Megalithic tomb, Rashenny, Co. Donegal
About 5 kilometres northwest of Carndonagh in County Donegal, the scattered remains of what appears to be an ancient megalithic gallery tomb lie on a gentle slope overlooking Trawbreaga Bay.
Megalithic tomb, Rashenny, Co. Donegal
The monument sits in pastureland dotted with outcropping rock, with views across low-lying ground to the bay just over a kilometre to the north. Today, only fragments of this prehistoric structure remain; two standing stones that likely formed the sides of a burial gallery aligned roughly north-northeast to south-southwest, along with two large fallen slabs that may have once stood upright as part of the tomb’s structure.
The surviving stones tell only part of the story. The eastern standing stone reaches 1.3 metres high and measures just over a metre at ground level, whilst its western counterpart leans outward at an angle, apparently displaced from its original position, and would stand 0.85 metres tall if upright. The fallen slabs nearby are substantial; the western one measures 1.7 by 1.3 metres and the eastern slab, though largely overgrown with grass, spans at least 1.5 metres. A subtle depression in the ground running for about 10 metres along the western side might mark where an earthen mound once enclosed the tomb.
Historical records reveal the monument was once far more complete. An Ordnance Survey account from 1848 describes what locals then called a “Labby Dermot and Grania”, a type of ancient tomb associated with Irish folklore. At that time, the structure measured about 4.6 metres long and 1.8 metres wide, with four upright stones along the western side standing up to 1.2 metres high, two stones at the southern end reaching 1.5 metres, and another large stone lying at an angle. Even then, the surveyor noted that “the east side is altogether destroyed”, suggesting the tomb had already suffered considerable damage by the mid-19th century. What remains today at Rashenny represents just a shadow of what was once likely an impressive megalithic gallery tomb, one of many such monuments that dot the Donegal landscape.





