Drumhallagh Upper Court Tomb

The tomb is on a level patch of ground 2.9km from the W side of Lough Swilly and lies between two small river valleys, one 500m to the N and the other 400m to the S. To the E is an extensive outlook over Lough Swilly. Northward, beyond a gentle fall, a low hill restricts the outlook. An arc of hills stretching northward from Croaghan Hill to Knockalla Mountain forms the western skyline. The area provides rough pasture broken by patches of outcropping rock in the immediate vicinity of the site. The structure consists of a roofless but otherwise well-preserved gallery facing NE. The gallery is 7m long and divided into two chambers by tall jambs set longitudinally at either side of a tall septal-stone. A considerable number of sizeable stones lie prostrate at the site, many of them wholly or partly covered by vegetation creep, and the tops of others, possibly set stones, protrude above ground level. Most but not all of these are shown on the plan. A line of stones running forward from either side of the gallery entrance may be displaced courtstones. However, they provide no reliable indication of the design of the court. The largest of these is up to 2m in maximum dimension, and all are prostrate except one, the second from the N side of the gallery entrance. This leans southward and would stand 0.35m high if upright. Some low stones beyond the sides and end of the gallery may be kerbstones, although there is now no definite trace of a mound at the site. Two prostrate slabs, perhaps fallen facade-stones, link the front of the N side of the putative kerb to the line of possible courtstones. Two well-matched, transversely set jambs, 0.7m apart, mark the entrance to the front chamber. This chamber is 3.6m long and 1.8m wide at the front, narrowing toward the segmentation. The northern entrance jamb has fallen forward and is now almost prostrate. It would stand 1.2m high if upright. The southern jamb is 1.35m high. Two stones remain on the S side of the front chamber. The outer one, next to the entrance jamb, is a low stone, 0.2m, high. An accumulation of earth hides its inner face so that it does not show on the section accompanying the plan. The inner orthostat is 1.35m high. Beyond this is a gap in the chamber wall. A single orthostat, 1.25m high, survives on the N side of the chamber. At the W end of this stone is a small stone lying transversely to the line of the gallery side. This is 0.6m high. It is not firmly set and may not be in situ. The segmenting jambs are set inside the ends of the slabs forming the sides of the second chamber. The northern jamb is 1.15m high. A piece may have been broken from the top of this stone. The southern one is 2.1m high. The septal-stone runs transversely between the jambs, the southern of which rises 0.9m above it. The second chamber is 3.1m long and narrows from 2.1m wide just inside the segmentation to 1.6m near the backstone. Single slabs form each side of this chamber. The northern sidestone is 0.95m high. The southern sidestone decreases in height from 1.1m at the segmentation to 0.7m at the other end. The slab forming the back of the gallery leans markedly outward. It would stand 1.5m high if upright. This is a flat-topped stone with sloping ends that broadens toward the base. It is set with its inner face in line with the end of the southern sidestone and 0.4m beyond the end of the northern one. A displaced slab resting on the backstone measures 1.5m by 0.8m by 0.2m thick, and another, lying in the second chamber, measures 1.4m by at least 1.3m by 0.4m thick. The resemblance of this chamber to a portal tomb has been noted elsewhere (de Valera 1960). A sketch plan of the gallery and an elevation of its S side in the OS Memoirs (1834) show that it was then in its present state except that the outwardly pitched northern entrance jamb and backstone were then upright. OS Memoir, Killygarvan parish (1834), 21 (plan and elevation); Hill 1847, 13; Batt 1889, 42; Kinahan 1889, 280; Borlase 1897, 231-2, Kilmacrenan no. 9; Somerville 1909, 215-18; Davies 1942, 82, fn. 8; H. Morris 1947, 41, no. B13; Corcoran 1960, 146, no. 113; de Valera 1960, 106, DG. 11 (plan); Killanin and Duignan 1962, 408; Killanin and Duignan 1967, 412; Ó Nualláin 1983a, 20-21, no. 23 (plan); SMR 1987, 28:17; Ó Nualláin 1989, 117; RMP 1995, 28:17. 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)