Court-Cairn Tomb at Abbeyderg

The court-cairn or court tomb consists of a chamber or chambers with a fore-court at the entrance. It is the earliest type of megalithic tomb.
 

The discovery of a court-cairn tomb at Abbeyderg

  in Co. Longford was surprising as it had not previously been known that the court-cairn builders had penetrated so far south in Ireland. There are at present some 218 recorded sites of court-cairn type tombs in Ireland, all north of a line from Dundalk to Galway.
 

The court-cairn tomb in Abbeyderg is not in a good state of preservation but there is sufficient evidence to show that it had a crescent shaped open court in front leading to an ante-chamber between a set of tall doubled jambs. Beyond this is a short burial chamber separated by stone jambs from a longer rear chamber.


The entrance chamber and the burial chambers would have been covered by a mound and the whole covered area would have been approximately 30m. long by 15m. wide.