Druid's Altar Megalithic Tomb — Largatreany, Horn Head

This monument was first shown on the 1847-9 edition of the OS 6-inch map. The remains here, considerably overgrown by furze bushes and other vegetation, consist of a substantial but ill-defined pile of stones, uneven on top, measuring c. 20m E-W, 5m N-S and 1m in maximum height. Resting on it, c. 5m from its eastern extremity, is a prostrate slab, 1.7m by 1.4m by 0.3m thick. There is a considerable scatter of loose stones in the area around the site, which is crossed by a number of partly ruined field fences. According to Thomas Fagan (1845-8), the remains represent the base of a large cairn that had covered 'sundry vaults or graves enclosed by large flat stones pitched end and edgeways in the ground'. The so-called graves were so 'disfigured' that he found it impossible to ascertain any details of their size or shape. A slab lay prostrate on the cairn, which may be the same one as mentioned above, on the basis of the dimensions quoted by Fagan. He added that a considerable amount of reclamation had taken place in the area in the ten years before his visit, which saw the destruction of many ancient features. The substantial pile of stones here may be the remains of a cairn. Its present appearance suggests that it may have been a long cairn. According to Fagan, it covered some form of megalithic structure, although the nature of this is unclear. Fagan 1845-8, book 1, 17; Ó Nualláin 1983a, 48, no. 171; SMR 1987, 15:7; RMP 1995, 15:7. 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