Belfast comprises 60 of Northern Ireland's 462 electoral wards, covering 409 km² of land — roughly 13.0% of the NI ward total. Across these wards, the combined heritage record holds 227 recorded historic sites, 44 scheduled monuments, and 1,949 listed buildings, drawn from the NISMR, HED scheduled monuments register, and HED Historic Buildings Record. That places the council at the 3rd highest recorded heritage density of NI's eleven councils (0.66 sites per km²). The 2021 Census records 336,046 residents across the council's wards. The single richest ward in the council by recorded heritage is Central (519 combined records); a complete ranked list of all 60 wards in this council appears below.
Heritage at a glance
Chronological character
Aggregated across the council's wards, the dated archaeological record contains 200 sites distributed across 9 archaeological periods. The Mesolithic period is the most common (49 sites, 24%), with the Post Medieval period in second place (43 sites, 22%). Sparsely represented periods include Early Bronze Age, Neolithic and Roman — each under 2% of the dated record. As elsewhere in NI, thin period coverage typically reflects survey gaps rather than genuine absence of activity.
Most common monument types
The table below lists the council’s most frequently recorded monument types, with the share they form of this council’s record compared to their share of the NI-wide record.
| Monument type | In this council | % of council | NI comparison |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enclosure | 26 | 19.3% | in line with NI average (0.7×) |
| Rath | 5 | 3.7% | under-represented (0.1× NI average) |
| C17th Settlement Site | 4 | 3.0% | over-represented (30.0× NI average) |
| Platform Rath | 4 | 3.0% | over-represented (2.0× NI average) |
| A.p. Site | 3 | 2.2% | in line with NI average (0.9×) |
| Tree Plantation | 3 | 2.2% | over-represented (11.0× NI average) |
Geographic character
Mean ward elevation across the council is 54m, around the NI median. Land cover averages combine 19% grassland, 28% woodland and 51% urban land, giving a varied mosaic across the council's wards.
All wards in Belfast
The complete list of 60 wards in this council. Click any ward to view its full heritage profile.
| Ward | HS | SM | LB | Total | km² | Dominant period |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central | 10 | 2 | 507 | 519 | 8.4 | Post-Medieval |
| Windsor | 4 | 0 | 308 | 312 | 4.1 | Early Medieval |
| Malone | 1 | 1 | 116 | 118 | 6.1 | Post-Medieval |
| Duncairn | 9 | 3 | 90 | 102 | 28.5 | Post-Medieval |
| Belvoir | 38 | 5 | 37 | 80 | 16.2 | Mesolithic |
| Stranmillis | 6 | 2 | 71 | 79 | 7.3 | Early Medieval |
| Blackstaff | 6 | 2 | 62 | 70 | 7.6 | Post-Medieval |
| Ballymacarrett | 4 | 2 | 63 | 69 | 2.9 | Post-Medieval |
| Rosetta | 1 | 0 | 50 | 51 | 3.3 | Unknown |
| Ormeau | 1 | 0 | 49 | 50 | 4.3 | Mesolithic |
| Stormont | 7 | 1 | 33 | 41 | 15.8 | Iron Age |
| Water Works | 3 | 1 | 35 | 39 | 4.1 | Modern |
| Upper Malone | 6 | 2 | 29 | 37 | 12.8 | Post-Medieval |
| Falls | 1 | 0 | 34 | 35 | 3.3 | Post-Medieval |
| New Lodge | 0 | 0 | 35 | 35 | 2.1 | Unknown |
| Sydenham | 9 | 4 | 22 | 35 | 27.1 | Mesolithic |
| Fortwilliam | 3 | 1 | 26 | 30 | 2.6 | Early Medieval |
| Woodvale | 3 | 1 | 26 | 30 | 2.5 | Iron Age |
| Shankill | 2 | 0 | 26 | 28 | 3.3 | Early Medieval |
| Beersbridge | 1 | 0 | 25 | 26 | 2.8 | Post-Medieval |
| Bloomfield | 1 | 0 | 25 | 26 | 2.4 | Post-Medieval |
| Garnerville | 5 | 0 | 20 | 25 | 8.6 | Medieval |
| Cavehill | 13 | 4 | 7 | 24 | 9.3 | Early Medieval |
| Knock | 1 | 0 | 23 | 24 | 3.9 | Post-Medieval |
| Falls Park | 2 | 0 | 21 | 23 | 6.6 | Early Medieval |
| Dunmurry | 4 | 2 | 15 | 21 | 5.7 | Mesolithic |
| Finaghy | 7 | 1 | 13 | 21 | 7.7 | Post-Medieval |
| Bellevue | 7 | 0 | 13 | 20 | 9.9 | Early Medieval |
| Belmont | 0 | 0 | 18 | 18 | 4.3 | Unknown |
| Chichester Park | 1 | 0 | 16 | 17 | 3.5 | Iron Age |
| Forth River | 9 | 3 | 3 | 15 | 12.9 | Early Medieval |
| Legoniel | 6 | 0 | 9 | 15 | 25.5 | Mesolithic |
| Clonard | 3 | 2 | 9 | 14 | 2.3 | Modern |
| Innisfayle | 0 | 0 | 14 | 14 | 3.8 | Unknown |
| Shandon | 1 | 1 | 11 | 13 | 7.8 | Early Medieval |
| Collin Glen | 10 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 28.4 | Mesolithic |
| Connswater | 2 | 1 | 8 | 11 | 2.8 | Post-Medieval |
| Hillfoot | 3 | 0 | 8 | 11 | 7.8 | Iron Age |
| Merok | 0 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 4.2 | Unknown |
| Cregagh | 0 | 0 | 9 | 9 | 2.5 | Unknown |
| Gilnahirk | 3 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 5.4 | Iron Age |
| Woodstock | 2 | 0 | 6 | 8 | 2.0 | Post-Medieval |
| Beechmount | 1 | 0 | 6 | 7 | 2.6 | Early Medieval |
| Musgrave | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 5.1 | Unknown |
| Ravenhill | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 3.1 | Unknown |
| Ballysillan | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 3.1 | Iron Age |
| Turf Lodge | 5 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 7.0 | Mesolithic |
| Ballymurphy | 2 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 2.4 | Iron Age |
| Orangefield | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 3.7 | Post-Medieval |
| Poleglass | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 8.9 | Roman |
| Ballygomartin | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 8.2 | Iron Age |
| Cliftonville | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3.4 | Iron Age |
| Shaw's Road | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5.2 | Iron Age |
| Ladybrook | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3.3 | Early Medieval |
| Sandown | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2.8 | Medieval |
| Stewartstown | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3.0 | Mesolithic |
| Ardoyne | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1.6 | Modern |
| Lagmore | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6.4 | Early Medieval |
| Twinbrook | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4.2 | Unknown |
| Andersonstown | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.9 | Unknown |
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Want a deeper view?
Grounding History: 10 Maps of Northern Ireland’s Past
A spatial history report bringing together analysis of all 462 wards into one place through 10 high-quality maps — covering monument density, archaeological periods, placename heritage, terrain, wetland, and the historic landscape at first survey.
About this profile
This council profile aggregates the recorded archaeological, built-heritage, terrain, and population data from each of its 60 wards. All figures describe the recorded evidence held in the public datasets listed at the foot of this page; the profile does not interpret historical processes or make inferences that are not directly supported by the data.
For full methodology — including a description of the ward geography, what counts as a recorded site, how period attributions are made, and what the limits of survey coverage mean for these figures — see the main methodology page.