What is recorded here

Dermot and Granias Bed is a ruined megalithic tomb in County Donegal where two opposed stones still lean inward like a chamber waiting for a ghost. Fagan saw long graves enclosed by slabs in the mid-19th century, but bushes and bog have since swallowed most of the shape. The name suggests a man and a woman, perhaps lovers or rivals, yet no clear story survives to say whether they slept together, fought, or simply marked the edge of a forgotten field.

The monument stands on a level tract of boggy pasture 1.6km E of the court tomb (Dg. 52) in Errarooey Beg townland and 1.5km S of the sandy beach to the E of Dooros Point. Muckish Mountain and the peaks to its SW form the skyline to the S. The monument, poorly preserved and obscured by bushes, is difficult to interpret. Five orthostats are present. At the W two opposed stones with flat inner and sloping outer faces stand 1.8m apart. Both are aligned E-W. The northern one is 0.7m high, and the southern one is 0.75m high. Beside the E end of the last, and angled to the NE, is a stone 1.2m in exposed height. The fourth orthostat is immediately SE of this. It is 1m in exposed height. The fifth orthostat, 0.45m in exposed height, adjoins the SE end of the last. A piece may have been broken from the top of this stone. A displaced stone, 0.7m by at least 0.8m by 0.5m, lies against the W face of this stone. There is another displaced stone, 1.8m by 1m by 0.6m, c. 0.5m S of this, which rests on a small stone (not on plan). Approximately 2.5m to the NE is another displaced stone. This measures 1.2m by 1m and is over 0.3m thick. There is a grass-grown mound, stony underfoot, around the structure, but its limits cannot readily be defined in the heavy overgrowth. Some loose stones also lie on and around the site. Intermittent stones, protruding up to 0.5m from the bog-grown surface, form a curved line c. 10m to the N and W of the monument. These appear to represent an ancient fence. According to Fagan (1845-8), this monument had been considerably ruined by the mid-19th century. Among the ruins he noted one 'grave', which was '7 feet [c. 2.15m] long and 4 feet [c. 1.2m] wide…enclosed at sides by two slabs over 51/2 feet [c. 1.7m] in length each placed edgeways along the grave and inclining inward from base to top where they nearly close over the grave the ends of which close by smaller stones'. He also claimed that many 'graves' had been destroyed here. The remains cannot be classified, but the two opposed orthostats at the site, with their flat inner and sloping outer faces, are similar to the corbel-bearing orthostats frequently present in court tombs and may represent a chamber aligned E-W. Fagan 1845-8, book 3, 16; Ó Nualláin 1983a, 46, no. 136; SMR 1987, 25:9; Ó Nualláin 1989, 142; RMP 1995, 25:9. The above description was published in the 'Survey of the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland. Volume VI, County Donegal.' Compiled by: Eamon Cody (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2002). Date of upload: 22 September 2008 See linked document with details from Eamon Cody, Survey of the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland. Volume VI. County Donegal. (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2002)

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