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AUGHNACLIFFE

CO. LONGFORD · IE

Aughnacliffe
Achadh na Cloiche, Co. Longford

The Ireland's Ancient East
STOP 07 / 07

Achadh na Cloiche · Co. Longford

A north Longford village named for a 5,000-year-old dolmen, sitting in the drumlin country south of Lough Gowna.

Aughnacliffe - Achadh na Cloiche, the field of the stone - is a small village in north Longford, in the civil parish of Columbkille and the old barony of Granard. The 2022 census counted 157 people. It sits about halfway between Longford town and Cavan town, on rising drumlin land south of Lough Gowna and close to the county boundary.

The stone in the name is a real one. The Aughnacliffe Dolmen is a Neolithic portal tomb, roughly 5,000 years old, and one of the largest in the country. What makes it unusual is the double capstone - two roofstones balanced one on the other, where almost every other dolmen in Ireland carries just one. The bigger of the two is about 3.2 metres long. It stands in a field a short walk from the church, and from the approach it reads as a pile of impossibly balanced rock until you get close.

The village itself is small and plain about it: St Columcille's Catholic church from 1834, a GAA club, a single pub at Glenmore, and the lanes that thread out toward the lake and the border. There is no shop strip, no hotel, no visitor centre. If you are around Lough Gowna and want the Longford side of the water, or you have come for the dolmen, this is the place. Granard and its services are about twenty minutes south.

Population

157 (2022 census)

Pubs

1and counting

Founded

Townland named for its Neolithic portal tomb; parish church built 1834

Coords

53.8467° N, 7.6047° W

01 / 07

At a glance.

Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.

01 The dolmen

The village is named after a portal tomb with two capstones.

Achadh na Cloiche means 'field of the stone'. The Aughnacliffe Dolmen is one of the biggest in Ireland and almost unique in carrying two capstones stacked on each other - the larger about 3.2 metres long. It stands in a field a few minutes' walk from the church. About 5,000 years old.

Stories & lore → 02 The setting

Drumlin country south of Lough Gowna, on the Cavan border.

Aughnacliffe sits roughly midway between Longford and Cavan towns, in the parish of Columbkille. The lake is just north across the county line. This is rolling, small-field, low-hill land - quiet, unhurried, and almost entirely off the tourist track.

Walks & outings →

02 / 07

The pubs.

None of these are themed Irish pubs, because they don't need to be. A few that earn the trip:

The Glenview Lounge

The village local

Bar & lounge, Glenmore

The one pub in Aughnacliffe, out at Glenmore. Bar and lounge, with food served Friday evening and across Saturday and Sunday rather than all week, and an outdoor area that earns its keep on the rare warm evening. Opens in the late afternoon most days, later at weekends. If you want a pint after the dolmen, this is it - there is no second option in the village.

03 / 07

Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

Achadh na Cloiche, the field of the stone

The two-capstone dolmen

The Aughnacliffe Dolmen is a portal tomb of the Neolithic, built somewhere around 3000 BC, and it gives both the village and the townland their name. It is one of only four portal tombs in Co. Longford - the others at Cleenrath nearby, at Birrinagh near Moyne, and at Melkagh near Drumlish - and the most striking of them. Where a standard dolmen carries a single capstone tilted up on its portal stones, Aughnacliffe carries two, stacked, the larger roughly 3.2 metres long and 2.3 wide. It is reached by a laneway off the road about a hundred metres from the church, through a field gate. There is no car park and no ticket office. Bring boots if it has been wet.

The bed of Diarmaid and Gráinne

Leaba Dhiarmada agus Gráinne

Like a great many dolmens across Ireland, the Aughnacliffe tomb and its neighbour at Cleenrath are tied in folk tradition to the legend of Diarmaid and Gráinne - the lovers who fled the length of the country to escape Fionn Mac Cumhaill, and who are said to have slept under a different dolmen every night of the chase. The Cleenrath tomb, a couple of fields away, is still known as Leaba Dhiarmada agus Gráinne, 'the bed of Diarmaid and Gráinne'. It is a way of explaining stones older than memory by hanging the oldest story you have on them.

04 / 07

Things to do outside.

Wear waterproofs. Bring a sandwich. Tell someone where you're going if it's the mountain.

The dolmen walk From St Columcille's church, head along the road about a hundred metres to the signed laneway and field gate. Follow the lane through to the far gate and the dolmen stands in the field beyond. Short, flat, and the single thing most people come to Aughnacliffe to see. Muddy underfoot after rain.

Under 1 km returndistance

20 minutestime

Lough Gowna shore The lake lies a few minutes north toward the Cavan border. A complex, drumlin-shaped sheet of water with bays and inlets, known to coarse anglers more than to walkers. No single waymarked loop here - the appeal is the quiet shore roads and the fishing stands. Loch Gowna village on the Cavan side is the better base for the water itself.

Variesdistance

Half a daytime

05 / 07

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

Long enough days to see the dolmen properly and dry enough underfoot in the field. The drumlin country greens up and the lake is quiet.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

The best of it. The Glenview's outdoor area is in use, Lough Gowna fishing is in season, and the evenings are long enough to combine the dolmen with a drive around the lake.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

Still good for the walk to the tomb and the lake roads. Bring boots - the field gets soft.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Short days, soft ground at the dolmen, and very little open in a village this size. The pub keeps going at weekends; not much else does.

◐ Mind yourself

06 / 07

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

If a local was sitting beside you, this is the bit where they'd lean in.

Expecting a village to wander

Aughnacliffe is 157 people, one pub, one church. There is no main-street stroll, no café row, no visitor centre. Come for the dolmen and the lake, not for the village itself - and that is fine, because the dolmen is worth the trip.

Driving up to the dolmen

There is no car park at the tomb and no signed attraction setup. You park near the church and walk the laneway and field. Treat it as a short muddy walk, not a drive-through stop.

Getting there.

By car

From Longford town: about 25 minutes (21 km) north on the R194. From Granard: about 20 minutes via local roads. From Cavan town: about 30 minutes south, with the R198 skirting Lough Gowna toward the border.

By bus

TFI Local Link Route 865 serves Aughnacliffe and Lough Gowna, linking to Granard, Longford town (and Longford station) and onward to Cavan. Roughly four return trips Monday to Thursday and more on Fridays. Check current times before relying on it.

By train

Nearest station is Longford on the Dublin-Sligo line, about 25 minutes south. Taxi or hire car from there, or the Local Link bus.

By air

Dublin Airport is about 2 hours by road via the N4 and N55. Knock (Ireland West) is roughly 1 hour 45 minutes.