Kilclooney More Court Tomb

This monument is shown as a small rectangular enclosure on the revised OS 6-inch map of 1847-50 but is not named there. However, it is named 'Dermot and Grania's Bed' on the pre-publication field map. It is 700m NNE of the last monument (Dg. 68) on a slight local rise in an extensive area of wet, boggy pasture broken by rock outcrops c. 2.3km NE of Ballinreavy Strand at the inner end of Loughros More Bay. The site commands an extensive outlook in all directions. One of the two portal tombs in the same townland (Dg. 70), 500m to the E, is visible from it. The monument consists of a gallery c. 6m long and 2-2.5m wide. Entry to it is at the E between two jambs. Outside the northern of these are two courtstones. A tier of three contiguous corbels overlies the inner half of the S side of the gallery, and outside this are two slipped corbels of, it appears, a second tier. A lintel, c. 1m inside the entrance jambs, spans the gallery sides. Between this and the entrance jambs are four displaced slabs on the floor of the gallery. Approximately 1m in front of the gallery is a large prostrate slab that appears to be a displaced lintel. There are two slabs just outside the front half of the N side of the gallery, the eastern one of which may be a slipped corbel. Some small slabs lying in the inner half of the gallery and others heaped just outside it are not shown on the plan. A slightly raised area can, with some difficulty, be traced around the sides and back of the gallery, which seems to indicate cairn remains. This raised area is largely grass grown but is broken in places by rock outcrops; it measures 17m N-S by 22m E-W. In front of the gallery is a very gradual fall in ground level, but the limits of the possible cairn material here cannot be determined. The outer one of the two courtstones on the N arm of the court, a substantial block, is 1.2m high. The inner leans to the SE and rests on a small stone at its outer end. It would stand 1.3m high if upright. The stone it rests against seems firmly set but is not definitely structural. It measures 0.45m by 0.2m by 0.45m high. The jambs at the entrance to the gallery are tall, flat-topped, well-matched stones, 0.95m apart. The northern one, set transversely, is 1.45m high, and the southern one is 1.6m high. There are three orthostats on each side of the gallery. The outermost sidestone at the S is 0.85m high. It partly overlaps the outer face of the adjacent jamb, which rises 0.6m above it. The second sidestone is also 0.85m high, and the third, which is partly concealed, is 0.9m high. The outermost of the three orthostats at the N side of the gallery, its top c. 0.3m below that of the adjacent jamb, is 0.6m high. It slightly overlaps the outer face of the second orthostat, which rises 0.5m above it and is 1.7m high. The third sidestone on this side is 1.3m high. The backstone is set between the sides of the gallery. It is a tall stone, 1.65m high, and when intact seems to have been gabled in outline. The northern half of this stone has been broken off at just above ground level. The easternmost of the three contiguous corbels above the S side of the gallery is partly supported by two small stones (not on plan) resting on the sloping outer end of the sidestone next to the backstone. It measures 1.1m by 1.1m and is 0.45m thick. The second corbel measures 1.25m by 1.35m and is 0.35m thick, and the third measures 0.85m by at least 0.9m by 0.4m thick. The eastern one of the two slipped corbels outside this end of the gallery leans against the easternmost of the three corbels just referred to and measures 1.85m by 1.7m by 0.4m thick. The western slipped corbel is prostrate. It measures 1.55m by 1.5m and is 0.5m thick. The eastern one of the two displaced slabs outside the N side of the gallery measures 1.15m by 0.85m and is 0.4m thick. The western slab, 0.2m to the W, is partly buried and measures 1.3m by 0.7m by 0.35m thick. The lintel spanning the gallery is very probably displaced and appears to be inverted. It now rests on the middle orthostat at either side of the gallery. Its upper surface is flat, and its bellied underside dips below the tops of the supporting sidestones and is no more than 0.45m above the present floor of the gallery. It measures 2.7m by lm by 1.3m thick. The lintel-like slab lying in front of the gallery measures 2.8m by 1.2m by 0.85m thick. The four displaced slabs in the front part of the gallery range from 1.lm to 2.4m in maximum dimension. All are likely to have formed part of the structure, although their original roles are now unclear. A watercolour of this monument (RIA MS 3 C 33) is reproduced above. Dated 1799, it is based on an original drawing made some years earlier (see Introduction). It shows a lintel in place above the front of the gallery. This lintel largely obscures what appears to be a second one further along the gallery, only the S end of which is visible on the drawing and which may be that still on the gallery sides. When Thomas Fagan (1845-8) visited the site in 1847 it was in much the same state as it is now. A brief account in an OS Revision Name Book (1847-50) refers to the 'foundations of cabins' on or near the site, but these are not now apparent. On the basis of its length it could be expected that the gallery was originally divided into two chambers. RIA MS 3 C 33, no. 30; Fagan 1845-8, book 22, 2-3; OS Revision Name Book, sheet 73 (1847-50), 33; Crozier 1957, 66 ('horned cairn'); de Valera 1960, 107, DG. 15 (plan); Killanin and Duignan 1962, 52; L. McGill 1964, 63; Killanin and Duignan 1967, 384; RJ. McGill 1970, 6; Ó Nualláin 1983a, 22, no. 26; SMR 1987, 73:3;Killanin and Duignan 1989, 254; Ó Nualláin 1989, 117; RMP 1995, 73:3. 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)