Bin Portal Tomb overlooking Lough Swilly

This monument, not shown on any edition of the OS 6-inch map, is on the SE side of a rocky ridge c. 150m E of the Drumhallagh River, which flows into Lough Swilly c. 500m N of the site. The tomb opens downhill to the SE, in which direction it commands an outlook over Lough Swilly. It consists of a small roofless chamber that originally would have been 2m or a little more in length and is 1.4m wide. Entry to the chamber is between two longitudinally set portal-stones. Only the butt of the eastern one survives. This stone was intact in 1929 (Somerville 1929) but had been reduced to its present state by 1975. Two slabs form the sides of the chamber, both leaning inward against an inset backstone, the top of which is very slightly gabled. The western portal-stone is 1.55m high. The surviving part of the eastern portal-stone is 0.35m high. When intact, it was around the same height as its fellow (Somerville 1929). The eastern sidestone, which overlaps the adjacent portal-stone, would stand 1.35m high if upright. From around mid-length the base of this stone slants upward from ground level so that its inner end is clear of the present floor of the chamber. The western sidestone, if upright, would stand 1.5m high. It and the adjacent portal-stone stand more or less in line and 0.5m apart. The backstone leans inward slightly and is 1.3m high. Somerville 1929, 171 (plan); de Valera 1951, 177, fn. 11; Ò Nualláin 1968a, 296, no. 8; Ò Nualláin 1983a, 30, no. 48 (plan); Ò Nualláin 1983b, 94, Donegal no. 8; SMR 1987, 28: 19; Ò Nualláin 1989, 124; RMP 1995, 28: 19. 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)