Former Giant's Grave — Gortree

This feature, of which there is no trace, is depicted as a rock on the original OS 6-inch map of 1834-5 and is named 'G[iant's] Rock' on the Fair Plan. It is named 'Giant's Grave' on the revised 6-inch map of 1846-8. The site, c. 5km E of the inner reaches of Lough Foyle on gently rolling pasture, commands a good all-round outlook. The vicinity of the site has been quarried and is now heavily overgrown. Two large prostrate slabs, each c. 1m in maximum dimension, lie c. 6m apart at the southern edge of the quarried area, but it is not known whether these formed part of an ancient structure. Thomas Fagan (1845-8) described this feature as 'the ruins of a pagan sepulture' and stated that it was known locally as a 'Giant's Grave'. It measured 9 feet (c. 2.75m) by 5 feet (c. 1.5m) and had been built with large stones 2-4 feet (0.6-1.2m) high 'set end and edgeways in the ground'. Only three stones were then in place. One of these, standing on edge at the S side of the grave, was 8 feet (c. 2.4m) long. The other two were smaller, but their dimensions are not known. Other stones lay prostrate at the site, one of which was 8 feet (c. 2.4m) long, 4 feet (c. 1.2m) broad and 11/2 feet (c. 0.45m) thick. According to Fagan, this stone had originally rested on top of the upright stones and covered the grave. According to an entry in the OS 1:2,500 Name Book of 1904, the large stones that had comprised this feature were removed by the then landowner, Houston. The date of their removal is not recorded. In his report Fagan also recorded that c. 21 yards (c. 19m) to the E of the feature just referred to was a large slab measuring 9 feet (c. 2.75m) by 61/2 feet (c. 2m) and averaging 21/2 feet (c. 0.75m) thick. This lay almost prostrate on a smaller stone. He speculated that these stones may have been the remains of a second 'sepulture'. The nature of these features remains uncertain. Fagan 1845-8, book 8, 13; OS 1:2,500 Name Book, sheet 54 (1904), 15; Ó Nualláin 1983a, 45, no. 129; SMR 1987, 54:13; Ó Nualláin 1989, 142; RMP 1995, 54:13. 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 Excavation licence number 01E1006 Monitoring took place of a single house development including access lane and septic tank at Newtowncunningham, Lifford. The site is on a hillside close to a megalithic tomb known locally as 'the Giant's Grave'. No archaeological remains or materials were uncovered. (Excavations Bulletin 2001) Christopher Read, North West Archaeological Services, Cloonfad Cottage, Cloonfad, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim.