King Orry's Grave is the largest

megalith A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea. The ...

ic tomb on the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

. It is situated in

Minorca Menorca or Minorca (from la, Insula Minor, , smaller island, later ''Minorica'') is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. Its name derives from its size, contrasting it with nearby Majorca. Its capita ...

, in the northern part of the village of

Laxey Laxey ( gv, Laksaa) is a village on the east coast of the Isle of Man. Its name derives from the Old Norse ''Laxa'' meaning 'Salmon River'. Its key distinguishing features are its three working vintage railways and the largest working waterwhe ...

, partly in a private cottage garden. It is some 4000 to 5000 years old; however the reference to King Orry is to the 11th century local ruler

Godred Crovan Godred Crovan (died 1095), known in Gaelic as Gofraid Crobán, Gofraid Meránach, and Gofraid Méránach, was a Norse-Gaelic ruler of the kingdoms of Dublin and the Isles. Although his precise parentage has not completely been proven, he was c ...

, who has a number of supposed burial places. The modern name likely dates to the early 19th century. King Orry's Grave is a

Manx National Heritage Manx National Heritage ( gv, Eiraght Ashoonagh Vannin) is the national heritage organisation for the Isle of Man. The organisation manages a significant proportion of the island’s physical heritage assets including over 3,000 acres of coastlin ...

site.

Description

The

neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

tomb comprises two separate chambered sections. Like

Cashtal yn Ard Cashtal yn Ard ''(Castle of the Heights'') is a Neolithic chambered tomb in Cornaa, in the parish of Maughold in the Isle of Man. It is situated on a low hill overlooking much of the surrounding parish of Maughold and across to the Lake District ...

, the structure is a multi-chambered Clyde cairn of coloured sandstone. The north-eastern facing eastern part of the tomb is semi-circular with a diameter of 12 m and a depth of 4 m. The eastern section is a row of three burial chambers covered by a trapezoidal-shaped cairn. A u-shaped forecourt and slab façade are linked by dry stone walls and two portal stones. The chamber may have been larger, but was destroyed in the 19th century during the construction of a road and house. At the western end there is a separate

cist A cist ( or ; also kist ; from grc-gre, κίστη, Middle Welsh ''Kist'' or Germanic ''Kiste'') is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. Examples can be found across Europe and in the Middle Ea ...

-like structure, excavated in 1930, with a

menhir A menhir (from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large human-made upright stone, typically dating from the European middle Bronze Age. They can be found ...

. As the central section is not extant, it is unclear whether this is part of the same structure as the construction of modern housing has made excavation difficult. The massive stone slabs that make up the chambers were of local stone. A second chamber was later built and at the south-west end, a horseshoe shaped forecourt was added. Only stumps of the original standing stones survive, except for one remaining tall stone. These standing stone likely formed part of a cairn of rubble that covered the burial chambers, similar to those found in the north of Ireland and south-west Scotland.

References

History of the Isle of Man Historic sites in the Isle of Man Tourist attractions in the Isle of Man Buildings and structures in the Isle of Man {{Europe-struct-stub