Megalithic tomb - wedge tomb, Cabry, Co. Donegal
On a small rocky outcrop surrounded by boggy ground near the Mearingland River, about 3km from the western shore of Lough Foyle, stands the weathered remains of a wedge tomb that has watched over this Donegal landscape for thousands of years.
Megalithic tomb - wedge tomb, Cabry, Co. Donegal
The monument offers commanding views south and east across Lough Foyle, though the rising ground to the north and west limits its inland vistas. Despite its ruined state, the tomb’s essential structure remains readable; a gallery aligned southwest to northeast, originally enclosed by outer walls and featuring a distinctive facade of three standing stones.
The gallery itself, measuring about 6 metres in total length, is cleverly divided by a septal stone into two chambers of roughly equal size; a portico at the front and a main chamber behind. A single roofstone still rests in position above the eastern end, held in place by the sidestones and a small supporting pad stone. The portico, approximately 1.8 metres wide at its entrance, retains evidence of its original design with two orthostats on the north side and one on the south, though several displaced slabs nearby hint at the structure’s former completeness. Between the facade stones and the portico entrance stands a longitudinally placed stone that recalls the divided entrances found in some other wedge tombs, suggesting this monument shares architectural traditions with similar sites across Ireland.
The entire structure sits within a mound measuring about 11 metres long, which tapers from 9 metres wide at the western end to just 2.5 metres where a modern field boundary has truncated its eastern extent. The outer walling that once enclosed the gallery converges towards the east end, where a line of small stones marks the tomb’s back wall. Historical records from an 1848 Ordnance Survey revision indicate the monument was already in much its current condition by the mid-19th century, suggesting it has remained relatively undisturbed for at least the past 175 years, quietly deteriorating in this remote corner of Donegal’s boglands.





