OAKLANDS covers 336.8 km² in Northern Ireland. With 124 historic sites and 21 scheduled monuments on record, the ward sits at the 85th percentile across all 462 NI wards for combined archaeological heritage. It also records 12 listed buildings (HED Historic Buildings Record), the 38th percentile for listed-building density across NI wards. Per 1,000 residents, this works out at 46.3 recorded sites — the 88th 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 8 archaeological periods, placing the ward in the 90th percentile NI-wide 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 OAKLANDS
Of the 124 historic sites recorded, the most common are Standing Stone (15, 12% of historic sites), Cairn (11), and Rath (8). For Standing Stones, this is placing the ward in the top 3% nationally for this type. For Cairns, this is the 80th percentile across NI wards that record this type. Across the ward's 336.8 km², this gives a recorded density of 0.47 sites per km² (all heritage types combined). Scheduled monuments are distributed across approximately 0.09° of latitude and 0.16° of longitude within the ward, indicating dispersed rather than clustered placement.
Most common monument types
| Type | Count | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Standing Stone | 15 | — |
| Cairn | 11 | — |
| Rath | 8 | — |
Chronological distribution
Terrain and environment
A mean elevation of 173m places this ward in the top 8% of NI wards by altitude, but the ward reaches 388m at its highest point — a vertical span of more than 215m within its boundary, indicating significant topographic diversity. Mean slope is 4.7° (62th percentile across NI), giving moderately undulating terrain. The Topographic Wetness Index of 10.2 (36th NI percentile) indicates moderate drainage, balanced between upland shedding and lowland accumulation. The land cover is dominated by improved grassland (82%) and woodland (16%). In overall character, this is elevated but relatively gentle terrain — typical of plateau country, with land use dominated by improved grassland.
Terrain measurements
Where this ward sits in NI
Geology and preservation
The dominant bedrock formed during the Palaeozoic era (Ordovician 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 31% of the ward — a substantial share of the surface, characteristic of upland blanket-bog or poorly-drained ground. Where archaeological features lie beneath peat, they are typically far better preserved than on aerated mineral soils: organic materials such as wood, leather, and even textiles can survive thousands of years sealed within waterlogged peat. Bedrock composition is varied (complexity index 0.76, 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.
Placename evidence
The combined OSNI, Logainm NI, and GeoNames sources record 73 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
Scheduled monuments in OAKLANDS
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Cairn | Cairn | Early Bronze Age |
| Cairn | Cairn | Early Bronze Age |
| Stone Circle and alignment | Stone Circle And Alignment | Early Bronze Age |
| Cairn and alignment | Cairn And Alignment | Early Bronze Age |
| Ring cairn, stone circle and alignments | Ring Cairn, Stone Circle And Alignments | Early Bronze Age |
| Megalithis Tomb | Megalithis Tomb | Unknown |
| Wedge tomb: Carnanbane (area surrounding the state care monument) | Wedge Tomb: Carnanbane (Area Surrounding The State Care Monument) | Neolithic |
| Long Cairn (area surrounding the state care monument) | Long Cairn (Area Surrounding The State Care Monument) | Neolithic |
Recorded historic sites
| Name | Period | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 7 STONE CIRCLES; 12 CAIRNS; 10 ALIGNMENTS: BEAGHMORE COMPLEX | Mesolithic | Ritual/Funerary |
| A.P. SITE – RING BARROW | Mesolithic | Ritual/Funerary |
| A.P. SITE – bivallate enclosure | Iron Age | Defence |
| A.P. SITE – double-ditched enclosure | Iron Age | Defence |
| BULLAUN | Early Medieval | Unknown |
| BURNT MOUND | Mesolithic | Agriculture |
| BURNT MOUND / FULACHT FIADH | Middle-Late Bronze Age | Agriculture |
| BURNT MOUND, STONE CIRCLE AND HUT SITE | Mesolithic | Ritual/Funerary |
| CAIRN | Mesolithic | Ritual/Funerary |
| CAIRN | Mesolithic | Ritual/Funerary |
Listed buildings in OAKLANDS
| Address / Name | Grade | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Rear Gate Lodge 206 Drum Road Cookstown Co Tyrone BT80 9RU | B2 | 1860 – 1879 |
| Kildress House, 20 Lower Kildress Road Cookstown Co Tyrone BT80 9RN | B2 | 1860 – 1879 |
| St Mary's Roman Catholic Church Dunnamore Road Cookstown Co Tyrone | B2 | 1860 – 1879 |
| Evishessan Bridge, Keerin Road, Cookstown | B2 | 1860 – 1879 |
| Bridge, Wellbrook Road Cookstown Co Tyrone | B+ | 1760 – 1779 |
| Main Gate Lodge Drum Manor 1 Glenarney Road Cookstown Co Tyrone BT80 9DX | B1 | 1860 – 1879 |
| Kildress Rectory 6 Rectory Road Kildress Cookstown BT80 9RX | B+ | 1780 – 1799 |
| Wellbrook Beetling Mill, 20 Wellbrook Road Cookstown Co Tyrone BT80 9RY | B+ | 1820 – 1839 |
| St Patrick's Church of Ireland 6 Wellbrook Road Kildress Cookstown BT80 9RY | B1 | 1800 – 1819 |
| Former Mill Building Miller's House, Wellbrook Road Cookstown Co Tyrone BT80 9NE | B1 | 1860 – 1879 |
Discover more in Mid Ulster
- Tobermore
- Stewartstown
- Glebe
- Fivemiletown
- Ballygawley
- Washing Bay
- Pomeroy
- Owenkillew — Fermanagh and Omagh
- Orangefield — Belfast
- O'neill — Antrim and Newtownabbey
See all 462 wards in the Northern Ireland Heritage Tool.
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/