County: Sligo Site name: GLEN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Stefan Bergh, University of Stockholm, Sweden
Site type: Field boundary
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 563559m, N 827506m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.195197, -8.558423
During the excavation of the passage tomb in Glen Td. (Diarmuid and Grania's Bed), a bank was observed at the south side of the mountain at the top of which the passage tomb was located.
The bank was later surveyed and had a length of circa 175m and a width of 3-8m. It encircles the mountain at the point where it starts to slope quite steeply uphill. The bank ends at two spots where the hill side starts to drop abruptly on the downhill side. The ground is covered with a heavy growth of heather which makes the bank difficult to survey, though it is clearly visible. It is made up of/constructed of large boulders (0.3m - 1m), and has a height of approx. 1m.
In the SW sector, on relatively flat ground, an open space interrupted the bank and formed a rectangular structure with its length following the long axis of the bank. The length of this open space was circa 8m and the width 3m. A plan was made and a trench, 0.5m wide and 2m long, was excavated to obtain a stratigraphical record of the site. The soil consisted of black peat, and at a depth of 0.3m - 0.5m, a layer of relatively large stones (0.2m - 0.5m) was found. The stones resemble the material in the surrounding bank but lie at a level at least 0.7m below the bank. The function of the bank is unclear but it may have been associated at one time with the passage tomb. The excavation will be published in 1986 together with the report on Diarmuid and Grania's Bed.
