BROOKEBOROUGH

Daniel Kirkpatrick

BROOKEBOROUGH Heritage Profile

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By

Daniel Kirkpatrick

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By | Compiled 2026-05-05 | N08000606
152 historic sites 3 scheduled monuments 47 listed buildings 7 archaeological periods

BROOKEBOROUGH covers 362.5 km² in Northern Ireland. With 152 historic sites and 3 scheduled monuments on record, the ward sits at the 92nd percentile across all 462 NI wards for combined archaeological heritage. It also records 47 listed buildings (HED Historic Buildings Record), the 76th percentile for listed-building density across NI wards. Per 1,000 residents, this works out at 79.8 recorded sites — the 97th 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 BROOKEBOROUGH ward, Fermanagh and Omagh
BROOKEBOROUGH boundary detail
Regional context map showing BROOKEBOROUGH ward within Fermanagh and Omagh
BROOKEBOROUGH in regional context

Heritage at a glance

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

152
Historic sites
95th percentile
3
Scheduled monuments
60th percentile
47
Listed buildings
76th percentile
0.56
Sites per km²

Population context

7
Persons per km²
3rd percentile
79.8
Sites per 1,000 residents
97th percentile
2,531
Total residents (2021)

The recorded heritage of BROOKEBOROUGH

Of the 152 historic sites recorded, the most common are Burnt Mound (26, 17% of historic sites), Rath (24), and Enclosure (14). For Burnt Mounds, this is the 47th percentile among NI wards that record this type. For Raths, this is the 92nd percentile across NI wards that record this type. Across the ward's 362.5 km², this gives a recorded density of 0.56 sites per km² (all heritage types combined).

Most common monument types

TypeCountDescription
Burnt Mound 26 —
Rath 24 —
Enclosure 14 —

Chronological distribution

Mesolithic
38
Early Bronze Age
1
Middle Late Bronze Age
13
Iron Age
23
Early Medieval
37
Post Medieval
5
Modern
10
Unknown
25

Note: 16% of historic site records carry an ‘Unknown’ period attribution. The chronological breakdown above reflects only the dated subset.

Terrain and environment

With a mean elevation of 139m, this ward sits above the NI median (86th percentile), but the ward reaches 378m at its highest point — a vertical span of more than 239m within its boundary, indicating significant topographic diversity. The terrain is consistently steep, with a mean slope of 5.6° (85th percentile across NI). The ward is well-drained, with a Topographic Wetness Index of 9.8 (14th NI percentile) — characteristic of upland or steeply-sloping ground that sheds water rapidly. The land cover is dominated by improved grassland (68%) and woodland (30%). In overall character, this is an upland landscape of steep, elevated terrain, with land use dominated by improved grassland.

Terrain measurements

Mean elevation138.9 m 86th pct
Max elevation378 m 89th pct
Mean slope5.6° 86th pct
Wetness index (TWI)9.78 15th pct
Grassland67.9% 62nd pct
Woodland30.4% 81st pct

Where this ward sits in NI

Elevation
86th
Slope
86th
Drainage
15th
Grassland
62nd
Woodland
81st

Geology and preservation

The dominant bedrock formed during the Palaeozoic era (Carboniferous 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. Peat covers 12% of the ward. Peat-bound ground preserves organic archaeological material that would not survive on aerated mineral soils. Bedrock composition is varied (complexity index 1.00, on a 0-1 Simpson-style scale), with multiple geological units within the ward boundary. Geologically diverse wards historically offered a wider range of stone types for building, toolmaking, and quarrying — a relevant factor when interpreting the material culture of nearby sites.

Bedrock eraPalaeozoic
Bedrock periodCarboniferous
Surface depositsTill
Peat coverage12.2%
Bedrock complexity1.00

Placename evidence

The combined OSNI, Logainm NI, and GeoNames sources record 126 placenames for this ward. Diagnostic heritage strata identified within these are: 4 pre-Christian defensive (rath-, dún-, lios-, caiseal-) and 7 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-)7 names
Pre-Christian Defensive (rath-, dun-, lis-)4 names

Scheduled monuments in BROOKEBOROUGH

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, church (site of) and GraveyardRath, Church (Site Of) And GraveyardEarly Medieval
RathRathEarly Medieval
RathRathEarly Medieval

Recorded historic sites

NamePeriodType
BULLAUNEarly MedievalUnknown
BULLAUNEarly MedievalUnknown
BURIAL MOUND: DOONEENEarly Bronze AgeRitual/Funerary
BURNT MATERIALUnknownUnknown
BURNT MOUNDMesolithicAgriculture
BURNT MOUNDMesolithicAgriculture
BURNT MOUNDMesolithicAgriculture
BURNT MOUNDMesolithicAgriculture
BURNT MOUNDMesolithicAgriculture
BURNT MOUNDMesolithicAgriculture

Listed buildings in BROOKEBOROUGH

Address / NameGradePeriod
STONEPARK COTTAGE ESKERAGH BROOKEBOROUGH CO.FERMANAGHB—
COLEBROOKE HOUSE COLEBROOK DEMESNE BROOKEBOROUGH CO.FERMANAGHB+—
STONEPARK HOUSE ESKERAGH BROOKEBOROUGH CO.FERMANAGHB—
COLEBROOK OLD PRIMARY SCHOOL COLEBROOK DEMESNE BROOKEBOROUGH CO.FERMANAGHB1—
371 BELFAST ROAD TULLYKENNEYE FIVEMILETOWN CO.TYRONEB1—
SCHOOL LODGE COLEBROOK DEMESNE Brookeborough CO.FERMANAGHB1—
ASHBROOKE HOUSE LURGAN BANE BROOKEBOROUGH CO. FERMANAGHB1—
COLEBROOK HOME-FARMHOUSE COLEBROOK DEMESNE Brookeborough CO.FERMANAGHB1—
CONSERVATORY COLEBROOK KITCHEN GARDEN COLEBROOK Brookeborough CO.FERMANAGHA—
COLEBROOK KITCHEN GARDEN, COLEBROOK Brookeborough CO.FERMANAGHB1—

Further reading

Discover more in Fermanagh and Omagh

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.