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Giant's Grave is a court tomb located near Dungannon in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. This Neolithic megalithic monument belongs to a distinctive class of chambered tombs found principally in Ulster, dating to around 3500–2900 BCE. The tomb's characteristic court—an open forecourt area flanked by stones—would have provided a focal point for ritual and communal activity, with burial chambers positioned beyond. The monument is constructed from stone quarried from the surrounding landscape, which is underlain by bedrock of the Leitrim Group: a geology of sandstone, mudstone, siltstone and conglomerate deposited during the Carboniferous Namurian period.
Court tombs typically served as communal burial places, their substantial construction suggesting significant investment of labour and indicating the social importance placed on ancestors and burial rites during the Neolithic. Giant's Grave reflects the monumental building traditions that flourished across northern Ireland during this transformative period when farming communities first settled the island.
The monument is protected by the Historic Environment Division of the Department for Communities under reference number 15946, ensuring the preservation of this important archaeological resource for future study and public appreciation.
Giant's grave. court tomb is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 15946. View the official record →
Giant's Grave is a court tomb located near Dungannon in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 15946.
Giant's grave. court tomb dates from the neolithic period, and is classified as a megalithic tomb. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Giant's grave. court tomb is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Ni. The official designation reference is 15946.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Giants' graves. court tomb (0.8 km), Rath (3.8 km), Large counterscarp hilltop enclosure - hillfort? (3.9 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Giant's grave. court tomb's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Giant's grave. court tomb stands on Leitrim Group, bedrock that formed in the Namurian. The rock here is sandstone, mudstone, siltstone and conglomerate.