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Muntermellan : Portal Tomb

CountyDonegal
Grid RefC 018 388
GPSC 01801 38771 (6m)
Longitude7° 58' 18.18" W
Latitude55° 11' 45.71" N
Nearest TownDunfanaghy (1.3 Km)
OS Sheet2
UTM zone29U
UTM x565455.51474665
UTM y6117088.109105
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Visit Notes

Sunday, 13th March 2005

This site was the main reason for me making this rather insane trip. Perched high up above Sheep Haven in a little saddle between two huge bulbous exposed grantite outcrops. These outcrops are riddled with thick veins of quartz upto 30cm wide.

As I approached the tomb from the west I couldn't see it, because it is built right next to one of the outcrops, which is strewn with loose boulders and so provides great camouflage for the monument. After scrambling through some gorse bushes with loose ankle-breaking boulders beneath and over a wall I finally reached the monument. What an amazing view one gets from up here! Then, just a few minutes afetr I arrived the snow started. Great. Luckily it lasted for just 10 minutes.

To the south Muckish Mountain, itself snow covered, kept hiding behind its own veil of cloud, but made its presence known every now and then.

At first the tomb itself looks in worse condition than it actually is. This is mainly due to the amount cairn material that is still present and the rocky slopes beyond becoming mixed up in what you perceive to be the tomb. The cairn is around 30m in length and aligned roughly north-south. The tomb is situated at the north end of the cairn and faces in that direction. There are two capstones one of which leans against the two slender portal stones. The portal stones are very closely set and have a half-height doorstone between them.

The other capstone still covers the long, low chamber (1m tall, 1m wide, 2.5m long). The front edge of this capstone is covered by a band of quartz which can be seen above the top of the doorstone when viewed through the entrance. Both capstones are trapezoidal in shape.

Both the views and the quartz veins in the rocks around the site make this a very special place. The way the tomb is tucked up against the one outcrop makes it very personal and calming too, which feels quite odd in such an exposed position.

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All Sites Visited On 13th March 2005    « Previous Site    Next Site »

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Random Gazetteer

A Random Selection of Nearby Monuments

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2.8 Km (WNW) there is a Portal Tomb at Claggan.
7.7 Km (SSE) there is a Standing Stone at Clonbeg Glebe.
7.2 Km (SW) there is a Portal Tomb at Errarooey Beg.
5.2 Km (SE) there is a Portal Tomb at Ballymore Lower.
1.9 Km (NW) there is a Court Tomb at Claggan.

A Selection of Other Portal Tombs

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