BALLYDUGAN

Daniel Kirkpatrick

BALLYDUGAN Heritage Profile

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By

Daniel Kirkpatrick

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By | Compiled 2026-05-05 | N08001004
129 historic sites 22 scheduled monuments 49 listed buildings 7 archaeological periods

BALLYDUGAN covers 245.9 km² in Northern Ireland. With 129 historic sites and 22 scheduled monuments on record, the ward sits at the 92nd percentile across all 462 NI wards for combined archaeological heritage. It also records 49 listed buildings (HED Historic Buildings Record), the 77th percentile for listed-building density across NI wards. Per 1,000 residents, this works out at 53.1 recorded sites — the 92nd percentile across NI wards (a measure of heritage density relative to current population). Dated archaeological evidence runs from the Mesolithic through to the Modern period, spanning 7 archaeological periods, placing the ward in the 79th percentile NI-wide for chronological depth.

Detailed boundary map of BALLYDUGAN ward, Newry, Mourne and Down
BALLYDUGAN boundary detail
Regional context map showing BALLYDUGAN ward within Newry, Mourne and Down
BALLYDUGAN in regional context

Heritage at a glance

Percentile rankings throughout this profile compare each ward only against the other 461 Northern Ireland wards.

129
Historic sites
92nd percentile
22
Scheduled monuments
97th percentile
49
Listed buildings
77th percentile
0.81
Sites per km²

Population context

15
Persons per km²
13th percentile
53.1
Sites per 1,000 residents
92nd percentile
3,764
Total residents (2021)

The recorded heritage of BALLYDUGAN

Of the 129 historic sites recorded, the most common are Enclosure (10, 8% of historic sites), Rath (8), and Raised Rath (5). For Enclosures, this is the 69th percentile among NI wards that record this type. For Raths, this is the 58th percentile among NI wards that record this type. Across the ward's 245.9 km², this gives a recorded density of 0.81 sites per km² (all heritage types combined). Scheduled monuments are distributed across approximately 0.10° of latitude and 0.12° of longitude within the ward, indicating dispersed rather than clustered placement.

Most common monument types

TypeCountDescription
Enclosure 10 —
Rath 8 —
Raised Rath 5 —

Chronological distribution

Mesolithic
5
Middle Late Bronze Age
1
Iron Age
30
Early Medieval
47
Medieval
8
Post Medieval
7
Modern
7
Unknown
24

Note: 19% of historic site records carry an ‘Unknown’ period attribution. The chronological breakdown above reflects only the dated subset.

Terrain and environment

Mean elevation of 40m sits around the NI median (31th percentile), with a maximum of 164m giving the ward meaningful vertical relief. Mean slope is 5.0° (69th percentile across NI), giving moderately undulating terrain. The Topographic Wetness Index of 10.2 (35th NI percentile) indicates moderate drainage, balanced between upland shedding and lowland accumulation. The land-cover mosaic combines improved grassland (72%), woodland (14%), and arable farmland (11%), giving a mixed agricultural and semi-natural landscape.

Terrain measurements

Mean elevation39.6 m 31st pct
Max elevation163.6 m 66th pct
Mean slope5° 70th pct
Wetness index (TWI)10.15 36th pct
Grassland72.2% 67th pct
Woodland14.5% 39th pct
Cropland10.7% 93rd pct
Urban land1.5% 16th pct

Where this ward sits in NI

Elevation
31st
Slope
70th
Drainage
36th
Grassland
67th
Woodland
39th

Geology and preservation

The dominant bedrock formed during the Palaeozoic era (Silurian period). Ancient sedimentary or metamorphic rock dating to before the age of dinosaurs; the resulting landscape has been long-stable enough to host every period of human activity. Bedrock composition is uniform (complexity index 0.00), with a single dominant geological unit underlying most of the ward. A uniform geology narrows the natural lithic-resource base available to past inhabitants.

Bedrock eraPalaeozoic
Bedrock periodSilurian
Surface depositsTill
Peat coverage0.0%
Bedrock complexity0.00

Placename evidence

The combined OSNI, Logainm NI, and GeoNames sources record 62 placenames for this ward. Diagnostic heritage strata identified within these are: 3 pre-Christian defensive (rath-, dún-, lios-, caiseal-) and 1 ecclesiastical (cill-, teampall-, mainistir-, díseart-). Note: Irish-language (name_ga) forms are recorded for roughly half of NI placenames in the combined sources, so anglicised forms whose Irish original could belong to multiple categories may be misclassified.

Placename categories

Ecclesiastical (kil-, temple-, monaster-)1 name
Pre-Christian Defensive (rath-, dun-, lis-)3 names

Scheduled monuments in BALLYDUGAN

Scheduled monuments are sites legally protected under the Historic Monuments and Archaeological Objects (Northern Ireland) Order 1995, designated by the Historic Environment Division (HED).

