Derry City and Strabane comprises 40 of Northern Ireland's 462 electoral wards, covering 3,754 km² of land — roughly 8.7% of the NI ward total. Across these wards, the combined heritage record holds 952 recorded historic sites, 139 scheduled monuments, and 1,250 listed buildings, drawn from the NISMR, HED scheduled monuments register, and HED Historic Buildings Record. That places the council at a relatively low recorded density of 0.29 sites per km² (11th of NI's eleven councils — though survey intensity varies geographically and a low figure does not imply genuine absence). With an average of 94 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 149,292 residents across the council's wards. The single richest ward in the council by recorded heritage is Northland (238 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 828 sites distributed across 9 archaeological periods. The Mesolithic period is the most common (329 sites, 40%), with the Early Medieval period in second place (184 sites, 22%). 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.
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 | 89 | 29.8% | in line with NI average (1.1×) |
| Rath | 81 | 27.1% | in line with NI average (1.1×) |
| Standing Stone | 53 | 17.7% | over-represented (6.3× NI average) |
| Non-antiquity | 7 | 2.3% | in line with NI average (1.4×) |
| Holy Well: St Columb's Well | 4 | 1.3% | over-represented (13.0× NI average) |
| A.p. Site – Circular Enclosure | 4 | 1.3% | over-represented (4.3× NI average) |
Geographic character
Mean ward elevation across the council is 69m, around the NI median. Land cover averages combine 47% grassland, 21% woodland and 24% urban land, giving a varied mosaic across the council's wards.
All wards in Derry City and Strabane
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northland | 2 | 0 | 236 | 238 | 3.9 | Modern |
| Glenelly Valley | 148 | 28 | 41 | 217 | 770.6 | Mesolithic |
| City Walls | 15 | 2 | 187 | 204 | 3.3 | Medieval |
| Park | 89 | 16 | 58 | 163 | 365.0 | Mesolithic |
| Dunnamanagh | 109 | 15 | 31 | 155 | 410.9 | Mesolithic |
| Newtownstewart | 66 | 6 | 77 | 149 | 262.6 | Iron Age |
| Glenderg | 89 | 15 | 41 | 145 | 632.8 | Mesolithic |
| Enagh | 79 | 16 | 30 | 125 | 133.6 | Mesolithic |
| Claudy | 79 | 11 | 31 | 121 | 250.2 | Mesolithic |
| Culmore | 37 | 5 | 43 | 85 | 26.8 | Mesolithic |
| Strabane North | 11 | 1 | 70 | 82 | 11.8 | Post-Medieval |
| Ebrington | 6 | 2 | 73 | 81 | 8.5 | Post-Medieval |
| Slievekirk | 47 | 2 | 30 | 79 | 217.8 | Mesolithic |
| Castlederg | 27 | 5 | 44 | 76 | 66.8 | Mesolithic |
| Sion Mills | 17 | 3 | 53 | 73 | 72.3 | Mesolithic |
| Artigarvan | 21 | 3 | 28 | 52 | 145.6 | Mesolithic |
| Finn | 31 | 1 | 17 | 49 | 127.4 | Early Medieval |
| Sheriff's Mountain | 15 | 2 | 19 | 36 | 65.6 | Iron Age |
| Eglinton | 14 | 2 | 19 | 35 | 43.7 | Mesolithic |
| Drumahoe | 4 | 0 | 17 | 21 | 8.0 | Early Medieval |
| Madam's Bank | 4 | 1 | 14 | 19 | 6.7 | Post-Medieval |
| Skeoge | 9 | 1 | 9 | 19 | 18.7 | Early Medieval |
| Victoria | 1 | 0 | 15 | 16 | 11.0 | Early Bronze Age |
| New Buildings | 7 | 1 | 6 | 14 | 16.4 | Post-Medieval |
| Creggan South | 1 | 0 | 12 | 13 | 3.1 | Mesolithic |
| Shantallow East | 6 | 0 | 7 | 13 | 5.4 | Mesolithic |
| Brandywell | 3 | 1 | 8 | 12 | 2.0 | Early Medieval |
| Kilfennan | 4 | 0 | 6 | 10 | 4.9 | Unknown |
| Carn Hill | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 3.2 | Mesolithic |
| Shantallow | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 2.1 | Unknown |
| Ballymagroarty | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 15.9 | Early Medieval |
| Clondermot | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 8.0 | Post-Medieval |
| Springtown | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5.0 | Mesolithic |
| Strabane West | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 3.9 | Unknown |
| Ballycolman | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 5.4 | Unknown |
| Caw | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5.0 | Medieval |
| Creggan | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2.0 | Unknown |
| Foyle Springs | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2.6 | Unknown |
| Galliagh | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2.7 | Unknown |
| Lisnagelvin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.5 | 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.