcifea lorusuait is Malainn
Cnoc na Dola, is iomaidh am.
I gCreig a’Bhainne, Lag is Cionnaigh Glac na Braid sin is Drung,
Lag a Churraigh, Caill is Clara, is Thiar in Eanach a d’ol me dram.”

The Brathair Dubh was an uncle of Donnchadh Mor an Chaisleain who was grandfather of Patrick Quigley. A daughter of Donnchadh Mor’s married to Conn Domhnall Ruairi of Clonmany and so the Brathair Dubh would have been a great grand uncle of Father Conn of Carndonagh. The Brathair Dubh is buried in Lagg. There were accounts of other friars in Malin and in the Isle of Doagh before the Brathair Dubh’s time and as the following poems suggest they seem to have been paid in wool or flax-
“Arsa ‘n Brathair le Lachlainn ar dul thart do
Teigi chun Aifrinn amarach
Arsa’ Brathair ac Aodagain lena chuid gaoithe
Bi mhur m-iarna snath libh·
Chan fhann tu aon iarna uaimsa i mbliana
Chan fhann tu aon iarna amhain uaim
Deamhan an iarna a gheibh tu imbliana
Is mor an cios na braithre
Cha dteimsa chun Aifrinn go cionn bliana
Ach rachaidh me chun an teampaill,
In ait a gcluinfidh me na breaga ‘Coinnigh do iarna a Mhanuis.”

The friars said Mass at the Mass Rocks dotted all over Malin and with exception of Lagg itself (Lag na h-Alt6ra is its proper name) were on high ground. There were graveyards associated with the Mass Rocks and the last one in use was at John elly’s in Drumcarbit. A man called Michael Doherty (Mickey the Sailor) whose house was in Eddie Charlie Doherty’s field was the last person buried there.
In the old days, before the corpse was buried, it was customary to walk three times around the graveyard from right to left – the Deasil it was called. This practice continued in Clonmany parish long after the chapel was built. The people there took the coffin to the Teampall Deas in Straid where the Deasil was performed.
This practice continued until the O’Dohertys of the Glen House “had a row” with the Waterloo Priest and stopped coming to the chapel in Clonmany.
The people of the braes and Glengad buried their dead in Lagg and of course, had to carry the coffin all the way. At the hight behind Bobby Simpson’s the corps was “caoined” and the women went home. The spot is still known as the “Caoine Knowes”.
Certain priests of the parish seem to be remembered more than others. The people still talk of Fr. Shiels who was transferred to Clonmany in 1794 and of Fr. Porter of Ballintlieve who came to Malin in 1817, the year of the “dear summer”. The records show that this man became Parish Priest of Malin in 1839, but there is a strong tradition that he was in Malin before, in 1817.
The people of the Meentaghs maintained that things were so scarce in Malin that year that they could not’ keep’ the priest and that he returned home to Ballintlieve. He Came to Lagg each Sunday on horseback to say Mass, but took his own food with him.
When he became Parish Priest he lived where Michael McLaughlin’s (the Carpenter) house is. He planted three trees at the bottom of his field, along Bogg’s Lane, which were known as Faith, Hope and Charity.
Fr. O’Flaherty was Parish Priest in 1826 or ’27. He was a native of Termonamongan and when he left Malin he is reported to have taken the “Cursing Stone” of the O’Gormans, which Muirghellach had left them.
There is a tradition that where Lagg church now stands was once fertile ground and that it was part of the monastery of Cill Mhuire in Kilourt. It is said that some of the monastery buildings were on Knockamanny and that it was raided often by the Vikings.
Several of the monks are said to have had their legs broken and then thrown over the “Benns” when they would not reveal to the wild Norsmen the hiding place of the gold and silver vessels. The pillar stones that used to stand in Johnny Owen Og’s field in Killourt are said to have been channel markers for Viking long boats.