Creevykeel Court Tomb (Irish: Tuama Cúirte na Craobhaí Caoile) is one of the best-preserved examples of a court tomb in Ireland. The monument is located near the N15 road that connects Donegal Town to Sligo, 50 meters north of the Creevykeel cross-roads, close to the village of Cliffoney in the northern part of County Sligo. The original name for the Creevykeel (An Chraobhaigh Chaol) monument was Caiseal an Bhaoisgin, meaning "the Fort of Bhaoisgin." The well near the cairn was called Tobar an Bhaoisgin. Another ancient stone monument once stood 300 meters to the north, but it was destroyed around 1890.

The Monument

The tomb was built during the Neolithic Period, 4000–2500 BC, when groups of farmers moved to Ireland from the continent. The Creevykeel Court Tomb is one of five large stone monuments in the area. Creevykeel has not been tested with modern scientific tools, but it is believed to have been built around 3500 BC and was used for many years.

The monument is a long, trapezoid-shaped pile of stones. It is 55.5 meters long from east to west, 25 meters wide at the eastern side, and 10 meters wide at the western end. The stones used are a hard, local sandstone with a blueish color.

The pile of stones surrounds an oval-shaped area that is 15 meters long and 9 meters wide. There is an entrance passage on the east side. The main chamber is located at the center of a large stone wall on the west side of the area. The chamber has two large sections separated by two vertical stones, which likely supported a horizontal stone above, similar to those found at Shawley and Croaghbeg in County Donegal, Ireland.

Pieces of curved stone slabs used for the roof remain in the inner chamber. At the western end of the pile, three smaller chambers were added later. These chambers are described as small passage-graves, but they appear to have been built as part of a later Neolithic addition to the original monument.

Archaeology

Creevykeel is widely considered to be one of the finest and best-preserved examples of an Irish court tomb.

The Creevykeel Court Tomb was excavated from July 25 to September 4 in 1935 by the fourth Harvard Archaeological Mission, a group from the United States working with the Irish Free State Government. This was the first modern scientific excavation in Ireland. The director of the excavation was Hugh Hencken, a European archaeology expert at Harvard’s Peabody Museum. Twenty-seven workers helped with the dig, many of whom were local laborers hired through a new government job program.

During the excavation, all the cairn material was removed, leaving the large boulders in place. After the work was finished, the cairn was rebuilt. The excavators found that the large sandstone stones were resting directly on the ground, not in sockets. In many places, the stones had sunk into the soil.

A section of cobbled and paved ground from the Neolithic period was found covering the western end of the court. Under the cobbles, a shallow pit 25 cm deep filled with sand was discovered. Evidence of three fires was found beneath the cobbles in the western part of the court.

The entrance to the double chamber is flanked by four large upright stones, each about two meters tall. The chamber is entered through an opening 80 cm wide, between two massive flat slabs. The chamber is nine meters long and three meters wide, divided by two upright stones. Hencken called the outer chamber C1 and the inner chamber C2.

A large lintel stone was found inside the chamber and had to be moved to allow excavation. Inside the chamber, a polished stone axe was discovered between the two upright stones dividing the chamber. Three pits in the chamber contained small amounts of cremated bone, which Hencken believed were symbolic deposits.

“In small pits in the megalithic layer, four cremated burials were found. However, these were not complete. Each contained only a few tiny, burned bone fragments. These were so small and damaged that it was impossible to confirm they were human.”

Many items from the Neolithic and early Christian periods were discovered. Two polished stone axe heads were found—one between the dividing stones in the main chamber, and another, a fine polished diorite axe, near the inner entrance of the court. Other finds included a large flint knife, a lozenge-shaped arrowhead made of limestone, broken pottery, quartz crystals, and flint scrapers.

Eight Neolithic pots, including a cardial ware vessel, were found in subchamber B on the north side of the western end of the cairn.

A grain-drying kiln from the Early Christian period was discovered east of the neolithic chamber’s entrance. This structure was circular with a hearth on the west side. A flue extended north from the structure to the neolithic facade, where an upright stone was moved to create an opening. Some drilled holes on the nearby stone may have been used to attach a leather roof over the flue.

“Perhaps the most interesting discovery was the Early Christian construction found in the northwestern part of the court, built long after the original Neolithic–Early Bronze Age cairn had fallen into disuse.”

The Early Christian structure contained charcoal, ashes, and burnt soil. Three stones near the hearth were severely burned. A large piece of iron slag was found inside the structure, along with other slag pieces nearby.

The chamber had been recently cleared and filled with modern material. Near the bottom of this fill, the bones of at least two fetuses, about seven months old, were found. These were associated with the skeleton of a cat, bones of a pig, ox, and frog, and broken china.

Hencken found a large hearth or fire pit lined with flat stones inside the chamber. The hearth contained bones of ox, sheep, pig, dog, and fish, as well as shells of periwinkle and limpet. A large hole may have been used to hang cooking tools over the fire. Later finds included two iron knives. A larger smelting pit or blast furnace was found on the north side of the chamber. The east side of this fire pit had stake holes, which Hencken believed were part of a wattle structure used as a windbreak.

“Clearly, Chambers C1 and C2 were used as a dwelling during Early Christian times, as shown by the nearby traces in the court. The signs of intense burning suggest that C1 had lost part of its roof by that time. C2 may still have had a stone roof, as there are four small hearths inside it but no evidence of burning as strong as in C1.”

Analysis shows the monument was built in at least three phases. The first phase included an open court facing east, with an entrance flanked by large megalithic blocks and a massive triangular lintel stone. The second phase enclosed the court, adding a new entrance on the east side, which was not aligned with the main chamber. The third phase extended the cairn by two meters on each side and six meters at the eastern end. The original facade can still be seen as a line of boulders within the cairn.

The large lintel stone, found inside the chamber, originally stood upright to form a grand facade. Hencken did not believe local residents who claimed the stone had stood upright until three people pushed it over recently. To excavate the chamber, Hencken had the lintel moved and placed horizontally over the entrance. However, a watercolor painting from 1880 by William Wakeman shows the lintel standing upright. The painting’s caption noted the lintel’s top was 9 feet above the chamber floor.

“Mr. Edward Connelly, then about 80 years old and living near the cairn, said the original lintel had stood upright on one edge, supported by upright stones. Another smaller stone was placed between the lintel and the entrance’s jamb stone. This smaller stone may have been moved during the excavation. Though the idea that the lintel once stood like a pediment seems unlikely, it is a widely believed local story. Mr. Connelly also mentioned a prophecy that the stone would be pushed down by three brothers of the same name. About thirty years ago, three brothers did push the stone over. It is worth noting that if the stone had ever stood upright, three men could have moved it, but not if it had been lying flat as it was placed during the excavation.”

The chamber at Creevykeel was later used as a still house for making illegal alcohol, called poteen. This may explain local stories about seeing blue lights near the monument. The site is also linked to a white hare. The bones of the two infants found in the Early Christian structure may indicate the monument was used briefly for other purposes.