Megalithic tomb - court tomb

The National Monuments Service's description

The following description is derived from both the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1986) and the 'Archaeological Survey of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1991). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.
Date of upload/revision: 17 July 2007

The court-tomb has been disturbed by field fences which cross the site and the OS Revision Name Book records that a number of 'large stones have been broken and used for building purposes' (1862, Sheet 8, p. 61). The monument consists of a cairn, over 20m long, orientated N-S, incorporating a gallery at its N end and behind this three lateral chambers, two opening to the E and one to the W. There are five kerb stones in a straight line at the E and two at the W. The lines of these kerb stones suggest a cairn of trapezoidal outline which would seem to have been about 9.5m wide at the S end of the gallery. The entrance to the gallery is marked by two sets of double jambs with a dividing orthostat longitudinally set between the inner, southern, pair. The gallery entrance is flanked by a single court stone at the E. The gallery, 6.5m long by 1.3m wide, is represented by two side stones on the W and four on the E; there is no evidence for segmentation. A single roof stone at the N end of the gallery rests on the dividing orthostat and a large corbel. Two other large corbels rest on the three southern stones of the E side wall. The two E lateral chambers are each represented by a back stone, one side stone on the N, and two side stones on the S. A large corbel rests on the S side of this chamber; another slab beside it to the W may be a displaced corbel. (PRIA (C) 1960, 128)