What is recorded here

Twenty-five cists and one surviving foodvessel belonged in a destroyed Donegal cairn, but quartz pebbles and forgotten bones still crowd the memory. The site is gone, yet its shape returns whenever someone imagines the hands that buried the dead and the children who played beside the fosse.

Ó Ríordáin (1935, 173-4) records a cairn with cist burials which was destroyed here about 1925. It is said to have been c. 12m in diameter and c. 2m in maximum height and was surrounded by rough, dry-stone walling and outside of this a flat-bottomed fosse, little more than 1m in depth and width. There may have been as many as 25 cists and the burials were mostly inhumations although some cremations were recognised. A number of pottery vessels were found but only one, a foodvessel was preserved. A large number of quartz pebbles were noted among the cairn material. The above description was derived from the 'Archaeological Survey of County Donegal. A description of the field antiquities of the County from the Mesolithic Period to the 17th century.' Compiled by: Brian Lacey with Eamon Cody, Claire Cotter, Judy Cuppage, Noel Dunne, Vincent Hurley, Celie O'Rahilly, Paul Walsh and Seán Ó Nualláin (Lifford: Donegal County Council, 1983). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated. Date of upload: 22 September 2008

Burial cairn with cist burials, likely dating to the Neolithic or Early Bronze Age. Its construction and surrounding walling reflect early communal burial practices in the region.

This remains an important historical record, but the official description says the monument is no longer visible or has been destroyed. The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.