Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Megalithic tomb - unclassified
Portlough, County Donegal, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Portlough
- County
- Donegal
- Country
- Ireland
- First-edition OS map
- NULL
- Latest-edition OS map
- Giants Grave (Site of) (1905)
- Coordinates
- 54.99913, -7.45553
- SMR number
- DG047-019----
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
Shown on 4 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1881 "Ireland to Illustrate the Military Condition of the Country." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗
The National Monuments Service's description
This feature is named 'Giant's Grave' on the original OS 6-inch map (1833) and on the revised 6-inch map of 1846-8. There is no trace of it now. Thomas Fagan (1845-8), whose examination of the site in 1846 was restricted by a grain crop, found two upright stones c. 10 yards (c. 9.15m) apart and each c. 4 feet (c. 1.2m) high. In seeming confirmation of this, the site is named 'Standing Stones' on an OS pre-publication map, although the name 'Giant's Grave' was retained on the published version (1846-8). The name 'Giant's Grave (Site of)' assigned to the site on the 1905 edition of the OS 6-inch map indicates that the stones had been removed by that date.
Although the nature of the site remains uncertain, there is no convincing evidence that the stones noted by Fagan ever formed part of a megalithic tomb.
OS Name Book, All Saints parish (1833), 6; Fagan 1845-8, book 11, 21; Borlase 1897, 234, Raphoe North no. 4; Ó Nualláin 1983a, 49, no. 179; SMR 1987, 47:19; Colhoun 1995, 98; RMP 1995, 47:19.
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
Nearby in the register
- Cistunder 1 mi
- Crannogunder 1 mi
- Ringfort - rathunder 1 mi
- Cist1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.