What is recorded here

Indicated is a court tomb in County Monaghan where a broad southern entrance leads through two portal stones into a narrow chamber, while a hollow behind the main chamber suggests that other compartments were emptied long before anyone wrote them down. The cairn stretches twenty-four metres across a low-lying landscape, large enough to carry several dead and still standing beside fields that have changed owners twice since the last survey. What is missing is as clear as what remains: the court preserves the approach, the hollow preserves the loss, and the whole structure waits for someone to walk through it without being told where the dead went.

Situated on a slight S-N spur in a low-lying landscape. It is depicted as a circular enclosure (diam. c. 25m E-W) on the 1834 edition of the OS 6-inch map where it is described in gothic lettering as a ‘fort’, and it is represented as rough ground on the 1907 edition. This is an overgrown subrectangular cairn (dims 24m NW-SE; 18m NE-SW) with the remains of a broad court (Wth 6.5m; D 5m) at the SE end. The court gives access through two portal stones to the scant remains of a chamber (L 1.7m; Wth 1.1), but a hollow in the cairn behind it suggests that other chambers have been robbed. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Monaghan' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1986). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of revision: 26 February 2018

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