Causeway Coast and Glens comprises 40 of Northern Ireland's 462 electoral wards, covering 6,033 km² of land — roughly 8.7% of the NI ward total. Across these wards, the combined heritage record holds 3,104 recorded historic sites, 305 scheduled monuments, and 1,688 listed buildings, drawn from the NISMR, HED scheduled monuments register, and HED Historic Buildings Record. That places the council at a mid-range recorded density of 0.56 sites per km² (5th of NI's eleven councils). With an average of 151 km² per ward, this is a predominantly rural council — ward areas here are larger than the NI median, reflecting lower population density rather than larger administrative units. The 2021 Census records 139,802 residents across the council's wards. The single richest ward in the council by recorded heritage is Torr Head And Rathlin (1026 combined records); a complete ranked list of all 40 wards in this council appears below.
Heritage at a glance
Chronological character
Aggregated across the council's wards, the dated archaeological record contains 2,384 sites distributed across 9 archaeological periods. The Early Medieval period is the most common (723 sites, 30%), with the Mesolithic period in second place (676 sites, 28%). Sparsely represented periods include Middle Late Bronze Age and Neolithic — each under 2% of the dated record. As elsewhere in NI, thin period coverage typically reflects survey gaps rather than genuine absence of activity. A further 720 sites (23% of the council's total record) carry an 'Unknown' period attribution and are excluded from the figures above.
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 | 133 | 19.9% | in line with NI average (0.7×) |
| Souterrain | 96 | 14.4% | over-represented (4.6× NI average) |
| Rectangular Kelp Kiln | 44 | 6.6% | over-represented (9.4× NI average) |
| A.p. Site | 40 | 6.0% | over-represented (2.5× NI average) |
| Non-antiquity | 38 | 5.7% | over-represented (3.6× NI average) |
| Rath | 37 | 5.5% | under-represented (0.2× NI average) |
Geographic character
Mean ward elevation across the council is 83m, around the NI median. Land cover averages combine 61% grassland, 19% woodland and 14% urban land, giving a varied mosaic across the council's wards. Peat cover averages 15% across the council's wards, a substantial share. Peat-bound ground preserves organic archaeological material that would not survive on aerated mineral soils.
All wards in Causeway Coast and Glens
The complete list of 40 wards in this council. Click any ward to view its full heritage profile.
| Ward | HS | SM | LB | Total | km² | Dominant period |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Torr Head And Rathlin | 836 | 72 | 118 | 1,026 | 772.9 | Mesolithic |
| Giant's Causeway | 282 | 13 | 127 | 422 | 263.5 | Early Medieval |
| Kinbane | 246 | 17 | 33 | 296 | 254.5 | Mesolithic |
| Magilligan | 161 | 21 | 110 | 292 | 441.9 | Mesolithic |
| Dundooan | 162 | 7 | 47 | 216 | 238.8 | Early Medieval |
| Lurigethan | 80 | 6 | 120 | 206 | 211.0 | Iron Age |
| Garvagh | 141 | 11 | 43 | 195 | 229.1 | Early Medieval |
| Feeny | 98 | 16 | 72 | 186 | 301.5 | Mesolithic |
| Aghadowey | 98 | 15 | 66 | 179 | 360.8 | Early Medieval |
| Ballycastle | 15 | 4 | 152 | 171 | 7.2 | Post-Medieval |
| Portrush And Dunluce | 66 | 7 | 97 | 170 | 63.4 | Mesolithic |
| Macosquin | 94 | 14 | 25 | 133 | 271.2 | Early Medieval |
| Loughguile And Stranocum | 107 | 14 | 8 | 129 | 370.5 | Early Medieval |
| Mountsandel | 14 | 2 | 110 | 126 | 9.3 | Early Medieval |
| Dungiven | 74 | 11 | 33 | 118 | 407.2 | Mesolithic |
| Castlerock | 45 | 11 | 58 | 114 | 55.4 | Mesolithic |
| Kilrea | 51 | 3 | 56 | 110 | 180.9 | Early Medieval |
| Ballykelly | 49 | 4 | 49 | 102 | 173.3 | Iron Age |
| Dervock | 77 | 8 | 15 | 100 | 188.3 | Early Medieval |
| Dunloy | 77 | 8 | 12 | 97 | 201.9 | Early Medieval |
| Altahullion | 40 | 4 | 51 | 95 | 194.7 | Early Medieval |
| Drumsurn | 53 | 6 | 34 | 93 | 134.1 | Iron Age |
| Clogh Mills | 68 | 6 | 5 | 79 | 192.9 | Early Medieval |
| Rasharkin | 54 | 9 | 14 | 77 | 178.6 | Iron Age |
| Roeside | 4 | 0 | 61 | 65 | 6.4 | Post-Medieval |
| Greysteel | 19 | 4 | 23 | 46 | 109.6 | Post-Medieval |
| Waterside | 4 | 0 | 40 | 44 | 6.5 | Medieval |
| Portstewart | 16 | 1 | 26 | 43 | 11.5 | Mesolithic |
| Route | 29 | 5 | 7 | 41 | 100.7 | Iron Age |
| Ballymoney North | 8 | 0 | 31 | 39 | 10.9 | Post-Medieval |
| Atlantic | 10 | 3 | 11 | 24 | 16.4 | Early Medieval |
| Hopefield | 6 | 0 | 7 | 13 | 6.4 | Early Medieval |
| Coolessan | 3 | 0 | 9 | 12 | 3.4 | Mesolithic |
| University | 4 | 0 | 6 | 10 | 8.3 | Early Medieval |
| Ballymoney East | 1 | 1 | 7 | 9 | 3.0 | Medieval |
| Ballymoney South | 4 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 24.2 | Mesolithic |
| Windy Hall | 4 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 8.9 | Mesolithic |
| Churchland | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4.8 | Mesolithic |
| Quarry | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5.3 | Mesolithic |
| Greystone | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3.4 | 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 40 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.