Dunclá or Black Pig’s Race
The Dunclá extends for 10.3km between Lough Gowna and Lough Kinale, through the centre of a dense concentration of prehistoric ritual and funerary monuments (two megalithic tombs, 22 standing stones and ten barrows) in the undulating lowlands to the north of Granard. Interestingly, a viewshed indicates that only the standing stones would have been visible from the banks of the linear earthwork.
Where it is best preserved at Dalystown, the Dunclá comprises a central bank, 3m high by 6m wide, between 6–7m-wide ditches; in places (e.g. Cartronbore) this arrangement changes to being bivallate with a medial fosse. No substantive excavations have been undertaken on the Dunclá.
Gallery
The Dunclá at Aghnagarron, Co. Longford (© National Monuments Service, DAHG).
The Dunclá at Carrickduff, Co. Longford, on an aerial photograph published by E.R. Norman and J.K.S. St Joseph. The ringfort in the foreground is LF 06-065.
Viewshed between the Dunclá, Co. Longford, and the surrounding ritual/funerary complex.