Megalithic tomb - unclassified

The National Monuments Service's description

This feature, now destroyed, was first shown on the 1848-9 edition of the OS 6-inch map. It stood on sloping bog-grown ground overlooking Mulroy Bay 1.2km to the E. In 1952 all that remained was an oval mound, in the centre of which was a pit. The pit seemed to have been but recently dug. No structural remains were apparent. More recently the site has been overgrown by furze bushes.
According to an account in an OS Revision Name Book (1848-9), this was a structure 15 feet (c. 4.6m) long and 5 feet (c. 1.5m) broad, composed of flagstones 2-3 feet (c. 0.6-0.9m) high on each side and covered by a stone 81/2 feet (c. 2.6m) long, 51/2 feet (c. 1.7m) broad and 8 inches (c. 0.2m) thick. The report notes that 'this monument is similar to others in the country called Dermot and Grania's Bed'.
A later account by Kinahan (1889, 277-8) identified it as 'a fosleac [a term he has explained as 'a habitation or structure, constructed of flags or long blocks of stone'] running nearly north and south, the cover-stone about 9.5 feet by 4.5 feet [c. 2.9m by 1.4m], on six uprights'. Kinahan added that workmen repairing the nearby road had knocked the structure and uprooted the uprights shortly before his visit. It is thus clear that his account is based on hearsay and perhaps, if the dislodged stones lay at the site, on a conjectural reconstruction.
It appears that a partly roofed megalithic gallery c. 4.5m long may have stood here until the second half of the 19th century.
OS Revision Name Book, sheet 27 (1848-9), 46; Kinahan 1889, 277-8; Killanin and Duignan 1962, 373; Killanin and Duignan 1967, 374; Ó Nualláin 1983a, 44, no. 122; SMR 1987, 27:5; Ó Nualláin 1989, 142; RMP 1995, 27:5.

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