What is recorded here

Two cists still stand in a cairn not far from the Grianan of Aileach, each once holding an urn. They belong to the old buried world of Donegal, where stone was piled to keep a life visible after death. The chamber may have held a leader, a mother or a stranger, but the urn remains as a vessel for whatever the living chose to remember.

Baillie (1892, 292-4) reported the finding of two cists apparently 6 or 7 miles SW of the Grianan of Aileach and near the shores of Lough Swilly an 'urn' was found in each cist. 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

A Neolithic burial cairn, likely dating to the Early to Middle Bronze Age, based on the presence of urns in cists. Its location near Lough Swilly suggests it may be part of a broader funerary landscape associated with the Grianan of Aileach.

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