Megalithic tomb - court tomb, Liafin, Co. Donegal
On the western side of the Inishowen peninsula, about a kilometre from the shores of Lough Swilly, lies the remains of an ancient court tomb complex at Liafin.
Megalithic tomb - court tomb, Liafin, Co. Donegal
The monument sits on a low, flat-topped ridge in poorly drained bogland that now serves as rough grazing. From here, you can take in sweeping views across Lough Swilly to the southwest, though the nearby Aghaweel Hill blocks the vista to the northeast. The tomb complex originally consisted of three separate chambers set within what appears to have been a long, narrow cairn mound roughly 15 metres wide, though centuries of stone clearance and the boggy terrain make its original outline difficult to trace.
The main gallery at the northeastern end preserves remnants of what was once a more substantial structure. Today, only fragments remain: a split stone orthostat standing 0.8 metres high on the southern side, various jamb stones, and a distinctive gabled backstone reaching 1.7 metres in height. Historical records from the 1840s describe a much better preserved monument with multiple flag stones forming both sides of an 8-metre-long gallery, suggesting the original structure may have contained more chambers than the two currently identifiable. The gallery opens to the northeast and was divided into at least two chambers, with the rear chamber now partly obscured by a thorn bush.
Southwest of the main gallery, two subsidiary chambers open to the southeast. The first, located about 26 metres from the main gallery, survives as just two stones; a leaning sidestone and a gable-shaped backstone. The second subsidiary chamber, a further 12 metres southwest, is somewhat better preserved with two sidestones and a low backstone forming a space about 2 metres long and nearly a metre wide. Local accounts suggest this chamber suffered damage around 1900. Mid-19th century reports describe ‘a vast quantity of loose stones of various dimensions lying in a confused mass’ between these structures, but today only a light scatter of stones remains, testament to extensive clearance over the past 150 years.





