Dermot and Grania's Bed — Carricknamoghil

This monument stands on a ridge in poor pasture c. 300m W of the Bungosteen River and 2.1km N of the inner end of Killybegs Harbour. The site commands an extensive outlook. The monument consists of two elements: a gallery to the SW opening from the remains of a court at its NE end, and in front of the court a ruined chamber. The two elements are 7.5m apart and stand in a long, low, grassy mound measuring 29.5m ENE-WSW by 14.5m and up to 1m high. A trackway crossing the south-western end of the mound seems to have destroyed the back of the western gallery. A field wall now marks one side of the track, and a change in ground level its other side. Four courtstones can be recognised at the front of the gallery. One flanks the N side of the gallery entrance and is 0.45m high. Approximately 2m beyond this a low set stone 0.1m in exposed height seems also to be a courtstone. A third courtstone flanks the S side of the gallery entrance and is 0.3m high. The fourth courtstone, 1.2m beyond the third, is 0.3m in exposed height at its inner face and 0.8m at its outer face. A small subrectangular area of the cairn surface to the S of this stone measuring c. 4m by 3m has been deliberately removed, apparently relatively recently. Two more or less flat-topped, well-matched jambs, 0.7m apart, form the entrance to the gallery. The southern jamb, a transversely set stone, is 0.75m high. The northern jamb, its outer face overlapped by the adjoining courtstone, is 1m high. Immediately behind the jambs are two opposed orthostats, 0.7m apart. The northern one is 1.2m high, and the southern one is 1m high. Resting on these and on the entrance jambs is a lintel measuring 2.1m by 0.9m by 0.4m thick. It appears to be somewhat displaced and originally may have rested solely on the entrance jambs. A largely concealed stone, c. 0.9m in maximum dimension, protruding from the mound immediately behind the southern entrance jamb may be a displaced corbel. Two displaced slabs lie in front of the gallery entrance. The larger, 1.2m by 1.15m and 0.6m thick, partly underlies the smaller, 1.6m by 0.35m by 0.5m thick. Beyond the two front orthostats are two more opposite each other, both large stones. They are set outside the lines of the preceding two and stand 2m apart. The northern one is 1m high. A corbel, one end on the ground, rests against its western end. This is 0.95m long, 0.4m thick and 1m high. The southern sidestone is 1m high. A high-pitched corbel, 1.45m long, 1.7m high and 0.6m thick, rests against its outer face. An upright stone at the inner face of the front of the sidestone is 0.6m high. Its role is uncertain, but it may be a jamb, and if so it would appear to mark the division between a narrow front chamber and a wider second chamber, both c. 2m long. Two longitudinally set jambs converging toward the E stand inside the western end of the second pair of opposed sidestones. These are 0.7m apart at their eastern ends. The southern one is 0.7m high, and the northern 0.65m high. A displaced slab, 1.5m by 1m and 0.7m thick, lies between the two jambs and leans against the northern one. This may be a fallen lintel. Two stones beyond the northern jamb appear to represent a continuation of the N side of the gallery. The stone next to the jamb is 0.85m high, and the one beyond it is 0.75m high. Three displaced stones lie outside the W end of the N side of the gallery. These are 1.05-1.3m in maximum dimension and 0.3-0.5m thick. The chamber at the E end of the monument, aligned NE-SW, is 4.5m in overall length and was at least 1.7m wide. Two orthostats form the N side. The western one leans inward and is 1m high. The eastern, slightly outside the line of the western, is 0.65m high. A sidestone at the W end of the S side of the chamber has fallen inward. If upright it would stand 1.3m high. A single orthostat marks both the E and W ends of the chamber. The one at the W is 0.8m high. It does not span the full width of the chamber and may be a jamb. The orthostat at the E end is also 0.8m high. This too may be a jamb. A prostrate slab lying at the E end of the chamber measures 1.7m by 1.35m and is 0.5m thick. Two other blocks of stone, not shown on the plan, also lie here. The eastern one measures l.1m by 0.9m, and the western one 1.3m by lm; both are 0.4m thick. Approximately 0.6m beyond the southern sidestone is a low upright stone, 0.2m high. This supports a larger, displaced stone, 1.5m in maximum dimension, which leans against it. The upright stone, though well set, is of uncertain status and is not hatched on the plan. Approximately 3m SSW of the chamber is a low stone of uncertain status, c. 0.2m high. Fagan (1845-8) visited this monument in 1847, and it appears from his rather generalised account that it was then more or less as it is now. The original design of the monument is unclear. There seem to be two possibilities: that both elements opened off either end of a large central court, or that the structure at the E is a subsidiary chamber opening off a terminal full court. Both of these designs are known in this area of County Donegal. Given the present state of the monument, it seems that the second alternative is marginally the more likely. De Valera's (1960) suggestion that the front of the larger gallery lay to the W is now considered unlikely, a view expressed by him in an unpublished note in 1964. Fagan 1845-8, book 19, 31-3; McNelis 1952, 431 ('Carricknamohill'); de Valera 1960, 108, DO. 21 (plan); Killanin and Duignan 1967, 335; Conaghan 1974, 14; Ó Nualláin 1983a, 18, no. 11 (plan); SMR 1987, 91:2; Killanin and Duignan 1989, 222; Ó Nualláin 1989, 117; RMP 1995, 91:2. 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)