Giants Grave (Site of) — Dooros

There is no trace of this feature, which was first shown on the 1845-7 edition of the OS 6-inch map, where it is named 'Giant's Grave'. It stood on a gentle fall of ground in pasture just W of the base of Croaghan Hill and almost 2km E of the cruciform passage tomb (Site A) in Kilmonaster Middle townland. Thomas Fagan (1845-8), who visited here in 1846, described it as 'the ruins of a Giant's Grave 22 feet [c. 6.7m] long and 2 to 4 feet [c. 0.6-1.2m] wide and lie nearly N and S and was enclosed by flat stones, a few of which still remain 1 to 3 feet [c. 0.3-0.9m] high, but not otherwise large. A flat stone in its south end seem to cover a grave and measure 7 feet [c. 2.15m] long, 4 feet [c. 1.2m] broad and 1 to 2 feet [c. 0.3-0.6m] thick. Several smaller flags lie about the grave.' No trace of this structure survived after 1870 according to an entry in the OS 1:2,500 Name Book (1903-4). This may have been a megalithic tomb. However, the evidence is insufficient to warrant its acceptance as a definite one. Fagan 1845-8, book 10, 32; OS 1:2,500 Name Book, sheet 70 (1905), 74; Ó Nualláin 1968b, 14, site K; Herity 1974, 215, Dg. 11; Ó Nualláin 1983a, 37, no. 85; SMR 1987, 70:73; Ó Nualláin 1989, 142; RMP 1995, 70:73. 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