What is recorded here

Dermot and Gráinne's Bed occupies a narrow western terrace where a four-metre erratic stone forms one unbroken side. The remaining edges consist of smaller stones set on edge, enclosing a rectangular space deep enough for two people to lie beside each other. Grass-grown peat still rises above the surrounding ground within that stone rectangle, preserving the shape of a chamber that may have served as a temporary shelter long before the names attached to it.

This site, on a narrow, level terrace on a steep W-facing hillside, is a rectangular stone-built structure measuring, internally, 4m N-S by 2-2.5m E-W. Its eastern side is formed by a large erratic stone, 4m long, 1.6m in greatest width and 1.6m high. The other three sides are formed by stones set on edge, the largest 1.9m long and 0.6m high. Grass-grown peat in the interior rises 0.5m above the level of the ground around the structure. The nature of the site is uncertain, but it may have been a hut or shelter and may be of some antiquity. The position of this structure is incorrectly shown on the 1847-9 edition of the OS 6-inch map. On this map the name 'Dermot and Grania's Bed' relates to a point c. 300m N of the correct position. OS documents confirm this error. The SMR (1987) and RMP (1995) for County Donegal have separate entries for the two locations. Fagan 1845-8, book 9, 5; Kinahan 1889, 283; OS 1:2,500 Name Book, sheet 44 (1903), 12; Ó Nualláin 1983a, 48, no. 172; SMR 1987, 44:10, 44:13; RMP 1995, 44:10, 44:13. 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

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