ISLANDMAGEE covers 98.3 km² in Northern Ireland. With 66 historic sites and 5 scheduled monuments on record, the ward sits at the 73rd percentile across all 462 NI wards for combined archaeological heritage. It also records 42 listed buildings (HED Historic Buildings Record), the 72nd percentile for listed-building density across NI wards. Per 1,000 residents, this works out at 37.1 recorded sites — the 82nd 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 6 archaeological periods, around the NI median for chronological depth.
Heritage at a glance
Percentile rankings throughout this profile compare each ward only against the other 461 Northern Ireland wards.
Population context
The recorded heritage of ISLANDMAGEE
Of the 66 historic sites recorded, the most common are Standing Stone (3, 5% of historic sites), Standing Stone (Unlocated) (3), and Graveyard (3). For Standing Stones, this is the 35th percentile among NI wards that record this type. For Standing Stone (Unlocated)s, this is the 66th percentile among NI wards that record this type. Across the ward's 98.3 km², this gives a recorded density of 1.15 sites per km² (all heritage types combined). Scheduled monuments are distributed across approximately 0.07° of latitude and 0.05° of longitude within the ward, indicating dispersed rather than clustered placement. Note: 33% of historic site records carry an 'Unknown' period attribution and cannot be placed chronologically; the chronological breakdown reported below reflects only the dated subset.
Most common monument types
| Type | Count | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Standing Stone | 3 | — |
| Standing Stone (unlocated) | 3 | — |
| Graveyard | 3 | — |
Chronological distribution
Note: 33% of historic site records carry an ‘Unknown’ period attribution. The chronological breakdown above reflects only the dated subset.
Terrain and environment
Mean elevation of 44m sits around the NI median (35th percentile), reaching 141m at the highest point. Mean slope is 5.2° (76th percentile across NI), giving moderately undulating terrain; localised maximum slopes reach 16°, typical of stream-cut valleys, escarpments, or bluffs within the wider landscape. The Topographic Wetness Index of 10.4 (49th NI percentile) indicates moderate drainage, balanced between upland shedding and lowland accumulation. The land-cover mosaic combines improved grassland (72%), open water (16%), and woodland (7%), giving a mixed agricultural and semi-natural landscape. In overall character, this is steeply-sloping terrain at modest elevation, with land use dominated by improved grassland.
Terrain measurements
Where this ward sits in NI
Geology and preservation
The dominant bedrock formed during the Cainozoic era (Palaeogene period). Relatively young rock formed in the last 66 million years. In Ulster, Cainozoic basalt — the lava that created the Antrim Plateau and Giant's Causeway — dominates much of the eastern landscape. Bedrock composition is moderately varied (complexity index 0.68), with two or three geological units present within the ward boundary.
Placename evidence
The combined OSNI, Logainm NI, and GeoNames sources record 41 placenames for this ward. Diagnostic heritage strata identified within these are: 1 pre-Christian defensive (rath-, dún-, lios-, caiseal-), 2 ecclesiastical (cill-, teampall-, mainistir-, díseart-), 2 Norse coastal (fjord-derived names, Viking-age trading sites), and 1 Plantation-era (17th c English/Scots settlement names). 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
Scheduled monuments in ISLANDMAGEE
Scheduled monuments are sites legally protected under the Historic Monuments and Archaeological Objects (Northern Ireland) Order 1995, designated by the Historic Environment Division (HED).
| Monument | Type | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Castle | Castle | Unknown |
| Church and graveyard | Church And Graveyard | Unknown |
| Mound | Mound | Unknown |
| Neolithic House | Neolithic House | Neolithic |
| Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery | Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery | Modern |
Recorded historic sites
| Name | Period | Type |
|---|---|---|
| A.P. SITE | Unknown | Unknown |
| A.P. SITE – circular cropmark | Unknown | Unknown |
| A.P. SITE – cropmark | Unknown | Unknown |
| A.P. SITE – cropmark | Unknown | Unknown |
| A.P. SITE – oval cropmark | Unknown | Unknown |
| ARCHITECTURAL FRAGMENTS | Unknown | Unknown |
| ASSEMBLY SITE: THE COURT KNOWE (unlocated) | Unknown | Unknown |
| BRONZE AGE FEATURES Excavated as part of Gas Pipeline Project | Mesolithic | Unknown |
| BURIAL GROUND; possibly site of battle. | Unknown | Ritual/Funerary |
| C16th CHURCH & GRAVEYARD: ST. JOHN'S | Medieval | Ritual/Funerary |
Listed buildings in ISLANDMAGEE
| Address / Name | Grade | Period |
|---|---|---|
| 135 Islandmagee Road Whitehead Co Antrim BT38 9NS | B1 | 1840 – 1859 |
| Blackhead Lighthouse McCrea's Brae Whitehead Co Antrim BT38 9NZ | B+ | 1900 – 1919 |
| 40 Port Road Cloghfin Islandmagee Larne Co Antrim BT40 3SN | B1 | 1820 – 1839 |
| Woodbine Cottage 44 Middle Road Islandmagee Larne Co Antrim BT40 3SL | B2 | 1820 – 1839 |
| Roselawn Cottage 48 Middle Road Islandmagee Larne Co Antrim BT40 3SL | B1 | — |
| 1 Town Lane Cloghfin Islandmagee Larne Co Antrim BT40 3SZ | B1 | 1820 – 1839 |
| Marburn Cottage 19 Gobbins Path Cloghfin Islandmagee Larne Co Antrim BT40 3SP | B2 | 1820 – 1839 |
| 83 Low Road Gransha Islandmagee Larne Co Antrim BT40 3RD | B2 | 1820 – 1839 |
| Rock Cottage Off Middle Road Ballymuldrogh Islandmagee Larne Co Antrim | Record Only | 1820 – 1839 |
| St John’s C. of I. Church Low Road Ballyharry Islandmagee Larne Co Antrim | B+ | Pre 1600 |
Discover more in Mid and East Antrim
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- Innisfayle — Belfast
- Irvinestown — Fermanagh and Omagh
- Cullybackey
See all 462 wards in the Northern Ireland Heritage Tool.
Reported Corrections
The records below have been flagged by members of the public as potentially inaccurate. They are community-reported and have not yet been verified against the official registers. The main profile above reflects the statutory registers as published by HED and NISMR.
Building demolished c.2011 for residential development.
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
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)
- Northern Ireland Sites and Monuments Record (NISMR) https://www.communities-ni.gov.uk/articles/nismr-public-mapviewer
- HED Scheduled Monuments Dataset https://www.opendatani.gov.uk/@historic-environment-division/scheduled-monuments-northern-ireland
- HED Historic Buildings Record https://www.communities-ni.gov.uk/topics/historic-environment/listed-buildings
- OSNI OS Open Names (Northern Ireland) https://www.opendatani.gov.uk/@ordnance-survey-of-northern-ireland/osni-open-data—50k-gazetteer
- Logainm — Placenames Database of Ireland https://www.logainm.ie/
- GeoNames https://www.geonames.org/
- Census 2021 (Northern Ireland) https://www.nisra.gov.uk/statistics/2021-census
- OSNI Open Data — Largescale Boundaries https://www.opendatani.gov.uk/@ordnance-survey-of-northern-ireland/osni-open-data-largescale-boundaries-wards-2012
- Copernicus GLO-30 DEM https://spacedata.copernicus.eu/collections/copernicus-digital-elevation-model
- ESA WorldCover https://esa-worldcover.org/
- GSNI 1:250,000 Geology https://www.bgs.ac.uk/geological-data/maps/