Giants Grave — Alt Upper

There is no trace of this feature, which was first shown on the original OS 6-inch map (1836), where it is named 'Giant's Grave'. It stood on a gentle fall of ground c. 4km S of the River Finn and close to the E side of a by- road c. 5km S of Castlefinn. It is described in the OS Memoirs (1836) as 'some remarkable stones having the appearance of antiquity and called the Giant's Grave. The stones are five in number, three standing and two fallen, the largest standing stone is 5 feet [c. 1.5m] high, and seems sunk about 1 foot [c. 0.3m] in the ground—the two fallen are each 6 feet [c. 1.8m] in length, about 4 feet [c. 1.2m] broad and 2 feet [c. 0.6m] thick.' Thomas Fagan (1845-8) described it as 'the ruins of a Giant's Grave which seem to have been 20 feet [c. 6.1m] long and 5 to 7 feet [c. 1.5m to 2.15m] wide'. It lay almost N-S, and only two stones were then in place, with two others lying prostrate. The two set stones stood opposite each other, one to the E and the other to the W. The former measured 5 feet (c. 1.5m) high, 51/2 feet (c. 1.7m) broad and 1-2 feet (c. 0.3-0.6m) thick. The western stone was 21/2 feet (c. 0.75m) high, 51/2 feet (c. 1.7m) long and 1 foot (c. 0.3m) thick. The prostrate stones were to the N of the two just described. One measured 61/2 feet (c. 2m) by 3 feet 9 inches (c. 1.15m) by up to 3 feet (c. 0.9m) thick. The other measured 7 feet (c. 2.15m) by 51/2 feet (c. 1.7m) by 2-3 feet (c. 0.6-0.9m) thick. According to an entry in an OS 1:2,500 Name Book, there were some stones at the site in 1904, but their number and status are not clear from the account. These had been removed by 1952. The stones referred to in the mid-19th-century accounts may have formed part of a megalithic tomb, with perhaps the two upright stones noted by Fagan serving as orthostats at either side of a chamber or gallery. However, without more information the nature of the site must remain uncertain. OS Memoirs, Urney Parish (1836), 71, 73; Fagan 1845-8, book 12, 16; OS 1:2, 500 Name Book, sheet 88 (1904), 3; Ó Nualláin 1983a, 46, no. 140; SMR 1987, 88:1; Ó Nualláin 1989, 142; RMP 1995, 88:1. 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