Megalithic tomb - court tomb, Knockergrana, Co. Donegal

Megalithic tomb – court tomb, Knockergrana, Co. Donegal

In the rolling agricultural plains between Trawbreaga Bay and Tremone Bay on the Inishowen peninsula, the ruins of an ancient court tomb tell a story of both prehistoric construction and more recent destruction.

Megalithic tomb - court tomb, Knockergrana, Co. Donegal

Located roughly 2.8 kilometres south of Culdaff village, this megalithic monument sits on a gentle slope, its weathered stones bearing witness to thousands of years of history and, rather unfortunately, early 20th century dynamite.

The tomb consists of a segmented gallery, nearly 10 metres long, set within an elongated earthen mound that stretches about 30 metres east to west. Originally covered by a cairn of earth and rubble, the structure was exposed in the 19th century when a local tenant went searching for building stones; a common fate for many ancient monuments. What remains today are the ruins of at least three chambers, divided by stone jambs and sillstones, though the eastern chamber is largely destroyed with only three orthostats from its northern side still standing. The middle chamber, the best preserved section, measures approximately 3.5 metres long and 1.7 metres wide, with three substantial stone slabs forming each side. According to an 1848 Ordnance Survey Name Book and a local account from 1867, at least one chamber retained its massive roofstone well into the 19th century.



The monument has suffered considerably from stone robbing and deliberate destruction; boreholes visible in several of the larger blocks confirm local stories that dynamite was used to dislodge stones in the early 1900s. Today, numerous stone slabs and fragments lie scattered about the site, particularly at the eastern end, whilst more recent field clearance has resulted in rubble being dumped on and around the ancient mound. Despite this damage, the tomb remains an evocative reminder of Neolithic burial practices in Donegal, part of a wider tradition of court tombs that includes the similar monument at Laraghirril, just 1.5 kilometres to the west.

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Knockergrana, Co. Donegal
55.26666089, -7.134238
55.26666089,-7.134238
Knockergrana 
Megalithic Tombs 

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