Meenbog Court Tomb

This monument is not shown on any edition of the OS 6-inch map. It is on a great expanse of bog-grown hill-land c. 4km N of the River Finn and c. 1 1km NW of Ballybofey. It stands on a level patch on sloping ground and commands an extensive outlook to the S across the Finn valley. The Blue Stack mountains form the skyline to the SW, and rising ground restricts the outlook to the N. Bog growth in the vicinity, as revealed in a cutting 4m SE of the monument, is c. 1m high. The structural remains consist of a court at the SSE leading to a ruined gallery. The structure stands in a cairn distinguished in part by its stony surface but in the main by a growth of bright green grass that contrasts with the darker, somewhat coarse grass on the surrounding bog. A line of rushes also helps to define the long sides of the cairn, which at its centre rises no more than 0.5m above the level of the bog. There is no trace of the cairn beyond the modern field bank that crosses the N end of the site. Immediately S of this field bank is a ditch (not on plan), its sides largely collapsed. The cairn is more or less trapezoidal in plan. It measures 20m N-S and narrows from 15.5m wide close to its southern end to 11m at the N. The courtstones are incorporated in a low grass-grown spread of stones that seems to be the remains of a small rectangular feature (pecked on plan), perhaps the base of a hut of relatively modern date. The two entrance jambs at the front of the gallery lie on the court perimeter. A single courtstone survives outside the western jamb, and there are two beside the eastern. Approximately 3.5m S of the outer one of these is an upright stone that may be another courtstone, but, as it is close to the apparent entrance to the hut-like feature, it may have been placed here as a door jamb of that structure. The entrance jambs to the gallery are 0.5m apart. The western one is 0.3m high, and the eastern one is 0.6m high. The courtstone adjoining the western jamb is 0.9m in exposed height and rises 0.4m above it. The courtstone beside the eastern jamb is 1.4m high and rises 0.8m above it. The next courtstone is 0.7m high. The possible courtstone to the S of this is 0.6m high. All but the front of the gallery is considerably concealed by cairn material. It is at least 6.5m long, is 1.5m wide at the front and seems to have narrowed toward the rear. The sides of the front chamber, which is c. 2m long, are represented by single stones. That at the E leans inward, and its outer face is largely hidden. It rises 0.3m clear of the surface of the cairn. The orthostat at the W is 0.2m high. A pair of longitudinally set jambs, 0.6m apart, form the segmentation between the front chamber and the rest of the gallery. That at the E is 0.35m high, and that at the W is 0.4m high. Three orthostats (hatched on plan) indicate the continuation of the gallery. The first of these, a sidestone, is next to the eastern segmenting jamb. It is exposed to a depth of 0.6m. Beside this to the N, part of the face of an otherwise concealed stone, at least 0.3m long, is exposed in a hole in the cairn. Its status is uncertain. The second orthostat, also a sidestone, is 2.4m N of the western segmenting jamb, and its northern end overlaps the third orthostat, which is set inside it. Both are exposed in a hole in the cairn measuring 2.8m long and 0.8m wide. The second is exposed to a depth of 0.9m, and the third rises 0.3m above it. At the southern end of the hole in which these stones are exposed, what appears to be a transversely set stone is visible at a depth of 0.4m below the top of the cairn. Its status is unclear. Approximately 1.4m N of the two orthostats on this side is a small stone, and 0.3m further N is the outer end of another, transversely set one. Both appear to be firmly set, but further investigation would be required to establish their status. The southern one rises 0.3m clear of the cairn. The northern one is the same height as the last. The design of the gallery beyond the front chamber is unclear. There seems to have been at least two further chambers here, and the possibility that there were four chambers in all cannot be ruled out. Mac Meanman 1985 (dolmen near 'Doonan Old House' seems to refer); SMR 1987, 68:2; Ó Nualláin 1989, 117; Verling 1990, 126; RMP 1995, 68:2. 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)