Cloghanmore facts for kids
Cloghanmore is a very old stone structure, known as a megalithic chamber tomb. This means it's a burial place built from huge stones. It's a special kind called a court tomb. You can find Cloghanmore about 8 kilometers east of Carrick, in a place called Malin More, near Glencolmcille in County Donegal, Ireland.
What is Cloghanmore?
Cloghanmore is a very large tomb. It faces from east to west, with its main entrance on the eastern side. Imagine a central open area, like a courtyard, with burial rooms opening into it. This type of tomb is called a "court tomb" because of this open court area.
The Court and Galleries
The court area at Cloghanmore is quite big, about 14 meters (45 feet) across. It's partly surrounded by large standing stones and partly by dry-stone walls. This mix shows it's a unique design, somewhere between a fully open space and a more enclosed one.
On either side of the entrance, there are two long burial passages called "galleries." These galleries run parallel to each other. Each of the two western galleries is divided into two smaller rooms by special stones called jamb stones. One of these western galleries has a huge stone on top, called a capstone. Having two galleries side-by-side, facing the central court, is quite unusual for a court tomb.
Special Stones and Sunlight
There's a large stone right in the middle of the court. It partly blocks the view of the gallery entrances. Near the left-hand gallery entrance, there's a unique stone that looks like a gabled roof.
To the left of the main entrance, there's a smaller, hidden room built into the side of the tomb. Its roofstone is propped up. To the right, there's another small room with its roofstone almost in place.
What's really special about Cloghanmore are the stones next to these smaller rooms. They have ancient carvings on them, similar to those found in "passage tombs." This is very rare for a court tomb!
Another amazing feature is how the tomb interacts with the sun. Around mid-day in midwinter, the sun shines directly into the second small chamber. Also, if you look southeast from the tomb, the tip of a mountain called Lergadaghtan lines up with the sunrise during the mid-winter solstice. This suggests the tomb was built with the sun's path in mind.
