magheraghanrush

Occupying a commanding hill-top overlooking islanded Lough Gill to the south and pretty Colgagh Lake to the west, this large and imposing monument is perhaps the best example of a centre court-tomb in the country. Its traditional name, by which it is still known hereabouts, is Leacht Con Mhic Ruis. The oval court, 50 feet in length with an entrance on the south side, has two segmented galleries at its east end and one at the west. In the last century all three galleries had large lintel stones resting across the portals, but two have since been removed. The remaining one, over the entrance to the north-east gallery, is fractured, the two halves held in position by inward pressure. These trilithon-like features were the cause of the monument being misleadingly labelled 'The Irish Stonehenge'. The tomb is now surrounded by the trees of a young plantation of conifers and is screened from view until one arrives at it. On the hill below are other antiquities including a wedge-tomb and a despoiled stone ring-fort with a roofless souterrain.