Murnell's Dolmen
Murnell's Dolmen (also called Dermot and Grania's Bed ) is a semi-overgrown portal tomb behind a farmhouse and barn in the townland of Murnells, north of Pomeroy , west of Cookstown in County Tyrone , Northern Ireland . In the British Isles, portal tombs are megalithic systems in which two equally high, upright stones with a door stone in between form the front of a chamber, which is covered with a sometimes huge capstone.
The portal tomb stones are complete. The shape differs slightly from the standard. The rear underside of the front capstone rests on a secondary capstone, which in turn rests on the small endstone. The larger capstone has a natural depression at its tip. The walls and portal stones of the chamber consist of a reddish, quartz-containing rock. The two capstones are made of gray granite . The surrounding peat reaches halfway up the chamber. Much of the cairn is hidden under grass.
On the south wall of the chamber is a group of stones that could belong to a side chamber, while the remains of a separate circular cairn lie nearby. There is also a pair of menhirs nearby .
See also
literature
- Colm J. Donnelly: Living Places. Archeology, Continuity and Change at Historic Monuments in Northern Ireland. The Institute of Irish Studies - The Queen's University of Belfast, Belfast 1997, ISBN 0-85389-475-2 .
Web links
Coordinates: 54 ° 37 ′ 29.4 " N , 6 ° 56 ′ 49.2" W.