Megalithic tomb - portal tomb, Carrickmagrath, Co. Donegal
Hidden within a mature forest on the southern slopes of the River Finn basin, about 4 kilometres southwest of Ballybofey, lies a remarkable megalithic monument that escaped official mapping until 1988.
Megalithic tomb - portal tomb, Carrickmagrath, Co. Donegal
The portal tomb sits on a small rocky ledge amongst the hills, its moss-covered cairn blending seamlessly into the forest floor where peat has accumulated along its western edge and fallen trees obscure parts of its perimeter.
The monument consists of a stone chamber positioned near one end of an elongated cairn that stretches 17 metres along the hillside contour. The chamber itself, measuring 1.7 metres long and 1 metre wide internally, faces northeast and features the classic portal tomb design; two upright portal stones frame the entrance alongside a low sill stone, whilst single orthostats form each side wall and another closes the southwestern end. The roofstone, though slightly dislodged from its original position, still spans the chamber, resting at an angle across the supporting stones. An interesting architectural detail is the corbel stone placed against the eastern sidestone’s outer face, filling a gap between it and the tilted roofstone.
The subrectangular cairn, built from carefully placed stones and reaching about 0.7 metres in height, extends 8 metres across the slope despite some stones having rolled away from its eastern and southern edges over the millennia. Time and nature have taken their toll on the structure; the western portal stone’s top appears broken, standing 0.3 metres lower than its eastern counterpart, and a mysterious broken slab leans against the backstone, its original purpose now lost to history. Despite these changes, the tomb remains a testament to the engineering skills of Ireland’s Neolithic communities, who constructed these monuments as final resting places for their dead some 5,000 years ago.





