Standing Stones (1906). — Gortfad

This destroyed monument stood in rolling pasture 2km NE of Castlefinn and 2km NW of where the River Finn changes its eastward course to flow north-eastward to Lough Foyle and the sea. A passage tomb, now also destroyed, stood c. 400m to the W in the same townland. The cairn-topped Croaghan Hill, 2km distant, is visible to the NE, and nearby Crossy Hill limits the outlook to the ESE. The monument consisted of two large set stones, 1.4m apart, standing in a low mound composed largely of field stones. The mound, subcircular in outline, measured c. 5m by 3.5m and was 0.7m high. The disposition of the two upright stones, their shapes and their relative heights identified them as the backstone, to the S, and the eastern portal-stone of a small chamber opening to the NNE. The southern stone, which leaned northward slightly, rose 1.3m above the base of the mound. This stone rose to a slight peak close to its eastern end. It had a flat inner and a sloping outer face and increased in thickness from top to base. The northern stone rose 0.4m above the top of the southern and leaned very slightly toward the E. Its northern half rose 1.7m above the base of the mound. The southern half of the stone sloped to around half that height. The most substantial of some scattered stones at the site measured 1.3m in maximum dimension. Thomas Fagan (1845-8) visited here in 1846, and it is clear from his account that it was then as described above. He identified it as 'the ruins of a giant's grave' and claimed that within local memory upright and prostrate stones had been removed from the site. Sometime between September 1984, when the plan published here was made, and September 1991 the tomb was demolished and the site levelled. At the latter date the two structural stones lay discarded against a field fence c. 40m SE of the spot they had occupied for so long. Fagan 1845-8, book 12, 5; SMR 1987, 79:8; Ó Nualláin 1989, 124; RMP 1995, 79:8. 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)