Fin Mac Cools Monument

Situated on the highest point at the S end of the N-S ridge of Sheebeg Hill. It is depicted on the 1835 and 1907 editions of the OS 6-inch map where it is described as ‘Fin Mc Cool’s Monument’. This is a grass- and scrub-covered flat-topped cairn of limestone boulders (diam. of base 38m; diam. of top 12.9m; H 5m). It has an oblong depression on the summit (L 12m; D 1m), the result of investigations in 1931 when a closed chamber of megalithic orthostats, containing two skeletons, was briefly opened (Irish Times, 7 January 1931; Gilligan 2015). It was reputed in the local folklore to be the burial place of Fionn Mac Cumhaill, which also records the 1931 investigation, for which see this web-page accessed on 06/04/2017: http://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4649689/4647538 It is listed as a passage tomb (de Valera and Ó Nualláin 1972, 143; Herity 1974, 279, Le 8). The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Leitrim' compiled by Michael J. Moore (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2003). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 23 September 2008 See linked document with details from Ruaidhrí de Valera and Seán Ó Nualláin, Survey of the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland. Volume III. Counties Galway, Roscommon, Leitrim, Longford, Westmeath, Laoighis, Offaly, Kildare, Cavan. (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1972).

A portal dolmen dating to the Neolithic period; it is significant as a surviving example of early megalithic funerary architecture in the region.