What is recorded here

One chamber grave in Fawnaboy still belongs to Dermot and Grania in local memory, though no map or marker now gives the bed a name. Thomas Fagan measured it in 1845 for Bernard Harkin: nine feet long, three feet wide, four large flags leaning across the top like a roof half-forgotten. Other graves nearby had already been destroyed, which means the field once held more than one story and people took stones from what they did not understand. What remains is a chamber large enough for a body, a name sharp enough for love or legend, and a gap wide enough for loss.

In 1845 Thomas Fagan (1845-8) visited 'the remains of an ancient sepulture locally called Dermot and Grania's Bed' on the holding of Bernard Harkin in that part of Fawnaboy townland on the above OS 6-inch sheet, c. 1 furlong (c. 200m) W of the road from Falcarragh to Dunlewy. The remains then comprised 'one grave lying E and W, 9 feet [c. 2.75m] in length, 3 feet [c. 0.9m] wide and enclosed by four large flags some of which are 6 feet [c. 1.8m] long and 1 to 4 feet [c. 0.3-1.2m] above the ground laid edgeways and nearly closing over the top of the grave'. Fagan concluded by stating that other graves of similar construction had long since been destroyed there. This feature, which has not been found, is not shown on OS 6-inch maps. In the absence of further information its nature remains uncertain. Fagan 1845-8, book 5, 25. 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

Megalithic tomb, likely a portal dolmen dating to the Neolithic period. The local tradition associating it with the legend of Diarmuid and Gráinne reflects its cultural significance in Irish folklore.

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