What is recorded here

Rathduff is a small village on the eastern shore of Lough Conn, where a green mound once hid a rectangular cist. In 1941 a plough broke the capstone, exposing cremated bones inside a shallow slab grave. The discovery reminded the village that even ordinary farmland can cover ancient death and memory.

A short rectangular cist was discovered in 1941 during ploughing ‘in a green mound on a little hill’ in Rathduff townland, c. 1km E of the NE shores of Lough Conn (NMI File/SMR file). A capstone (L 1.2m; Wth 0.6m) covered a slab-lined grave (L 1.05m; Wth c. 0.6m; D c. 0.45m). The grave contained bones which appear to have been cremated. Lines appeared to be scored on the capstone, but these may have been caused by the plough. The precise location of the cist was not recorded, but was said to be ‘two fields from Rathduff church’ (ibid.). (NMI topographical Files 1941; Waddell 1970, 125). According to local information it was located c. 200m to N of the church. Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 2 April 20

A small Neolithic or early Bronze Age cist tomb, likely dating to the 2000–1500 BCE period. Its presence indicates prehistoric burial activity in the Rathduff area, though its wider significance remains limited due to incomplete recording.

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.