Former Gortree Pagan Burial Place

This feature, which has been removed, is named 'Stones' on the original OS 6-inch map of 1834-5 and 'Pagan Burial Place' on the revision of 1846-8. On the pre-publication map of the 1846-8 survey it is named 'Druid's Altar in Ruins'. It stood on gently rolling pasture 600m S of the last described. Thomas Fagan (1845-8) described it as 'the ruins of a pagan altar and sepulture commonly called the Grey Rocks', which had been largely demolished 'a few years' before his visit in 1846. During the demolition a large quantity of burnt bones and ashes was reportedly found. Among the stones noted by Fagan during his visit were three massive flags, each as much as 10 or 11 feet (c. 3.05-3.3m) in maximum dimension; two of these were said to have rested on upright stones c. 6 feet (c. 1.8m) high. All trace of the feature had been removed by the early years of the 20th century (OS 1:2,500 Name Book, 1904). The nature of the feature referred to remains uncertain. Fagan 1845-8, book 8, 16; OS 1:2,500 Name Book, sheet 54 (1904), 29; Ó Nualláin 1983a, 45, no. 130; SMR 1987, 54:14; Ó Nualláin 1989, 142; RMP 1995, 54:14. 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