Newry, Mourne and Down comprises 41 of Northern Ireland's 462 electoral wards, covering 4,911 km² of land — roughly 8.9% of the NI ward total. Across these wards, the combined heritage record holds 2,178 recorded historic sites, 314 scheduled monuments, and 2,741 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 0.51 sites per km² (7th of NI's eleven councils). With an average of 120 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 180,247 residents across the council's wards. The single richest ward in the council by recorded heritage is Strangford (422 combined records); a complete ranked list of all 41 wards in this council appears below.
Heritage at a glance
Chronological character
Aggregated across the council's wards, the dated archaeological record contains 1,826 sites distributed across 9 archaeological periods. The Early Medieval period is the most common (603 sites, 33%), with the Iron Age period in second place (414 sites, 23%). Sparsely represented periods include Neolithic, Middle Late Bronze Age and Early Bronze Age — 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 | 272 | 41.0% | over-represented (1.5× NI average) |
| Rath | 158 | 23.8% | in line with NI average (1.0×) |
| Cleared Slipway | 32 | 4.8% | over-represented (5.3× NI average) |
| Intertidal Wall | 27 | 4.1% | over-represented (5.9× NI average) |
| A.p. Site | 24 | 3.6% | over-represented (1.5× NI average) |
| Cashel | 19 | 2.9% | over-represented (9.7× NI average) |
Geographic character
Mean ward elevation across the council is 99m, around the NI median. Land cover averages combine 67% grassland, 16% woodland and 11% urban land, giving a varied mosaic across the council's wards.
All wards in Newry, Mourne and Down
The complete list of 41 wards in this council. Click any ward to view its full heritage profile.
| Ward | HS | SM | LB | Total | km² | Dominant period |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strangford | 303 | 33 | 86 | 422 | 297.9 | Post-Medieval |
| Tollymore | 110 | 10 | 129 | 249 | 318.2 | Early Medieval |
| Mayobridge | 144 | 20 | 78 | 242 | 183.1 | Iron Age |
| Lisnacree | 87 | 8 | 121 | 216 | 281.9 | Early Medieval |
| Bessbrook | 12 | 2 | 191 | 205 | 11.4 | Early Medieval |
| Dundrum | 90 | 3 | 111 | 204 | 122.1 | Iron Age |
| Ballydugan | 129 | 22 | 49 | 200 | 245.9 | Early Medieval |
| Lecale | 88 | 19 | 92 | 199 | 161.3 | Early Medieval |
| Derryboy | 145 | 11 | 42 | 198 | 224.4 | Post-Medieval |
| Rostrevor | 27 | 6 | 145 | 178 | 104.3 | Early Medieval |
| Ballyward | 105 | 18 | 47 | 170 | 356.4 | Early Medieval |
| Whitecross | 74 | 12 | 83 | 169 | 195.7 | Early Medieval |
| Hilltown | 79 | 11 | 76 | 166 | 246.4 | Iron Age |
| Drumaness | 34 | 7 | 98 | 139 | 107.3 | Early Medieval |
| Forkhill | 53 | 17 | 67 | 137 | 164.4 | Early Medieval |
| Derryleckagh | 81 | 14 | 39 | 134 | 101.2 | Iron Age |
| St. Patrick's | 4 | 1 | 128 | 133 | 4.9 | Iron Age |
| Fathom | 51 | 12 | 57 | 120 | 117.1 | Mesolithic |
| Cathedral | 32 | 5 | 80 | 117 | 18.3 | Medieval |
| Crossgar And Killyleagh | 53 | 1 | 63 | 117 | 65.3 | Post-Medieval |
| Abbey | 7 | 1 | 107 | 115 | 9.6 | Medieval |
| Annalong | 25 | 3 | 86 | 114 | 131.4 | Early Medieval |
| Quoile | 44 | 4 | 56 | 104 | 97.4 | Iron Age |
| Kilmore | 62 | 13 | 28 | 103 | 185.0 | Early Medieval |
| Binnian | 28 | 7 | 66 | 101 | 176.6 | Early Medieval |
| Warrenpoint | 5 | 1 | 85 | 91 | 6.4 | Post-Medieval |
| Newtownhamilton | 34 | 8 | 48 | 90 | 274.4 | Mesolithic |
| Castlewellan | 37 | 9 | 39 | 85 | 72.6 | Early Medieval |
| Ballybot | 8 | 0 | 74 | 82 | 7.2 | Post-Medieval |
| Crossmaglen | 43 | 6 | 31 | 80 | 105.6 | Early Medieval |
| Burren | 42 | 7 | 28 | 77 | 68.7 | Early Medieval |
| Saintfield | 25 | 2 | 50 | 77 | 44.5 | Early Medieval |
| Donard | 7 | 1 | 65 | 73 | 30.0 | Medieval |
| Kilkeel | 11 | 1 | 61 | 73 | 17.6 | Post-Medieval |
| Mullaghbane | 33 | 8 | 18 | 59 | 162.8 | Early Medieval |
| Camlough | 27 | 4 | 16 | 47 | 122.8 | Early Medieval |
| Ballynahinch | 5 | 1 | 32 | 38 | 10.7 | Post-Medieval |
| Murlough | 17 | 3 | 15 | 35 | 32.3 | Mesolithic |
| Damolly | 4 | 3 | 23 | 30 | 6.1 | Early Medieval |
| Drumalane | 5 | 0 | 21 | 26 | 6.9 | Early Medieval |
| Knocknashinna | 8 | 0 | 10 | 18 | 15.3 | Iron Age |
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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 41 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.