St. Davog's Chair Archaeological Survey
Dublin Core
Title
St. Davog's Chair Archaeological Survey
Subject
Lough Derg--Station Island--Archaeological survey
Description
According to Margaret Stokes (1882), there was a 'Giant's Grave' at Carn. Her small-scale distribution map places it a short distance SE of Lough Derg. It is not known to what site she was referring, but it may have been the feature named 'St. Davog's Chair' on OS 6-inch sheet 101. This is in the townland of Carn. It has been described as consisting of a stone seat in front of a grave-like opening but may no longer survive (Lacy 1983, 282).
In the OS Memoir (1835) there is an annotated drawing of a feature named 'St. Deavog's Chair'. This is assigned to a townland named Seadavog Mountain, which, like the townland of Cam, adjoins the southern end of Lough Derg. This drawing shows a small, subrectangular, box-like feature apparently set into the ground. The illustration indicates that it was formed by four stones, one at each of the sides and ends. The recorded measurements show it to have been c. 0.75m long, 0.4m wide at one end, narrowing to 0.2m at the other, and 0.6m deep.
Apparently people knelt in this to pray, with feet to the broader end, knees to the narrower end and elbows resting on the sides. There may be two sites named 'St. D(e)avog's Chair' or simply confusion about location. The name assigned to the site links it to the famous pilgrimage centre on Lough Derg.
As the supposed 'Giant's Grave' referred to by Stokes cannot reliably be identified, its nature remains uncertain.
OS Memoirs, Templecarn parish (1835) [23]; M. Stokes 1882, 17; Lacy 1983, 280-82, no. 1592.
'Survey of the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland. Volume VI, County Donegal.' Compiled by: Eamon Cody (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2002).
In the OS Memoir (1835) there is an annotated drawing of a feature named 'St. Deavog's Chair'. This is assigned to a townland named Seadavog Mountain, which, like the townland of Cam, adjoins the southern end of Lough Derg. This drawing shows a small, subrectangular, box-like feature apparently set into the ground. The illustration indicates that it was formed by four stones, one at each of the sides and ends. The recorded measurements show it to have been c. 0.75m long, 0.4m wide at one end, narrowing to 0.2m at the other, and 0.6m deep.
Apparently people knelt in this to pray, with feet to the broader end, knees to the narrower end and elbows resting on the sides. There may be two sites named 'St. D(e)avog's Chair' or simply confusion about location. The name assigned to the site links it to the famous pilgrimage centre on Lough Derg.
As the supposed 'Giant's Grave' referred to by Stokes cannot reliably be identified, its nature remains uncertain.
OS Memoirs, Templecarn parish (1835) [23]; M. Stokes 1882, 17; Lacy 1983, 280-82, no. 1592.
'Survey of the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland. Volume VI, County Donegal.' Compiled by: Eamon Cody (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2002).
Creator
Compiled by: Eamon Cody
Source
Archaeological Survey of Ireland
Publisher
National Monuments Service, Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Ireland
Date
22 September 2008
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence
Format
Archaological survey summary
Language
English
Identifier
DD_0289
Coverage
54.596797,-7.859638
Abstract
Class: Ritual site - holy/saint's stone
Townland: CARN (Pettigoe ED)
Scheduled for inclusion in the next revision of the RMP: Yes
Townland: CARN (Pettigoe ED)
Scheduled for inclusion in the next revision of the RMP: Yes
References
DG101-011
Citation
Compiled by: Eamon Cody, “St. Davog's Chair Archaeological Survey,” Digital Derg: A Deep Map, accessed April 20, 2024, https://digitalderg.eu/items/show/309.