Recently I made a trip around a few megalithic sites in the Tyrone/Donegal/Sligo region with a couple of friends. One of my favourite places that we happened upon on our journey was Creggandevesky Court Tomb. On a beautiful site near Lough Mallon the tomb is believed to have been built between 3700-3500 BC. It wasn’t the easiest site to spot and the area seems to have flooded heavily in the past while which makes sense due to the boggy nature of the soil nearby. A supposed health and safety message saying the tomb is closed is scrawled on the entrance gate sign in permanent marker, very official! The walk up to the Tomb itself is beautiful, the only thing I would say is the strange green wire caged gate and fence you pass through to get to the Tomb is a little over the top (I assume!) and does impact on the full experience of approaching up the hill towards this beautiful place. The Tomb itself was only excavated between 1979-1982, previous to that the whole structure had been buried beneath peat bog with only the lintel(crossbeam) and one other boulder visible and covered in moss, the excavation revealed an impressive three chambered trapezoid tomb measuring over 16 metres in length. The court that stands in front of the tomb measures 5.5 metres and the tomb itself 13 metres wide at its entrance tapering to 5.5 metres at its rear. The court tomb would’ve been covered with corbelled stones and the chambers would’ve been 2 metres in height. When the tomb was excavated the cremated bones of 21 people were discovered, they were cremated nearby and brought to the site for burial. Both bones of men and women were found in the tombs along with pottery, flint heads, and most interestingly a 112 bead necklace. I highly recommend a visit to this very peaceful place.

GPS: 54.6181, -6.99342