What is recorded here

Half-buried in the dunes above Bunbeg beach, a granite capstone still bridges two leaning side stones, marking a chamber that once held the dead before the sand swallowed it. The cavity stretches north into the cliff face, packed tight with marine silt, while a jumbled stone layer beside it hints at a forgotten cairn or pit. What remains is neither grand nor complete, but it endures: a small chamber built within living dune, exposed by erosion, waiting to be read by whoever walks that narrow track.

Exposed in a vertical section face (H c. 1.3-1.5m) on the N side of a trackway (Wth 2.5m) that wends through the marram grass-covered sand dunes bordering Bunbeg beach (Tramagheraclogher). The rising ground immediately to N is broken by granite rock outcropping. On the S side of the track the dunes stretch 50m to the broad, sandy beach opening onto a sheltered inlet of Gweedore Bay. The visible remains of the cist (0.4-0.75m E−W; at least 0.7m N−S; H c. 0.4m) consist of a large granite block (L c. 1.2m E−W; H 0.3-0.4m) which rests on two relatively thin side stones (H 0.4m; T 0.07m). The side stones are not fully vertical but tilt outwards, so that they are set 0.46m apart at their base and c. 0.75m apart at top. Part of third side stone can be glimpsed within the cavity on the E side. The cavity of the cist extends to N into the section face for a depth of at least 0.7m and is filled with sand. The sand fill has been hollowed out at the front/S end of the opening, but at the back/N end the sand rises to the underside of the capstone. The cist appears to be constructed within a sand layer. A few stones are visible within this sand layer immediately to W of the cist. A rough jumbled stony layer extends c. 1.2m to E of the cist, more or less in line with the level of the capstone; this may be part of a feature such as a pit or cairn associated with the cist. Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 1 February 2022

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