Megalithic tomb - wedge tomb, Ballymagrorty, Co. Donegal

Co. Donegal |

Megalithic Tombs

Megalithic tomb – wedge tomb, Ballymagrorty, Co. Donegal

About 1.2 kilometres southwest of Ballintra village in County Donegal, a ruined wedge tomb sits quietly in level pasture amongst low drumlin hills.

The location offers a glimpse of the sea through a gap between two hills to the west, roughly 3.5 kilometres away. This megalithic monument has seen considerable damage over the centuries, not least from its curious use as a barley malting site, as noted by Thomas Fagan when he visited in 1847. He recorded that someone had dug a pit at the eastern end, which remains visible today at a depth of 0.8 metres.

The tomb's structure, whilst heavily ruined, still reveals clues about its original form. A line of six stones along the southern side appears to represent the outer walling, stretching 6.8 metres in length, with heights ranging from 0.8 to 1.15 metres. Only three stones of the northern outer wall survive, considerably lower than their southern counterparts. At the western end, two opposed jamb-like stones stand 0.55 metres apart, likely marking the entrance to what was once a gallery approximately 4 metres long, oriented west-northwest to east-southeast. The entire structure is surrounded by a low, grass-grown mound that extends 10.4 metres north to south and 9 metres east to west.

Much of the gallery structure now lies concealed beneath grass-grown fill that occupies the western two-thirds of the gallery area. Several displaced slabs hint at the monument's former grandeur; one protruding from the northwest corner measures at least 1.6 metres long and 0.6 metres thick, whilst another partially buried slab lies midway along the structure. Despite its ruined state, the remains at Ballymagrorty Scotch offer a tangible connection to Ireland's Neolithic past, when communities invested tremendous effort in constructing these elaborate stone tombs for their dead.

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