Oirear Dhumhaí Beag Court Tomb

The name 'Dermot and Grania's Bed', intended to identify this monument on the OS 6-inch map, was mistakenly applied to a spot c. 100m to the W (see Appendix 2, No. 23). The tomb stands at the edge of a flat tract of heather-grown bog c. 4km NE of Falcarragh on the coastal strip between Ballyness Bay and Horn Head and overlooks lower ground to the S. Further to the S the mountains of NW Donegal form the skyline. The tomb, which lacks a court, consists of an unroofed gallery, c. 5m long, entered between a doubled pair of jambs, the remains of an antechamber, at the SE. It stands toward the SE end of a slight, heather-grown mound, 19.5m long and up to 0.5m high. A stone wall, running E-W, marks the N side of the mound, which narrows from c. 12m wide at the SE to c. 6m wide at the NW, where its outline is rather indefinite. A stone wall runs up to the N side of the front of the gallery. The outer two of the four jambs at the SE are both set transversely and stand 0.9m apart. The southern one is now 0.4m high. It is clear that a piece has been broken from the top of this stone. The northern jamb, a substantial stone, stands slightly forward of this. It is 1.1m high. A loose slab, 1m by 0.6m by 0.4m, lies against the inner face of the last. The inner jambs are 0.55m apart. The southern one is transversely set and stands 0.6m from the outer jamb at that side. The top of this too has been broken. The surviving part is 0.65m high. The northern jamb is a small stone. It is longitudinally set and measures 0.2m high. The top of this may also have been broken. The antechamber represented by the four jambs appears to have been c. 1m long. That part of the gallery beyond the antechamber is 4m long and c. 2m wide, narrowing to 1.25m at the back. Two orthostats survive on the northern side. That to the front is 1.05m high, and that to the back is 0.7m high. Two orthostats and a small stone form the southern side. The front orthostat on this side is 0.8m high. Between it and the adjacent jamb is a thin set stone, 0.3m high. The second orthostat on this side, skewed so as to narrow the back of the gallery, is 0.55m high. A fine gabled backstone closes the gallery. It is 1.3m high and rises 0.6-0.75m above the tops of the adjacent sidestones. The antechamber identifies the front of the gallery, which may have been divided into two small main chambers, but the possibility that a single long chamber existed here beyond the antechamber cannot be ruled out. OS documents of the mid-19th century indicate that this tomb was then in much the same condition as now. However, Fagan (1845-8) claimed that in addition to the existing gallery there were a number of 'disfigured' smaller graves in the mound and that nearby there were 'the ruins of other graves'. There is now no trace of any of these. Fagan 1845-8, book 3, 10; OS Revision Name Book, sheet 25 (1847-9), 46; Ó Nualláin 1968a, 299, fn. 4; Ó Nualláin 1983a, 22, no. 24 (plan); SMR 1987, 25:5; Ó Nualláin 1989, 117; RMP 1995, 25:5. 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)