What is recorded here

Dermot and Grania's Bed stretched eighteen metres across the Ballyness field when Thomas Fagan saw it in 1845, a vast chamber of great slabs that local hands had already stripped for building stone. The tomb swallowed human bones, sea sand and old silver coin before it vanished beneath reclaimed earth, leaving only a few low markers where the giant chamber stood. Grania and Dermot may have been lovers, kings or ghosts in the telling, but the bed itself was real large enough to bury several people at once and proud enough to keep their names alive long after the stones disappeared.

In 1845 Thomas Fagan (1845-8) was shown 'the ruins of one of those ancient sepultures called Dermot and Grania's Bed'. It was in Ballyness townland c. 11/2 furlongs (c. 300m) N of the road leading from Falcarragh to Gortahork. According to Fagan, it originally occupied a space 20 yards (c. 18m) by 10 yards (c. 9m) and consisted of 'several large graves' enclosed at sides and ends by great slabs, many of which had been robbed for building work. At the date of Fagan's visit the site had been largely reclaimed and only a 'few' stones 2-4 feet (c. 0.6-1.2m) high marked the spot. During the digging out of the graves 'human bones, sea-sand and shells and also some curious stones and old silver coin' were reportedly discovered. Fagan 1845-8, book 4, 26. 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

Portal dolmen; likely dates to the Neolithic or early Bronze Age. The local legend associating it with Dermot and Grania reflects its enduring cultural significance in the region.

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.