Megalithic tomb, An Tonn Bhán, Co. Donegal
Near the northern tip of the Fanad peninsula in County Donegal, an enigmatic megalithic structure sits quietly in a field, incorporated into a modern stone wall overgrown with bushes.
Megalithic tomb, An Tonn Bhán, Co. Donegal
Located 700 metres south-southeast of Tramore Bay and 700 metres east of Ballyhoorisky, this monument wasn’t recorded on any Ordnance Survey maps and only came to archaeological attention in 1994. The site offers commanding views northward to the sea from its position on a slight ridge, surrounded by uneven pasture dotted with rock outcrops and glacial erratics.
The surviving chamber measures approximately 4 metres long and 1.5 to 1.7 metres wide, with its entrance facing northwest. Two imposing entrance stones stand 0.75 metres apart, each about 1.5 metres tall, with their tops sloping towards the rear of the chamber. These entrance stones are partly overlapped by large sidestones, a distinctive architectural feature. The eastern sidestone reaches 1.2 metres at its highest point, whilst the western one stands 1.3 metres tall. At the back of the chamber, a gable-topped stone crosses about half its width, appearing more like a segmenting jamb than a traditional backstone. Behind this, partially buried stones hint at the possibility of a second chamber, though further excavation would be needed to confirm this.
The monument defies easy classification, displaying characteristics of both court tombs and portal tombs. The tall, longitudinally positioned entrance stones overlapped by sidestones are classic portal tomb features, yet similar arrangements can occur in court tombs. The potential evidence for extended gallery structure, particularly if the suspected segmenting jamb and additional sidestone are verified, would suggest court tomb affinities. Several displaced slabs lie within the chamber, some measuring nearly 2 metres in length, possibly remnants of the original structure. With no reliable traces of a cairn and its incorporation into later field boundaries, this mysterious monument continues to puzzle archaeologists, representing either an unusual hybrid design or a damaged example of a more conventional tomb type.





