Flat cemetery, Cabry, Co. Donegal
In the townland of Cabry, County Donegal, archaeologists have documented the remains of what appears to be a flat cemetery dating back to prehistoric times.
Flat cemetery, Cabry, Co. Donegal
Four cists, ancient stone burial chambers, were discovered within a gravel ridge that commands views over Lough Foyle, the sea inlet that forms part of the border between Donegal and County Londonderry. These simple yet carefully constructed graves represent one of the many Bronze Age burial sites scattered across the Irish landscape, typically dating from around 2500 to 500 BC.
Cist burials were a common funerary practice during the Bronze Age in Ireland, consisting of stone-lined rectangular pits that held cremated or inhumed remains. The location of this cemetery, positioned on elevated ground overlooking water, follows a pattern seen at many prehistoric burial sites across Ireland, where communities chose prominent natural features for their burial grounds. The gravel ridge would have provided both practical drainage for the graves and symbolic significance, offering the deceased a commanding view of the surrounding landscape.
The site was recorded as part of the Archaeological Survey of County Donegal, a comprehensive cataloguing effort completed in 1983 that documented field antiquities from the Mesolithic period through to the 17th century. While the exact condition of the Cabry cists today is unclear, their inclusion in this survey ensures their place in the archaeological record of Donegal, contributing to our understanding of how Bronze Age communities in the northwest of Ireland treated their dead and marked their presence on the landscape.





