Court tomb in Meenletterbale

The monument is not shown on any edition of the OS 6-inch map. It is 1.3km from the NE coast of the Inishowen peninsula and stands on a level patch of furze-grown land c. 450m SE of the summit of Crockbrack Hill (OD 633 feet) and above the valley of the Long Glen River. The land below the monument has been reclaimed to provide pasture and a little tillage. The surviving structure is very ruined. A roofless chamber stands at the NE, and beyond this to the SW are three orthostats, indicating that further structure existed here for a distance of at least 7m beyond the extant chamber. No traces of cairn can be recognised in the overgrowth around the structure. The NE chamber is 4m long and 2.3m in maximum width. Its E end is marked by two longitudinally set jambs standing 0.9m apart. That at the S is 0.5m high, and that at the N is 0.3m high. A small firmly set stone, 0.15m high, at the E end of the latter may be a packing-stone. The jambs flank a sillstone, 0.35m high, standing between their inner ends. There is a gap of 1.5m between the northern jamb and the two surviving orthostats on the same side of the chamber. The eastern one of these is 1.1m high, and the western is 0.7m high. The two surviving orthostats on the S side stand 1.1m apart and are skewed so as to narrow the chamber at both ends. The eastern one is 1.1m high, and the western is 1m high. A pair of transversely set jambs, 0.25m apart, at the SW end of this chamber, separate it from the rest of the gallery. Each jamb stands inside the line of the adjoining sidestone. The northern one is a slight stone, 0.1m high. The southern one is now split but when intact was c. 0.35m thick. It is 1.05m long and 0.55m high. Approximately 2.7m beyond this is another transversely set stone, apparently a segmenting jamb. Between both is a largely concealed stone, at least 0.4m long. The status of this is uncertain, but it may signify intervening gallery structure. The transverse stone is 0.6m high. Standing end on to the SW face of this is another orthostat, which appears to be a sidestone. This is 0.9m high. Approximately 2.5m NW of this is another orthostat, 0.6m high. This may also be a sidestone, part of the northern side of the gallery. A prostrate slab beside it measures 1.25m in maximum dimension. Approximately 3m S of the E end of the gallery is a set stone 0.3m high. It is on a fall of ground, and its top is below the ground level at the gallery. Its function is not clear. Between this and the front of the gallery is a prostrate slab measuring 1.3m in maximum dimension. The monument is clearly the remains of a court tomb, but its precise design is not clear. The front of the gallery cannot be identified, nor can the number of chambers be satisfactorily established, although there seem to have been at least three. Colhoun 1949, 116; Ó Nualláin 1983a, 27, no. 39; SMR 1987, 12:27; Ó Nualláin 1989, 117; Colhoun 1995, 50; RMP 1995, 12:27. 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)