Dermot and Granias Bed (1905–6) — Largynagreana

This monument is on a level patch of poor pasture at the SE foot of a low ridge just 1km NW of Killybegs Harbour. There is an extensive outlook from the site southward across Donegal Bay, but elsewhere the view is restricted by low hills. Immediately in front of the SW end of the monument is a raised trackway, now disused (not on plan). This is a wedge-shaped gallery, 4.5m long, orientated WSW-ENE. A division into a short portico, at the W, and a main chamber seems indicated. A large roofstone covers the greater part of the main chamber. An outer-wall stone survives 0.9m beyond the E end of the gallery. Grass-grown cairn material encompasses all but the front of the structure. The outer-wall stone at the E retains the cairn, which is c. 3m wide near the front of the tomb and up to 0.8m high. The portico, open to the W, is 0.9m long and 1.3m wide. A single orthostat forms each side. That at the N, partly concealed, is 0.6m in exposed height at its inner face. The orthostat on the S is 0.9m in exposed height at its inner face. A large slab leaning westward against the inner ends of the two sidestones seems to be a displaced septal-stone. It is 0.5m thick and at least 1.5m long and would stand 1.1m high if upright. The front half of the main chamber is largely filled with spoil, including rough blocks of stone (not on plan). The chamber is c. 3m long and narrows toward its E end. Three sidestones are visible at both sides. Three together, their outer faces obscured, form the inner half of the N side. The westernmost one is 0.3m in exposed height. The second is 0.35m high, and the third is 0.3m high. The outermost of the three at the S is 0.6m E of the septal-stone. Partly concealed, it is 0.45m in exposed height. The other two sidestones here are at the eastern end of the chamber. The western one is 0.3m in exposed height, and the eastern is 0.15m. The backstone, skewed slightly from the transverse axis of the gallery, is 0.3m high. The roofstone is largely concealed by grass-grown earth and stones, and only its southern edge is exposed. It is at least 3m long, c. 2m wide and 0.4m thick. It rests on the backstone and on the two sides of the chamber. At the N it is supported on the innermost sidestone and on a small packing-stone (not on plan) on top of the adjoining sidestone. At the S it rests on the outermost sidestone and on a small packing-stone (not on plan) on top of the next sidestone. Its disposition indicates a slight decrease in chamber height toward the E. The outer-wall stone beyond the E end of the gallery is 0.7m high. The outer faces of two stones are exposed at the northern edge of the gallery, 1.5m from the front of the monument. The northern one, 0.5m in maximum dimension, is 0.3m in exposed height. The southern one, 0.2m to the S and higher on the slope of the cairn, measures at least 0.6m in maximum dimension and is 0.2m in exposed height. It is uncertain whether these are structural stones. A prostrate slab, 1.3m in maximum dimension, lies at around mid-length on the S side of the chamber. This is of uncertain origin but may be a displaced sidestone. Thomas Fagan (1845-8) saw this monument in 1847, and it appears from his account that it was then more or less as it is now. He claimed that slabs had been removed from the site within local memory. McNelis (1952), in notes compiled in 1931, has claimed that part of the western end of the monument was removed in making the raised trackway that now passes in front of it. Fagan 1845-8, book 19, 17-18; Borlase 1897, 250, Banagh no. 22 (incorrectly assigned to Drumbarity townland); McNelis 1952, 431 ('Largy na Greana'); Crozier 1957, 70 (repeats Borlase's error regarding location); Conaghan 1974, 14 ('Largynagrenna'); Ó Nualláin 1983a, 42, no. 109 (plan); SMR 1987, 97:1; Ó Nualláin 1989, 136; RMP 1995, 97:1. 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 See linked document with details from Eamon Cody, Survey of the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland. Volume VI. County Donegal. (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2002) This monument is subject to a preservation order made under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 (PO no. 1/1970).