Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Megalithic tomb - unclassified
Maghernakill, County Monaghan, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Maghernakill
- County
- Monaghan
- Country
- Ireland
- First-edition OS map
- Not indicated
- Latest-edition OS map
- Druids Altar (Site of)
- Coordinates
- 54.07869, -6.67935
- SMR number
- MO025-021----
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 1636 "Vltoniae Orientalis Pars" (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗
The National Monuments Service's description
Located towards the bottom of a W-facing slope and c. 2m out from a NW-SE field bank on the NE side. It is described in gothic lettering as the site of a ‘Druid’s Altar’ only on the 1907 edition of the OS 6-inch map. The OS Revision Name Book describes this as "A rude flag about 2.25 ft in breadth and 2.5 ft in height, and it is said to have stood over Tubber na Downey or Sunday well (as tradition says) before it (i.e. the well) moved by some spell to the south end of the townland where it still remains' (1857, Sheet 25D, p.9). The stone (L 1.16m; Wth 0.45m; H 0.5m) was parallel with the field bank. A private house was built on this plot c. 40m to the SE before 1995 (OSAP), but archaeological testing (10E0208) in the plot immediately to the SW produced no related material (McGonigle 2010, 2012).
The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Monaghan' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1986). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.
Compiled by: Michael Moore
Date of revision: 27 February 2018
Amended: 17 January 2020
References
OSNB 25-inch. Ordnance Survey Name Books compiled in the course of the 1:2500 survey of Ireland. National Archives of Ireland.
OSAP - Ordnance Survey Aerial Photographs. Photographic collection. Ordnance Survey of Ireland. Dublin.
McGonigle, M. 2010 Residential Development, Maghernakeill, Co. Monaghan. Archaeological Assessment Licence No. 10E0208. Unpublished report, John Cronin and Associates
McGonigle, M. 2012 548. Maghernakill. No archaeological significance. in I. Bennett (ed.) Excavations 2010: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 176. Dublin, Wordwell
Nearby in the register
- Linear earthworkunder 1 mi
- Enclosure - large enclosureunder 1 mi
- Ritual site - holy wellunder 1 mi
- Ringfort - rathunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.