MonumentTypePeriod
Rath: Blackwood's FortRath: Blackwood'S FortEarly Medieval
Couterscarp RathCouterscarp RathEarly Medieval
Mound: Piper's FortMound: Piper'S FortUnknown
BawnBawnPost-Medieval
Standing StoneStanding StoneEarly Bronze Age
Rath and MotteRath And MotteEarly Medieval
Rectangular enclosure and souterrainRectangular Enclosure And SouterrainIron Age
Rath and tower-houseRath And Tower-HouseEarly Medieval

Recorded historic sites

NamePeriodType
A.P. SITEUnknownUnknown
A.P. SITE – 2 enclosures/ moundsUnknownUnknown
A.P. SITE – RATHEarly MedievalDefence
A.P. SITE – circular bivallate enclosureIron AgeDefence
A.P. SITE – circular cropmarkUnknownUnknown
A.P. SITE – circular enclosureIron AgeUnknown
A.P. SITE – circular enclosureIron AgeUnknown
A.P. SITE – cropmarkUnknownUnknown
A.P. SITE – cropmarkUnknownUnknown
A.P. SITE – cropmarkUnknownUnknown

Listed buildings in BALLYDUGAN

Address / NameGradePeriod
Lower Farm courtyard off Demesne Road Seaforde Demense near Seaforde Downpatrick Co Down BT30 8PFB21840 – 1859
Stable Yard Seaforde House Newcastle Road Seaforde Demense near Seaforde Downpatrick Co Down BT30 8PGB11820 – 1839
DOWNPATRICK GATE LODGE SEAFORDE HOUSE 175 NEWCASTLE ROAD SEAFORDE DEMESNE DOWNPATRICK CO.DOWNB2—
The Kennels 10 Drumgooland Road Seaforde Demesne Downpatrick Co Down BT30 8NTB+1840 – 1859
Greenwood 39 Farranfad Road Farranfad near Seaforde Downpatrick Co Down BT30 8[?NH]B11780 – 1799
Lake House 7 Drumcullan Road Downpatrick County Down BT30 8JEB11820 – 1839
PIGEON HOUSE AT CASTLESCREEN Off Castlescreen Road Killough Downpatrick Co DownB—
TYRELLA PARISH CHURCH, CLANMAGHERY ROAD TYRELLA SOUTH KILLOUGH Downpatrick CO.DOWNB—
ENTRANCE GATES TYRELLA HOUSE CLANMAGHERY ROAD TYRELLA SOUTH KILLOUGH Downpatrick CO.DOWNB—
GATE LODGE 92 CLANMAGHERY ROAD TYRELLA SOUTH KILLOUGH Downpatrick CO.DOWNB—

Further reading

Discover more in Newry, Mourne and Down

Grounding History report mockup

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.

View the report — £12.99

About this profile

What is a ward?

A ward is the smallest electoral and statistical geography used by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA). The boundaries used here are the 2014 NISRA / OSNI Wards (462 across Northern Ireland), each typically covering 1-700 km² and a population of a few thousand. Wards do not align with parishes, townlands, or any historic administrative unit — they are a modern statistical convenience, used here only as a fixed spatial frame within which to summarise heritage records.

What counts as a site?

Three distinct heritage record types are reported separately, not combined: (1) Historic Sites — entries in the Northern Ireland Sites and Monuments Record (NISMR), the inventory of recorded archaeological sites and findspots, dated from prehistoric to early-modern; (2) Scheduled Monuments — sites legally protected under the Historic Monuments and Archaeological Objects (NI) Order 1995 and maintained by the Historic Environment Division (HED); (3) Listed Buildings — buildings of architectural or historic interest protected under the Planning Act (NI) 2011 and graded A, B+, B1, B2, or Record-Only by HED. A site appearing in more than one register is counted in each register independently.

Editorial principles

These ward profiles describe evidence, not history. They report what is recorded, not what occurred. Where the data is ambiguous, we say so. We do not infer historical processes — population movements, settlement expansion, periods of decline — from patterns in the record. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence: in Northern Ireland, where antiquarian survey was uneven and modern excavation is geographically biased, a gap in the record almost always reflects the limits of recording rather than a genuine historical absence. We mark such gaps explicitly where they appear in the data.

Limits of coverage and known caveats

Several caveats apply to every ward profile: (1) NISMR coverage is uneven across NI — some areas (notably parts of the south-east and the Belfast urban fringe) have been more intensively surveyed than others, so a low recorded site count does not reliably indicate a low past density of activity; (2) period attributions in NISMR are often 'Unknown', and chronological breakdowns reported here reflect only the dated subset; (3) placename classification depends on the Irish-language form (name_ga), which is recorded for approximately 50% of NI placenames in the combined sources, so ecclesiastical and pre-Christian counts may be understated where anglicised forms remain unparsed; (4) terrain percentile ranks compare each ward only to the other 461 NI wards; they are not absolute thresholds. For absence-dominant land cover categories (wetland, water, cropland), percentile ranks are suppressed below 1% raw value, since the ranking of zero-value wards is not meaningful.

Data sources (11)
Spotted an error? This dataset is updated continuously. Email contact@danielkirkpatrick.co.uk with corrections, missing records, or suggestions for improvement.