Greenhill Gráinne's Bed / Calluragh Burial Ground

The monument was first shown on the 1847-9 edition of the OS 6-inch map, where it is named 'Calluragh Burial Ground', although on the pre-publication field map it is named 'Labby Dermot and Grania'. It is said to be known locally as 'Grania's Bed'. The monument, 2.5km SW of Dunfanaghy, lies c. 300m W of Port Lough. It stands on a gentle slope in a small area of pasture among furze-grown rocky hills. It is overlooked from the S by the low mountain ridge of Croaghaderry, and beyond this the steep slope of Muckish Mountain forms the skyline. The monument now appears as a grass-grown D-shaped mound up to lm high. Its straight side, aligned WNW-ESE, is 9.3m long. A stone wall runs alongside it here. The mound measures 3.8m NNE-SSW. It was originally larger, but, according to local information, the southern end was removed many years ago. The faces of four orthostats are exposed at the eastern side of the mound. One to the S leans outward and is 2.2m long and 0.7m high. A second, just N of this, is 0.2m high and at least 0.6m long. Inside the junction of these a third stone, 0.6m long, rises 0.1m above the first. The face of a fourth stone is exposed at the mound edge c. 0.5m beyond the others. It is 0.15m high and at least 0.3m long. Approximately 0.6m S of this a stone 0.6m long rises 0.1m above the top of the mound. It is uncertain whether this low stone is structural, and it is not hatched on the plan. Two orthostats, parallel to each other, protrude above the surface of the mound at the N. The northern one rises 0.9m above the top of the mound. The southern one, 0.5m to the S of this, rises 0.7m above the mound. Another orthostat, lm S of the western end of the last and at right angles to it, also protrudes from the top of the mound. This rises 0.35m clear of the mound. Thomas Fagan (1845-8) has recorded that stones were removed from the site for use in buildings and that decayed bones were unearthed here. The occurrence of large orthostats in the surviving portion of the mound indicates that the remains are those of some form of megalithic gallery, but it cannot be classified in its present state. It has been interpreted as a wedge tomb (Ó Nualláin 1983a). This interpretation suggests that the two stones at the N are the backstone of a gallery and an outer-wall stone, that the stone to the S of these is a sidestone, and that the stones exposed at the eastern edge of the mound represent outer-walling. However, the N-S orientation of such a structure leaves some doubt about this interpretation. Alternatively, it may be that the two stones at the N are closely spaced jambs in a N-S-aligned gallery. In such a scenario the stone (unhatched on plan) E of the southern of these may also prove to be a jamb. The name 'Calluragh Burial Ground' accorded the site on the OS 6-inch map indicates that it was used as a burial place for infants. This practice has been noted at a number of other megalithic tombs (Aldridge 1969). Fagan 1845-8, book 3, 20; OS Revision Name Book, sheet 25 (1847-9), 6; Ó Nualláin 1983a, 42, 105; SMR 1987, 25:11; Ó Nualláin 1989, 142; RMP 1995, 25:11. 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). See linked document with details from Eamon Cody, Survey of the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland. Volume VI. County Donegal. (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2002) Date of upload: 22 September 2008 Excavation licence number 01E0568 Testing was carried out in the townland of Greenhill, Dunfanaghy, Co. Donegal, on 5 July 2001 on the site of a proposed dwelling-house and percolation area. The site is south-east of a possible megalithic tomb, marked on the OS 6-inch maps as a burial-ground. Three machine-cut test-trenches were excavated. The underlying geology in the area consists of quartzite, a dolomitic marble and schist. Topsoil and sod was 0.2-0.3m in depth and consistently overlay a greyish brown silty subsoil with frequent inclusions of small to medium-sized stones. Testing in the field revealed nothing of archaeological significance. (Excavations Bulletin 2001) Declan Moore, Moore Archaeological and Environmental Services Ltd, 200 Dún na Coiribe