Kilbeg Wedge Tomb

This monument is c. 200m E of and overlooking the outer end of Teelin Bay. There is a fine outlook southward across Donegal Bay to the coasts of counties Mayo and Sligo. Rising ground restricts the view inland. The rocky landscape in the vicinity of the site provides rough pasture. The tomb consists of a gallery, at least 5m long, which decreases in height and width from WSW to ENE. A single facade-stone flanks each side of the W end of the gallery, and between these is an orthostat forming a divided entrance. A large roof stone toward the E end of the gallery seems to be partly displaced, and further displaced slabs beyond this obscure the structure. Three outer-wall stones survive beyond the gallery at the N. A field wall close to the S side of the monument impinges on the disturbed E end of the gallery. A scatter of small stones here, now partly grass grown, may be spill from the wall. Between this wall and the gallery side is a grass- grown mass of stones c. 0.5m high, perhaps the remains of a cairn. There is a similar fill between the gallery side and outer wall at the N. The orthostat dividing the gallery entrance is 1.15m high. The northern facade-stone is 1.2m high, and the southern one is 1m high. The gallery is 1.75m wide at the W and clearly narrowed toward the disturbed E end. Three sidestones survive at the N side. The westernmost of these articulates with the northern facade-stone, which rises 0.45m above it. This sidestone is 0.8m high. The second sidestone, 0.6m to the E, is 0.7m high. The third, 2.1m beyond the second, partly obscured by displaced stones, is 0.45m high. At the S four contiguous stones survive along the front half of the gallery. Between the westernmost of these and the southern facade-stone is a small firmly set stone, 0.45m high, which may also be part of the gallery side. The heights of the four contiguous sidestones from W to E are 0.6m, 0.5m, 0.6m and 0.25m. The large roof stone, 2.3m from the front of the gallery, measures 2.3m by 1.3m and is 0.25m thick. It rests on the easternmost sidestone on the S side of the gallery and, at the N, on the upper one of two slabs that overlie a partly concealed stone inside the line of the gallery side. The partly concealed stone (shown on plan) measures at least 0.35m long, 0.25m thick and 0.1m high. Its status is uncertain. The lower of the two superimposed slabs, neither of which is shown on the plan, measures 0.5m by 0.3m by 0.15m thick. The upper one measures 1.4m by 0.5m by 0.25m thick. The NE end of this overlies what appears to be a deliberate build-up of small stones, unlikely to be an original feature. Another stone (not on plan), measuring 1.3m by 0.6m by 0.3m thick, protrudes from under the SW end of the roofstone. To the E of the roofstone are two slabs, both displaced, lying across the gallery. The northern one measures 1.35m by at least 0.7m by 0.4m thick. The southern one measures 1.3m by lm by 0.25m thick. To the E of the northern edge of this is a loose stone, at least 0.5m in maximum dimension, and c. 0.4m N of this a partly concealed slab, at least 0.6m in maximum dimension and 0.15m thick, partly overlies the easternmost sidestone on the N side. The outer-walling at the N converges on the gallery side toward the E. The westernmost of the three orthostats here is lm beyond the westernmost sidestone, and the next, 1.2m to the E, is 0.6m beyond the gallery side. The heights of the three from W to E are 0.35m, 0.15m and 0.1m. The last is skewed slightly from the line of the other two. Fagan 1845-8, book 19, 49; Ó Nualláin 1983a, 42, no. 107 (plan); SMR 1987, 96:21; Ó Nualláin 1989, 136; RMP 1995, 96:21. 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)