Croaghbeg Court Tomb / Pontabane Cairn

This monument, like the two (Dg. 12 and Dg. 113) nearby in the same coastal valley, has been excavated. It is sited on a low but steep-sided rocky ridge and faces upslope to the head of the valley. Before excavation it was so obscured by collapsed cairn stones that its precise design was unclear (de Valera 1960). The excavation was carried out over five seasons (1969-73), and preliminary accounts have been published (Flanagan 1970; 1971a; 1971b; 1972; 1973; 1974). It consists of a long cairn at the northern end of which is a court leading to a two-chambered gallery. A lintel surmounts the gallery entrance, and there is another above the jambs separating the two chambers. Tiers of corbelling survive along the sides and back of the gallery. A subsidiary chamber opens into the outer end of the W side of the court. Considerable stretches of a dry-wall revetment were revealed along the sides of the cairn. The W arm of the court and the cairn outside it were found to have been removed. Excavation showed that the surviving E arm of the court had been built on several layers of random rubble spread, apparently to secure a level surface. The finished implements among the finds recovered from the chambers were two heat-shattered flint plano-convex knives, a classic flint hollow scraper and a concave scraper. The 1971 season, devoted to the excavation of the court and the determination of the shape and extent of the cairn, resulted in the recovery of a large number of flint flakelets and a small number of finished implements of flint, namely, two end scrapers, one hollow scraper and two knives. The plan and sections published here were made in 1990. The cairn, as it now survives, is 36.5m long and narrows from 13.5m wide at the northern end to 10.5m at the southern. The northern end consists of a low bank of earth and stones that lacks any identifiable formal edge. Five stones at the outer face of this bank are shown on the plan. These are somewhat loose and of uncertain status. The largest measures 0.75m by 0.6m by 0.2m high. There is no trace of the expected entrance through the front of the cairn to the court, but a brief reference to such a feature suggests that it was apparent during the excavation (Flanagan 1973). The remainder of the cairn is composed of a mass of stones rising from both ends to reach a maximum height of 2.3m at the back of the gallery. The rear of the cairn as portrayed on the plan represents the present limit of the cairn mass, but it is doubtful that this accords with the original outline, which, though badly eroded, 'was satisfactorily established' during the excavation (Flanagan 1973). The dry-wall revetment exposed along the sides of the cairn survives to two layers in places, but for the most part only a single course remains. The stones of the lowest visible layer, some now somewhat displaced, are shown on the plan. These range from 0.15m to 1.5m long and from 0.15m to 1.1m high. Immediately S of the gap in the W side of the cairn are some large slabs at the cairn edge, but it is not clear whether these formed part of the revetment, and they are not shown on the plan. A stone just beyond the rear of the cairn mass may be displaced. It measures 0.8m by 0.75m by 0.3m. Because of destruction in the court area the excavator encountered some difficulty in 'the determination of its inner facade' (Flanagan 1972). The preliminary accounts of the excavation do not contain any elaboration on this matter other than a description of the court as being of the full variety (Flanagan 1972; 1974, 9). The precise relationship of the court to the subsidiary chamber is also unclear, but if, like at two other Donegal court tombs (Dg. 56 and Dg. 95), the front of the subsidiary chamber lay on the court perimeter, a court length of c. 10m would seem likely. The E arm of the court is represented by ten stones. The edge of the cairn mass beside the gallery entrance seems to follow the line of the missing western arm. An original court width of at least 8m appears to be indicated. The outermost courtstone at the E, slightly inside the line of the others, is split vertically. It measures 0.7m by 0.1m by 0.4m high. The heights of the next seven are 0.75m, 0.65m, 0.75m, 1m, 0.6m, 0.8m and 1.05m. The next, the second from the gallery entrance, rises 0.45m above the top of the first. The base of this stone is exposed and is clearly seen to stand on the rubble fill, already mentioned, that was noted on this side of the ridge during the excavation. There is dry-wall filling in the slight gaps between it and the courtstones at either side, and a corbel, 0.5m by 0.9m and 0.5m in maximum thickness, rests on its sloping top. The innermost courtstone is 0.6m high, but two superimposed blocks, so placed that all three present a vertical face, act to increase its effective height to c. 0.5m more than the last-described courtstone and the entrance jamb at its other side. The lower of the two superimposed blocks measures 0.7m by 0.4m by 0.45m high, and the upper 0.8m by 0.45m by 0.5m high. A large slab, 1.2m by 0.45m by 0.5m thick, lying in an almost horizontal position on the last and on the cairn behind it may be a corbel. Just 1m beyond the outer end of the E arm of the court is a displaced slab, 1.25m by 1.2m by 0.45m thick. The gallery is c. 5.5m long. Entry to it is between two well-matched, transversely set jambs of similar height set 0.8m apart at ground level. The eastern one is 1.2m high, and the western is 1.4m. Wedged between them is a sillstone now no longer set in the ground. This is 0.75m long, 0.08m thick and 0.45m high. The lintel above the entrance rests on the flat-topped jambs. This is a rectangular block of stone and measures 2.2m by 1.25m by 0.9m thick. There is a pad-stone (not on plan), 0.05m by 0.04m, between it and the inner end of the top of the western jamb. The segmenting jambs, transversely set, are well-matched, flat-topped stones. They stand inside the gallery walls and are 0.65m apart. The eastern one is 1.3m high, and the western is 1.25m high. A sillstone between them is 0.65m long, 0.08m thick and 0.4m high. The lintel resting above the jambs, a rectangular block, measures 2.1m by 0.9m by 0.8m thick. There is a pad-stone between the top of the western jamb and the lintel. Beside the E end of the lintel and at the same height is a block of stone, 0.65m by 0.3m by 0.55m high, wedged between it and the gallery side. This rests on the middle orthostat on this side of the gallery and on a pad-stone, 0.15m by 0.08m by 0.08m thick, set on top of the segmenting jamb. Also helping to wedge this block in place is a stone, 0.25m by 0.2m by 0.1m thick, jammed between it and the top of the inner end of the first orthostat of the gallery. The front chamber, measured from sill to sill, is 2.6m long and 2.7m wide; the rear chamber is 2.7m long and c. 3m wide near the front, narrowing to 2.3m at the back. Three orthostats form each side of the gallery, the middle ones overlapping the adjacent jambs and serving as sidestones to both chambers, the same arrangement as at Shalwy (Dg. 113). The outermost orthostat at the W overlaps the inner end of the adjacent entrance jamb. It is 1.6m high. The middle orthostat on this side is 1.6m high. Immediately outside this and rising c. 0.3m above its highest point is a slab, 1.2m long, 0.25m thick and 0.6m high. This flat-topped slab is positioned so as to raise the height of the gallery here and seems to be supported by the cairn mass alongside the gallery. The third orthostat on this side is 2m in maximum height. The outermost orthostat at the E side of the gallery rises from 1m high at the front to 1.75m at mid-length. The next one is 1.3m high. Mirroring the arrangement on the W side of the gallery, a slab immediately outside this orthostat rises 0.5m above it. This slab, its base hidden, leans inward slightly and is 1.4m long and 0.15m thick. The innermost orthostat on this side of the gallery is 1.7m high.