Lurgan Court Tomb — Western Hillslope

This monument, 900m SE of the other court tomb (Dg. 85) in the same townland, is not marked on any edition of the OS 6-inch map. It stands in pasture on a W-facing hillslope. The sea is visible to the W beyond low drumlin-like hills, but the rising ground restricts the outlook to the E. The monument consists of a long unroofed gallery with a narrow endchamber separated from the remainder by a pair of small jambs. The front of the gallery, at the SSE, is incorporated in a field fence. There are slight but ill-defined traces of a mound in the hummocky pasture around the structure. A noticeable dip in the ground, c. 11m beyond the back of the gallery, may represent the end of a long cairn. The gallery is almost 9m long and, except for the rear chamber, is not now divided. The undivided portion is 2.3-2.5m wide, and the short rear chamber, which is 2m long, narrows from 1.8m wide at its outer end to 1.5m at the back. The entry to the gallery is between two well-matched, transversely set jambs, 0.5m apart, which support a lintel measuring 1.7m by 0.8m by 0.4m thick. The jambs are partly concealed by the crossing fence. Both are 0.8m high. Immediately inside each jamb is a small set stone. That at the E is possibly split from the jamb. It is 0.55m long, 0.3m thick and 0.2m lower than the jamb. The stone at the W measures 0.15m by at least 0.3m and is the same height as the jamb in front of it. Four orthostats form each side of the undivided portion of the gallery. The heights of those at the E from S to N are 0.6m, 0.5m, 0.7m and 0.35m. The heights of the stones on the W side from S to N are 0.8m, 0.8m, 0.7m and 0.65m. The jambs at the entrance to the rear chamber are transversely set and stand 1.1m apart. Both rise just above the present floor of the gallery and are c. 0.3m lower than the adjacent sidestones. A single stone forms each side of the rear chamber, and it is closed by a low backstone. The sidestone at the E, set inside the line of the rest of this side of the gallery, is 0.3m high. The one at the W, skewed slightly so as to narrow the back of the chamber, is also 0.3m high. The backstone is 0.2m high. Approximately 2.8m NW of the back of the gallery is a set stone, 0.8m by 0.55m by 0.45m high, of uncertain status. It is not hatched on the plan. The original number of chambers in the gallery cannot be determined, but it seems likely that there were at least two chambers between the entrance jambs and the small rear chamber. Deery 1948, 101-2 ('On the western slope of this Lurgan hill is a megalith...'); Anon. 1951, 345; Ó Nualláin 1983a, 26, no. 35 (plan); SMR 1987, 103:30; Ó Nualláin 1989, 117; RMP 1995, 103:30. 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)