Ballyannan Portal Tomb

The monument is on the S face of Aghaweel Hill on the Inishowen peninsula and just over lkm from the shores of Lough Swilly. It stands on a little spur of grass-grown outcrop and is overlooked by the rising hillslope, which severely restricts the view northward. There is an extensive vista in the opposite direction across the southern half of Inishowen and westward across Lough Swilly to the mountains of the Fanad peninsula. The immediate locale provides rough grazing, but cultivation is practised today in the valley of the Aghaweel River c. 500m to the Sand SE. The tomb, a roofless chamber, faces uphill toward the N. It is 2.2m long and narrows from 1.5m wide at the front to 1.3m at the back. At the front two portal-stones, 0.95m apart, flank a doorstone. Single stones form the E and W sides of the chamber, which is closed by a stone set between their southern ends. A low upright outside the SE corner of the chamber seems to be a deliberate feature and may be a packing-stone. The structure stands toward the northern end of a low mound of subcircular outline measuring 10.5m N-S, 9m E-W and c. 0.3m high. The eastern portal-stone is 1.25m high, and the western is 1.3m high. The top of each stone appears as if it may have been damaged, and it is possible that both were originally taller. The doorstone, the top of which is gabled, stands between the inner ends of the portal-stones. It is 0.85m high and approximately two-thirds of the height of the portal-stones. The eastern sidestone, which overlaps the adjoining portal-stone, is 1.2m high. The western sidestone is 0.8m high. Its top is 0.5m lower than that of the adjacent portal-stone. The backstone, gabled on top, is 0.8m high. The small set stone outside the E end of the backstone measures 0.4m by 0.l5m by 0.4m high. An account of the monument in an OS Revision Name Book (1846-7) indicates that it has been in its present condition since at least the middle of the 19th century. OS Revision Name Book, sheet 19 (1846-7), 12 (identified as Aghaweel); Borlase 1897, 230, Inishowen West, no. 1; de Valera 1960, 134, no. 22; Ó Nualláin 1968a, 295; Ó Nualláin 1983a, 29, no. 47 (plan); Ó Nualláin 1983b, 93, Donegal no. 4; SMR 1987, 19:8; Ó Nualláin 1989, 124; Colhoun 1995, 57-8 (plan); RMP 1995, 19:8. 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).