Dermot and Granias Bed (1905). — An Ardaidh Bheag

This tomb, now in the garden of a house, stands on a slight ridge c. 1.6km W of Gortahork and c. 250m S of the inner reaches of Ballyness Bay. It is the westernmost of a number of tombs spread along a narrow, generally low-lying coastal strip stretching eastward to Horn Head. To the S the skyline is formed by an arc of mountain ranges stretching south-westward from Muckish to Errigal and from there northward to Bloody Foreland. To the N is a view across Ballyness Bay to Inishbofin and Tory Island. The locality provides fair pasture broken by outcropping rock. The tomb is a partly collapsed chamber facing ENE. Behind it was another, smaller chamber that appears to have been demolished in the late 1830s or early 1840s. Some large stones in a field wall at the site may have formed part of the demolished chamber. The extant chamber is c. 3m long. Its front was formed by two portal-stones, the southern one of which has fallen, with a doorstone, now leaning inward, between them. When upright, the doorstone would have stood to two-thirds of the height of the portal-stones. Two stones form the N side of the chamber. These are not shown on the sectional profile of the tomb. A single stone, now fallen inward and broken in two at mid-length, formed the S side. A displaced roofstone overlies the greater part of the chamber. This is now supported at the E by the doorstone and at the W by a prostrate stone of uncertain origin. Just beyond the back of the chamber and incorporated in a stone wall built along the main axis of the structure is a westward-leaning stone. It is 1.1m in sloping height. The northern portal-stone, set longitudinally, is 2m high when measured at its outer face. The doorstone, set toward the inner end of this, would stand 1.2m high if upright. The southern portal-stone lies prostrate in front of the doorstone. It measures 2m by 0.9m by 0.6m thick. The eastern one of the two sidestones on the N side of the chamber overlaps the adjacent portal-stone and is 0.4m high. The western stone here is 1.2m high. This stone leans inward slightly. The fallen sidestone on the S side, when intact, would have been 3.2m long, 0.3m thick and c. 0.9m high at the front, declining to c. 0.5m at the back. The displaced stone supporting the W end of the roofstone measures 1.25m by 0.65m and is 0.35m thick. The roofstone is 3.8m long (E-W) and up to 0.5m thick. It narrows from a maximum width of 1.8m near its front (E) end to c. 1.2m close to the back end. Thomas Fagan (1845-8) recorded a local claim that the roofstone shifted to its present position above the S side of the chamber during a storm in around 1800. He also reported that locals digging for treasure found that the floor of the chamber was 'paved' in the centre and that several great flagstones lay at either end. Cinders, ashes, shells and burnt slates were allegedly found. Two photographs of the tomb among the Lawrence photograph collection (c. 1880-1910) show that the now fallen southern portal-stone was then standing. The top of this stone sloped sharply downward from a pointed top toward the back of the chamber, in contrast to its flat-topped counterpart. One of these photographs shows a leaning stone just beyond the back of the chamber. This stone is also shown on a sketch of the monument, apparently made in 1836, in the OS Memorandums (1838-42). This may be the stone (mentioned above) now incorporated in the stone wall built along the main axis of the structure. Fagan (1845-8) noted two stones, their average measurements 41/2 feet (c. 1.4m) high and 11/2 feet (c. 0.45m) wide, at the W end of the structure. One of these stones was prostrate when he saw them. The sketch in the OS Memorandums (1838-42), reproduced below, shows that the second and smaller chamber stood a short distance behind the extant chamber. This small chamber then consisted of two opposed orthostats, one at the N and the other at the S, with a gabled orthostat at the W, apparently the backstone of the structure. It appears that it was removed before 1845, as it was not noted by Thomas Fagan (1845-8), who visited the site in that year, or by other OS personnel (OS Revision Name Book, 1845-52). Fagan has referred to the destruction of 'several large and enclosed graves' that stood 'a few yards' to the W of the portal tomb. It is uncertain what weight should be attached to this claim, based as it is on second-hand information. The gabled stone shown forming the rear of the destroyed chamber may be the second from the S of a line of four large stones incorporated in the W face of a stone wall c. 4m W of the extant chamber. It is 0.8m high and may be in situ. The stone adjoining this at the S is 1m high. Immediately N of the gabled stone is a flat-topped stone 0.9m high, possibly the stone that stood on the N side of the chamber. The northernmost of the four stones in the wall is 0.7m high. The original nature of the arrangement here is uncertain, but it may have been similar to that at Kilclooney More (Dg. 70), where a small portal tomb chamber stands behind a larger one, the two sharing, more or less, the same orientation. OS Memorandums 1838-42, 149-51, 583; Fagan 1845-8, book 4, 29-30; OS Revision Name Book, sheet 24 (1845-52), 40; Lawrence photograph collection, nos. 9415 and 9416 (c. 1880-1910); Swan 1955, 70; Ó Nualláin 1968a, 292-3 (plan); Ó Nualláin 1983a, 29, no. 46 (plan); Ó Nualláin 1983b, 93, Donegal no. 5; SMR 1987, 24:6; Ó Nualláin 1989, 124; RMP 1995, 24:6. 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).