What is recorded here
Dermot and Granias Bed is a wedge tomb at the south end of a rush-covered Clare ridge, its large north stone still standing while the south side has collapsed into fragments. The chamber faces southwest toward open pasture, inviting imagination about lovers, losers or buried ancestors rather than certainty. Lazy beds press close on every side, marking centuries of human use around the old stones.
At the S end of a short, low but moderately steep-sided ridge of pasture, with a good deal of rush cover and views to the S. Indicated and named ‘Dermot and Grania’s Bed’ on the 1842 and 1916 OS 6-inch maps.
The following details are from de Valera and Ó Nualláin (1961, 10-11, attached). A moderately well-preserved wedge tomb, with a SW orientated chamber (L 3.1m; Wth at front 2.1m; Wth at rear 1.9m). The N sidestone (L 3.15m; H at front 1.95m; H at rear 1.45m; T 0.25m) is dressed along its upper edge and in situ, but leans S. The S sidestone survives as four set fragments (combined L 3.7m; H 0.1-0.3m; T 0.1-0.2m), S of which lie five slabs which suggest it was of similar dimension to the N sidestone. The backstone (L 1.6m; H 1.5m) is dressed along its upper edge and its upper S corner broken (D 0.3m); an irregularly shaped slab (H 1.55m) leans against its outer edge. A pillar-like stone (L 0.3m; T 0.2m; H 1.4m) stands against the E end of the N sidestone, three further stones (L 0.55-1.15m) lie in a line at the E end of the chamber and a block (L 1m; T 0.3m; H 0.2m) lies 0.7m to the W. Westropp (1907, 459) believed the block to the W of the chamber might indicate a longer chamber, but this is, as de Valera and Ó Nualláin’s (1961, 10-11) have pointed out, this is unclear. The site is abutted by E-W orientated post-medieval lazy beds on all sides. Another wedge tomb (CL005-109----) is visible in the neighbouring townland of Cooleabeg, 940m to the WNW.
The following images have been uploaded:
CL005-110----_01.pdf Details from Ruaidhrí de Valera and Seán Ó Nualláin, Survey of the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland. Volume I. County Clare. (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1961).
CL005-110----_01.jpg View of tomb from NE
CL005-110----_02.jpg View from SW
Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Ros Ó Maoldúin
Date of upload: 4 April 2023
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- What survives
- Recorded monument
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