Known variously as Cashelnagat Fort, the Giant’s Grave, or romantically as Dermot and Grania’s Bed, this enigmatic structure overlooked the River Finn from good farmland until its complete removal in the early 20th century. The site appeared on the 1847-9 Ordnance Survey map as a circular embanked enclosure roughly 30 metres in diameter, containing a small rectangular feature marked as the Giant’s Grave. By 1904, however, the OS surveyors could only mark where the grave had stood, whilst the surrounding fort was reduced to what they described as “an ancient mound of earth”.

The monument’s true nature remains tantalisingly unclear, preserved only through two Victorian accounts that offer conflicting interpretations. Thomas Fagan, visiting in 1846, described an elaborate structure measuring approximately 27 by 18 metres, standing over 2 metres high and crowned with forest trees. His detailed sketches and measurements suggest a complex cairn containing multiple stone coffins arranged east to west, enclosed by great stone flags. At the eastern end, he documented what he called a vault or altar; a massive flag stone supported on four pillars, creating a chamber about 2 metres long and recently exposed by the removal of cairn material. The slightly later OS Revision Name Book offers a simpler description, noting a giant’s grave formed by two rows of flags about 8 metres long and 1.5 metres wide, with a doorway at the east end suggesting a possible underground passage.

Whether this was a megalithic tomb with a long gallery and lintelled entrance, or a ringfort with souterrain as some scholars have suggested, we’ll never know for certain. Local information from 1981 indicated that the monument was interfered with and possibly removed entirely in the early 1900s, with reports of a “hatchet top” or similar artefact being discovered during these works. By 1984, only some large stones remained in the corner of the field where the enclosure once stood, their connection to the ancient structure unknown. The complete erasure of this monument serves as a sobering reminder of how much of Ireland’s archaeological heritage has been lost to agricultural improvement and the passage of time, leaving us with only tantalising glimpses through the eyes of those Victorian observers who saw what we can no longer see.