Cloghacorr — Baile An Teampaill

This monument was demolished during the winter of 1978-9 when the orthostats were uprooted and dumped in a pit in the southern corner of the field in which it had stood. The plan published here was made in 1952 and revised on site in 1975. The tomb stood 1.2km SE of Falcarragh on fairly level ground and commanded a good outlook to the N over a large tract of land falling gently to the extensive sandy beach stretching eastward from Ballyness Bay, 3.7km distant. Muckish and Errigal mountains dominate the skyline to the S and SE. At the time of its destruction the monument consisted of the remains of a gallery, 6m long, divided into two chambers, and entered from the E. Approximately 1.5m in front of the gallery was a group of three stones of uncertain status. It has been suggested that the easternmost of these, a split boulder 0.5m high, may have been a courtstone (de Valera 1960). The northern one of the two stones beside this was 0.7m high, and the southern one was 0.3m high. A displaced stone, not on plan, lay to the W of and against the last two. Another displaced stone (not on plan) lay 1m N of the group of three stones. Some traces of a stony mound at the site were too ill defined to show on plan. A transversely set jamb, to the N, with an adjoining sillstone, stood at the E end of the gallery. The jamb was 0.4m high, and the sill was 0.2m high. These stood at the front of a chamber c. 2.6m long and up to 2.25m wide. Two orthostats stood at each side of the chamber. At the N the stone next to the entrance jamb was 0.15m high. The second orthostat here, a split boulder set with its flat face inward, was 0.5m high. The two stones at the S stood together toward the back of the chamber. The eastern one, 0.5m high, was a split boulder set with its flat face inward. The western stone was 0.3m high. The division between the chambers consisted of two longitudinally set jambs standing 0.85m apart. The northern one was 0.25m high, and the southern one 0.4m high. The outer face of the latter was partly overlapped by the adjoining sidestone of the front chamber. The rear chamber was c. 3m long. It appears to have narrowed toward the back. A single orthostat remained on the N side, and there were two on the S side. The more eastern of the last two, a flat-topped stone, was 0.2m high, and the stone next to it was 0.35m high. The lone orthostat at the N (added to the plan in 1975) was a flat-topped stone only 0.1m high. It overlapped the edge of the gable-shaped stone closing the back of the gallery, which was 0.85m high. Three loose boulders, up to 1.2m in maximum dimension, lay along the gallery. These are not shown on the plan. Fagan 1845-8, book 3, 15; OS Revision Name Book, sheet 25 (1847-9), 28; de Valera 1960, 105, DG. 7 (plan); Ó Nualláin 1983a, 16, no. 2 (plan); SMR 1987, 25:41; Ó Nualláin 1989, 117; RMP 1995, 25:41. 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).