Dermot and Granias Bed — Ráith

This tomb lies c. 1km S of the court tomb in Ballyboe (Dg. 5) and around the same distance N of another in Moyra Glebe (Dg. 103) and stands 600m E of the Ray River. It is sited near the top of a slight ridge on low-lying farmland almost 2.5km from the coast. The sea is visible to the N, and to the S Muckish and Errigal mountains form the skyline. The monument consists of the remains of a chamber facing ESE. Three orthostats—a backstone, a sidestoneand a jamb—are present and indicate a chamber length of 3.7m. The structure stands in a mound measuring 7m N-S by almost 6m E-W and up to 1m high. Much of the content of the mound appears to consist of dumped field stones, although some partly buried sizeable ones (not on plan) may be displaced structural stones. The backstone, at the WNW, is tall and gabled in outline. It rises 1.3m above the surface of the mound and 1.7m above field level alongside. The sidestone, on the southern side of the chamber, is c. 0.7m lower than the backstone. The jamb is 0.9m ESE of the sidestone. It is transversely set and is c. 0.15m taller than the sidestone. Approximately 0.5m N of the jamb a slab measuring 1.6m by 0.9m by at least 0.7m thick lies prostrate on the mound. This may be a fallen jamb. In the middle of the 19th century two upright stones stood at this end of the chamber (OS Revision Name Book, 1847-9). The same source also recorded that a prostrate stone, 61/2 feet (c. 2m) long and 31/2 feet (c. 1.05m) broad, then lying at the northern side of the chamber, may have been a fallen sidestone. There can be little doubt that the remains represent the endchamber of a court tomb gallery. Fagan 1845-8, book 3, 7; OS Revision Name Book, sheet 25 (1847-9), 12; de Valera 1960, 130, no. 5 (plan); Ó Nualláin 1983a, 27, no. 41; SMR 1987, 25:35; Ó Nualláin 1989, 117; RMP 1995, 25:35. 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)