Dermot and Grania's Bed Court Tomb — Carrickafodan

This monument, 1.7km E of Carndonagh, is on good, generally level pasture and commands a view over Trawbreaga Bay, the inner reaches of which are 2.7km to the NNW. The view southward is limited by a nearby stretch of higher ground. The monument is partially ruined. It consists of a roofless gallery, at least 4.5m long, preceded at the NNE by the remains of a court. Little survives of the W side of the gallery, but the E side is well preserved. The structure stands toward the N end of a long mound, the eastern side of which is incorporated in a massive stone wall that rises above the tomb orthostats. The mound is c. 34m long, although its outline is somewhat uncertain at the S, and it reaches a maximum height of c. 1m above present ground level at the W. The E side of the enveloping wall and the W side of the mound converge toward the SSW, indicating an original cairn outline of generally trapezoidal shape. Five stones form the E arm of the court, but only three stones of the W arm survive. The innermost stone of the E arm is 1m high. The other four here decline in height toward the front by intervals of 0.1-0.25m. The outermost is 0.3m high. The three courts tones of the W arm stand at its outer end and are partly concealed by loose stones. The outermost, 0.5m in exposed height, rises 0.1m above the tops of the other two, which rise 0.2m and 0.15m clear of the stones at their base. The court is c. 4.5m long and 5m wide at its outer end. Two prostrate slabs lie within it, and there are two more in the front chamber. The gallery is divided by a jamb and septal-stone arrangement into two chambers, but there is a possibility that there was a third chamber here (see below). The front chamber is c. 2.5m long. The surviving entrance jamb, transversely set, is on the court perimeter. It is l.1m high and rises 0.1m above the top of the adjoining courtstone. Two slightly overlapping stones form the E side of the chamber. The outer one is 0.8m high and supports three steeply inclined corbels. The outer ends of the corbels are embedded in the stone wall beside the gallery. The inner sidestone here is 1.1m high and partly overlaps a longitudinally set segmenting jamb of similar height. This jamb rises between 0.1m and 0.25m above the top of the tall septal-stone. A large stone (shown on section) protruding from the wall overlying the E side of the gallery is probably displaced. The second chamber is c. 1.8m long and 1.4m wide. A single orthostat, 0.1m taller than the segmenting jamb, forms the E side of this chamber. A packing-stone is exposed at its outer end. A lone orthostat, 0.6m high, remains on the W side. A flat-topped stone, 0.95m high, crosses the S end of the gallery. Its base is exposed at the E, and the space beneath is filled by a small, firmly set stone (not hatched on plan). The crossing-stone may be the gallery backstone or may mark a point of segmentation. The possibility that there is a further tomb structure is suggested by a stone set transversely to the line of the gallery 1.7m beyond the crossing-stone. This is 1.6m long and 0.25m thick and rises 0.3m above the top of the mound. Excavation would be required to confirm its status, but it may mark the end of a third chamber. A brief description of the monument in an OS Revision Name Book (1848) records that 'the flag or covering on top' was removed by the landowner for use in the construction of a limekiln. On removing this, he is reported to have found a small metal cup, c. 9 inches (c. 0.23m) in diameter, said to be 'not unlike' the bottom part of a pot. It contained only earth. In or around 1974 a plano-convex flint knife and the butt portion of a Bann Flake were unearthed at this site. These are now in the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin, under the reference numbers 1974:84 and 1974:85. When the tomb was surveyed in 1982 signs of this disturbance were still visible along the W side of the gallery and in the greater part of the second chamber as indicated in dotted outline on the plan. OS Revision Name Book, sheet 11 (1848), 90; Ó Nualláin 1983a, 18, no. 10; SMR 1987, 11:42; Ó Nualláin 1989, 117; Colhoun 1995, 32; RMP 1995, 11:42. 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 See linked document with details from Eamon Cody, Survey of the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland. Volume VI. County Donegal. (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2002)