Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Megalithic tomb - unclassified
Dooros, County Donegal, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Dooros
- County
- Donegal
- Country
- Ireland
- First-edition OS map
- NULL
- Latest-edition OS map
- Giants Grave (Site of) (1906)
- Coordinates
- 54.82446, -7.54656
- SMR number
- DG070-073----
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
There is no trace of this feature, which was first shown on the 1845-7 edition of the OS 6-inch map, where it is named 'Giant's Grave'. It stood on a gentle fall of ground in pasture just W of the base of Croaghan Hill and almost 2km E of the cruciform passage tomb (Site A) in Kilmonaster Middle townland. Thomas Fagan (1845-8), who visited here in 1846, described it as 'the ruins of a Giant's Grave 22 feet [c. 6.7m] long and 2 to 4 feet [c. 0.6-1.2m] wide and lie nearly N and S and was enclosed by flat stones, a few of which still remain 1 to 3 feet [c. 0.3-0.9m] high, but not otherwise large. A flat stone in its south end seem to cover a grave and measure 7 feet [c. 2.15m] long, 4 feet [c. 1.2m] broad and 1 to 2 feet [c. 0.3-0.6m] thick. Several smaller flags lie about the grave.' No trace of this structure survived after 1870 according to an entry in the OS 1:2,500 Name Book (1903-4). This may have been a megalithic tomb. However, the evidence is insufficient to warrant its acceptance as a definite one.
Fagan 1845-8, book 10, 32; OS 1:2,500 Name Book, sheet 70 (1905), 74; Ó Nualláin 1968b, 14, site K; Herity 1974, 215, Dg. 11; Ó Nualláin 1983a, 37, no. 85; SMR 1987, 70:73; Ó Nualláin 1989, 142; RMP 1995, 70:73.
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
- Standing stoneunder 1 mi
- Megalithic tomb - passage tombunder 1 mi
- Ringfort - unclassifiedunder 1 mi
- Hillfortunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.