What is recorded here

Half-buried in Donegal grass, a tall stone and a fallen shadow mark the grave of a giant nobody names. The local story claims ornaments once decorated its face, though time has sanded them away. It is not a grand temple but a small sharp wound in the earth, waiting for someone generous enough to imagine the giant inside.

This monument is named 'Standing Stone' on the original OS 6-inch map (1834) and 'Giant's Grave' on the 1848 edition. It consists of a low subrectangular mound measuring 5m N-S, 2m E-W and 0.5m high. At its southern end is an upright stone, and at the northern end is a partly buried, prostrate stone. The upright stone is 1m long, 0.6m thick and 1.6m high. The prostrate one measures at least 0.8m in maximum dimension. It is clear that the monument was in its present state in 1848 (OS Revision Name Book). It was then locally regarded as the burial place of 'some noted person'. According to the same account, some partly obliterated 'ornamental devices' were visible on the S face of the upright stone. It has not been possible to identify any trace of these. The original nature of this ancient feature is uncertain. The upright stone may be a standing stone, perhaps originally one of a pair, although it is conceivable that there was a more substantial megalithic structure here. OS Revision Name Book, sheet 5 (1848), 21; A.I. Young 1929, 10; Colhoun 1949, 116 (Muff); Bonner 1972, 16; Ó Nualláin 1983a, 49, no. 175; SMR 1987, 5:9; Colhoun 1995, 18; RMP 1995, 5:9. 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

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