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Malin More : Portal Tomb

CountyDonegal
Grid RefG 502 826
Longitude8° 46' 20.34" W
Latitude54° 41' 20.21" N
Nearest TownCarrick (9.8 Km)
OS Sheet10
UTM zone29U
UTM x514676.97397139
UTM y6060202.5620788
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Visit Notes

Thursday, 1st January 2004

It is really hard to know where to start here, but I'll try. The first thing I would recommend is to stop at the end of the farm track that leads to this monument and watch the sea in the little bay. If the weather is a little rough you will be treated to some spectacular wave crashing and a real demonstration of the power of nature. A very sobering experience to prepare you for these monuments. Monuments? Yes, monuments! For here we have six (I counted them) portal tombs and a standing stone.

You can either walk along the lane or drive as far as the white and green house an park. Just before the white and green house is a standing stone that seems to be an extension of the line of portal tombs. The six tombs are set in a line over 90m long. There is a large portal tomb at either end of the line which face outwards - they are both ruined, but they both seem to have pointed east, away from the sea. The usual associated stream winds its way to the sea in the field on the north side of the track. The western-most tomb retains the bbest structure, but even this one is a little difficult to decipher. At a guess it would (and by implication the one at the east end) have looked like Leac na Scail (County Kilkenny). These two end tombs are mimicked quite pathetically by two houses that are built at either end of the row.

Before I forget I must mention the beautiful quartzite block that is built into the field wall near to the west end of the row. It has definitely been worked by man and was probably a standing stone associated with this massive monument. As well as this the line of the tombs, extended through this stone, passes through a natural flat-topped landscape feature that faces out to sea, like a raised dias. Perhaps this was a place of ceremony related to the tombs and their ritual use.

Between the two large tombs there are a line of smaller portal tombs. These seem to face north or south, ie. at right angles to the line of the monuments. Each of these is in a different state of completeness, with none of them being complete. When labelling these in the pictures I will call the large western one #1 and the large eastern one #7. Why 7? Because there is a pile of stones between #3 and #5 that could have been a mounment too.

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Random Gazetteer

A Random Selection of Nearby Monuments

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1.5 Km (ENE) there is a Court Tomb at Malin More.
4.1 Km (NE) there is a Monastic Settlement at Gleanncholmcille known as Glencolumbkille.
1.6 Km (ENE) there is a Portal Tomb at Malin More.
1.6 Km (E) there is a Court Tomb at Malin More known as Cloghanmore.
1.6 Km (ENE) there is a Standing Stone at Malin More.

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