Megalithic tomb in Liscooly

The standing stone referred to in the heading (Lacy 1983) is the only surviving one of 'four remarkable stones...two of them placed so as to form a grave' that stood in the same field (OS Revision Name Book, 1845). The three missing stones stood c. 75m S of the extant one. The name 'Giant's Grave' written beside these on a pre-publication field map of 1845 was shortly thereafter crossed out, as the three stones were removed by mid-1846. Thomas Fagan (1845-8) visited here between 7 July and 29 August 1846 and remarked of the extant standing stone that it was the remaining one of a number of stones that had 'lately' stood in the same field. The nature of the supposed 'Giant's Grave' is not known. It is worth recording that near to this place (no precise location is given) workmen engaged in levelling a fort found 'a stone coffin containing bones, and an urn, with some other ornaments' (OS Revision Name Book, 1845). This may have been a Bronze Age cist burial. OS Revision Name Book, sheet 79 (1845) [12]; Fagan 1845-8, book 12, 4; Lacy 1983, 83, no. 447; SMR 1987, 79:13; RMP 1995, 79:13. 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