Laghty Wedge Tomb — Sharagore

The monument is on the summit of a hill, close to Dunree Head, on the W side of the Inishowen peninsula, and overlooks Lough Swilly. The site commands an extensive outlook, except to the E, where Aghaweel Hill, 1km away, forms the skyline. There is rough pasture in the environs of the site, with heather-grown boggy ground to the S and E. The structure, somewhat ruined, consists of an unroofed gallery at least 4m long aligned SW-NE and flanked at either side by the remains of outer-walling. The outer-walling, 1m beyond the gallery sides at the W, converges on them toward the E, where the gap is c. 0.6m. The gallery, 1.6m wide at the open SW end, narrows to 1m at the inner end, which is closed by a low backstone. There is also a decrease in gallery height in the same direction. The outer-walling also decreases in height to the NE. A facade-stone spans the greater part of the space between the gallery side and the outer-walling at the S, and a set stone outside the outer-walling at the N may represent an extension of the facade. The structure stands in a low wedge-shaped mound, 11.5m long, which narrows from 11.5m wide near its SW end to c. 3m at the NE end. The mound is grass grown and not more than 0.5m high. A fence has been built along the S side of the gallery, and another runs up to the outer wall at the same side. The inner end of the space between the gallery side and the outer-walling at the N is covered by a slab measuring 2.3m by 1.3m by 0.25m thick. This is supported by two small set stones, each 0.4m high, standing at the outer face of the gallery wall and by five small pad-stones resting on top of an outer-wall stone. Roofing of the space between the gallery side and the outer-walling is not known elsewhere in Ireland, and therefore it must be doubted that this is an original feature. Two orthostats survive at either side of the gallery. The outer stone at the N is 1.1m high, and that at the S is 1m high. The two inner sidestones are more substantial slabs and decrease in height from c. 0.7m at their outer ends to 0.4m at the inner. The flat-topped backstone is set between the inner ends of the two large sidestones and is of similar height. Two outer-wall stones survive beyond the S side of the gallery. That to the W is broken. Its butt is in place and is 1.1m long, 0.35m thick and 0.5m high. The detached upper portion lies against the adjacent facade-stone. When intact the stone was 1.55m high. The second outer-wall stone is 13m E of the first. The outer end of this stone is 0.5m high, from where it slopes to ground level at the inner end. There are three outer-wall stones to the N of the gallery. That at the W is 1.4m high. The second stone is 0.6m lower than the first. The third orthostat here is 0.3m lower than the second. Approximately 0.8m beyond this is a partly buried stone at least 0.4m long, 0.15m thick and 0.2m high. Its status is uncertain. The facade-stone at the S is incorporated in the fence crossing the monument. It is 0.3m high. The stone that appears to represent an extension of the facade to the N of the outer wall is 0.7m high. The adjoining outer-wall stone rises 0.75m above it. A brief account in an OS Memoir (1834), accompanied by a rudimentary plan and sketch of the monument, indicates that a roofstone then covered the inner end of the gallery. It appears that this stone was no longer in place ten years later (OS Revision Name Book, 1847-50). The Name Book also records that 'a vast quantity of small loose stones' then lay scattered around the structure and recounts a local claim that 'a perfect human skeleton', discovered a few feet below the surface when clearing away stones from the site, was left where it was found and covered over. OS Memoirs, Desertegny parish (1834), 8 (rudimentary plan and sketch); OS Revision Name Book, sheet 18 (1847-50), 11-12; Ó Nualláin 1983a, 43, no. 115; SMR 1987, 18:10; Ó Nualláin 1989, 136; Colhoun 1995, 55-6; RMP 1995, 18:10. 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