Standing Stones — Cloghroe (lettermore Ed)

This monument lies c. 6km N of Ballybofey. It stands on the northern slope of the broad shallow valley of the Cloghroe River, itself a tributary of the River Deele. There is an extensive outlook eastward along the Deele valley, and Liskeran Hill is visible to the S across the Cloghroe valley. Much of the land in the vicinity of the tomb is devoted to pasture, and wettish land on the lower ground to the S and E has been planted with trees. This single-chambered monument lacks a roofstone. Two portal-stones survive at the NNW, and 2m to the S is a gabled backstone. A single sidestone, half the length of the chamber, leans inward against the eastern end of the backstone. A displaced stone lying in the chamber is partly obscured by field stones. It is at least 1m in maximum dimension. The portal-stones are 0.6m apart at ground level. The eastern one now leans against the upper part of the western. It would stand 2.3m high if upright. The western one is 2.5m high at its inner face and exposed to a depth of 2.8m at its outer face. The backstone, 1.3m high, leans inward slightly. The adjoining sidestone is 1.9m long and up to 0.4m thick and at its highest rises 0.4m above the top of the backstone. Thomas Fagan (1845-8) visited the site in 1846, and it is clear from his account that the monument was then as it is now. He noted that 'in labouring the ground around it in 1843 and at a depth of 2 feet [c. 0.6m] a small earthen urn containing calcined bones and ashes was dug up. The crock and bones mouldered down when exposed to the air.' Fagan 1845-8, book 10, 13; Ó Nualláin 1968a, 297; Ó Nualláin 1983a, 30, no. 51 (plan); Ó Nualláin 1983b, 94, Donegal no. 14; SMR 1987, 69:18; Ó Nualláin 1989, 124; RMP 1995, 69:18. 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)