Doochill North Cairn

The monument is 2.1km E of Ardara on level pasture c. 100m N of and overlooking the westward-flowing Owentocker River. Now considerably ruined, it consists of the unroofed inner half of a gallery, apparently a two-chambered one, preceded at the NE by the remains of a court. The structure stands in a grass-grown mound that flanks both its sides and extends 5m E of the S arm of the court. The gallery is partially filled by grass-grown cairn material. The mound measures 11.5m N-S by 15m E-W and is c. 1m in maximum height. There are a number of displaced stones scattered on the cairn surface, some partly buried. A single courtstone, 0.5m high, survives at the outer end of the N side of the court. Its outer face is hidden by the cairn. Approximately 3m S of this is an arc of three contiguous courtstones. The northernmost is 0.4m high. The next is 0.75m high, and the southernmost is 0.45m high. The precise design of the court and its relationship to the gallery are not apparent. The gallery was c. 5.5m long, and the surviving section is up to 1.9m wide. Four stones are visible on its N side, and three on the S side, and it is closed by a large flat-topped backstone with a small set stone beside it at the N. Approximately 1.1m W of the northernmost of the arc of three courtstones described above are two sidestones next to each other inside the line of the rest of the northern side of the gallery. That to the E is 0.3m high, and that to the W is 0.3m high. Opposite the last and set askew to the S side of the gallery is a stone 0.7m high. The three stones just described narrow the gallery and seem to represent a division between two chambers. The sides of the gallery beyond the possible segmentation each comprise two stones. Both stones on the S side are 0.65m high. The eastern one at the N side of the gallery is 0.6m high, and the western is 0.65m high. The backstone, 0.7m high, is set with its inner face in line with the ends of both sides of the gallery. It is flat topped with slightly sloping sides. The small stone at its northern end measures 0.35m by at least 0.15m and is 0.65m high. Its inner face is concealed. The largest of the displaced stones at the site lies in the court area. It measures 1.35m by 1.35m and is 0.45m thick. Another displaced stone, 0.8m by 0.7m and 0.45m thick, lies at the inner end of the gallery. The rest vary from 0.55m to 1.1m in maximum dimension. Fagan 1845-8, book 22, 54; de Valera 1960, 107, DG. 16 (plan); L. McGill 1964, 63; Killanin and Duignan 1967, 63; P.J. McGill 1970, 6; Ó Nualláin 1983a, 20, no. 19 (plan); SMR 1987, 74: 11; Ó Nualláin 1989, 117; RMP 1995, 74:11. 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). Volume VI. County Donegal. (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2002)