Megalithic tomb - unclassified

The National Monuments Service's description

The above-named site has been listed as a 'multiple-chambered cairn or dolmen' (Colhoun 1949) and as a 'prehistoric chamber tomb' (Killanin and Duignan 1962; 1967). It is described in an OS Revision Name Book (1848) as follows: 'An old bed something like those commonly called Dermot and Grania's Bed. This is said to have been used by Saint Patrick as a resting place when he came to build a church at Donagh; and is called after him. It is commonly called Leaba Phádraig in the locality—even by those who do not speak Irish. The English name Patrick's Bed is not applied. The stones which formed the bed have been removed of late but the site has been pointed out to me.' Lacy (1983) quoted a 17th-century reference to the site by John Colgan, who described it as the 'penitential bed of St. Patrick surrounded by polished stones'. It stood c. 200m SE of the early ecclesiastical complex at the edge of Carndonagh town. A patch of bare soil here is still respected as a source of cures (Lacy 1983). The nature of the site remains uncertain.
OS Revision Name Book, sheet 11 (1848), 110; Colhoun 1949, 116; Killanin and Duignan 1962, 127; Killanin and Duignan 1967, 140; Lacy 1983, 251, no. 1532; SMR 1987, 11:61; Colhoun 1995, 36, no. 11/34; RMP 1995, 11:61.

The above description was published in the 'Survey of the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland. Volume VI, County Donegal.' Compiled by: Eamon Cody (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2002).

Date of upload: 22 September 2008