What is recorded here

Carrickmacross and Roscommon both claim the lost tomb, but neither name fits the place because the men who measured it never recorded where it stood. A hundred feet of earth, twenty across at the heart and eight at each end, waited inside upright stones until quarrymen took the limestone for wall and road. The chamber may have held a dead king, a seasonal temple or nothing but a mound the survey men misread. What is certain is that the stones are gone, the boundary erased, and two counties now argue over a ghost neither can point to.

This site is recorded in the 'Statistical survey of County Monaghan' as follows: 'Near Carrickmacross, is one of these great Druidical temples, which are seen in some parts of Ireland. It consists of an oblong mound of earth which widens to the centre, and is there twenty feet across (6.1m); at either end it measures but eight feet (2.44m), and is a hundred feet long (30.48m). This mound was enclosed with great oblong stones, set up on an end; a good deal of it has been destroyed for the sake of the limestone, which surrounds it'. (Coote 1801, 142). This account was paraphrased in Lewis' 'Topographical dictionary' (1837, ii, 381). The description does not accord with any known megalithic monument and the exact location and nature of this site are uncertain. Date of upload: 14 April 2011

Megalithic tomb, likely Neolithic in date. Its significance lies in contributing to the understanding of prehistoric funerary practices and monument construction in eastern Ulster.

This remains an important historical record, but the official description says the monument is no longer visible or has been destroyed. The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.