Site Type: Court Tomb
Irish Grid Ref: G5189182604
Location: Link to Bing Maps
This court-tomb is described on archaeology.ie as follows;
"The monument, first shown on the 1848-50 edition of the OS 6-inch map, appears as 'Ruins of a Druidical Temple' on the pre-publication field map. It stands on generally level, grass-grown, boggy ground toward the head of the valley opening onto the N end of Malin Bay, 2.3km to the W. It is 50m S of the stream that flows westward along the valley and commands a good outlook toward the sea. The depth of bog in the immediate vicinity of the monument is at least 1m.
The monument, partly restored by the Board of Works toward the end of the 19th century, is in a fair state of preservation. Its orthostatic structure stands in a coffin-shaped cairn bounded by drystone walling. At the E, a short passage opens into a large, orthostatically defined full court of oval outline. Just inside the entrance passage a subsidiary chamber opens onto each arm of the court. The outer face of a court orthostat beside the entrance to each of these chambers bears picked motifs, apparently prehistoric in origin. Two galleries, parallel to each other and c. 1m apart, open off the western end of the court, and each is divided by jambs into two chambers.
The earliest available account of this monument is by Thomas Fagan, who saw it in 1847. Both he and Norman Moore (1872, 523), who visited here in 1871, found it difficult to interpret, perhaps because of its disordered state, and their reports are of limited value. Both included a rough sketch of the monument with their reports, but these cannot be reconciled either with each other or with the structure as now exposed. There are two useful illustrations of the monument before its restoration, both reproduced by Borlase (1897, 241). One is the plan published by Sir Samuel Ferguson (1879, 122). He visited the site in 1864, and the plan is thought to date to that year. The other, an undated and unattributed drawing showing a view of the monument from the front, was among a collection of drawings made available by Margaret Stokes to Borlase (1897, ix). Both illustrations are reproduced below. On Ferguson's plan cross-hatched areas seem intended to represent chambers, but set stones are not distinguished from displaced ones, and there is no indication of orientation. Nevertheless, as on the Stokes collection drawing, the main features of the monument can be recognised. The involvement of the Board of Works at this tomb (see Introduction) is referred to in the annual reports of that institution (CPW 1886, 22; 1887, 24), but these contain practically no information about the nature of the work undertaken. One of the annual reports includes a description of the tomb (CPW 1887, 63), but this too contains little information, and the accompanying plan omits part of one of the galleries of the monument. This account does mention that 'the cells are being cleared out'. Work at the site seems to have been completed in 1887 (CPW 1888, 24). However, a few years later unspecified work was carried out at a site identified only as 'Cloughan More' (CPW 1892, 24; 1893, 28). It is not known whether this is the same site as that described here. Borlase (1897, 240-4), who visited the site in 1888, the year after its restoration, incorrectly assigned a N-S orientation to the main axis of the monument. He was informed that 'some few objects, such as pottery etc.' had been found by the workmen during the restoration.
The precise nature and extent of the restoration work carried out by the Board of Works are not clear, but it appears from the available evidence, particularly the pre-restoration drawings, to have mainly involved removing cairn spill from the court, clearing the chambers, exposing the cairn outline and rebuilding the drystone kerb. This work would inevitably have entailed considerable archaeological loss......
......The two decorated stones both bear picked ornament on the surfaces facing into the court. That flanking the front of the southern subsidiary chamber is a low stone (Stone B on plan), slightly rounded on top, 1.45m long by 0.6m in exposed height. The decoration, confined to its western half, is formed by picked lines c. 0.01m wide and is quite well preserved. There are two concentric circles here, the inner 0.1m in diameter and the outer, which is penannular, 0.18m in diameter. From the top of the outer circle a curved line in the shape of a crook, 0.21m long, runs toward the edge of the stone. From close to the lower part of this circle another such line, this more markedly in the shape of a crook, 0.23m long, also runs toward the edge of the stone. Below this is a slight depression or dot, less than 0.02m across, perhaps artificial. Below this, close together, are two more or less upright strokes, 0.11m and 0.08m long.
The decorated stone (Stone A on plan) at the front of the northern subsidiary chamber is pointed on top. As mentioned earlier, it is 0.95m long and 0.35m thick and rises 0.7m above present ground level, but a further 0.3m of its face is revealed in a hole dug in the boggy surface in front of the stone. A natural ridge on the face of the stone divides the lower one-third from the rest. Above the ridge, at the W, are two curved lines, one above the other, both in the form of a crook. The lower one is 0.25m long, and the upper is 0.2m. The hooked end of the lower one ends in a small depression or dot, and near the hooked end of the other is a similar dot-like depression. Beside the upper of these two motifs are two arcs, one above the other. The longer one, at 0.19m, is the lower. Below these is a lozenge measuring 0.25m along its vertical axis and 0.12m across its horizontal axis, with two of its sides slightly incurved. It is gapped at three of its four angles. Beyond this and near the eastern edge of the stone are three broadly concentric arcs, the outermost the longest at 0.25m. Below the natural ridge on the face of the stone are three motifs: at the W is a serpentiform line in the form of the letter S, 0.24m long; beside this is a lozenge, 0.26m along its vertical axis and 0.1m across, unjoined at top and bottom and with a rounded 'angle' at each side; and beside this is a curved line in the form of a crook, 0.26m long. Fagan 1845-8 et ."
The first I read about any likely alignments at this site was on Anthony Weir's website http://www.irishmegaliths.org.uk. It is thought that at the winter solstice the sun "rolls" along the top of the mountains to the south around mid-day and that "the tip of Lergadaghtan protrudes just above the slope north of Slieve League, giving a likely sunrise alignment at mid-winter solstice". It is unusual for a court-tomb to have any alignments - however there is some rock-art at the site which may suggest some link to astronomy.
Links to photographs;
Picture of the rock-art at Malin More on www.themodernantiquarian.com by contributor Ken Williams
Links for further information;
Some great info on voicesfromthedawn
