81 historic sites 9 scheduled monuments 95 listed buildings 6 archaeological periods

RATHFRILAND covers 164.5 km² in Northern Ireland. With 81 historic sites and 9 scheduled monuments on record, the ward sits at the 89th percentile across all 462 NI wards for combined archaeological heritage. It also records 95 listed buildings (HED Historic Buildings Record), the 92nd percentile for listed-building density across NI wards. Per 1,000 residents, this works out at 37.4 recorded sites — the 83rd 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.

Detailed boundary map of RATHFRILAND ward, Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon
RATHFRILAND boundary detail
Regional context map showing RATHFRILAND ward within Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon
RATHFRILAND in regional context

Heritage at a glance

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

81
Historic sites
84th percentile
9
Scheduled monuments
83rd percentile
95
Listed buildings
92nd percentile
1.12
Sites per km²

Population context

30
Persons per km²
29th percentile
37.4
Sites per 1,000 residents
83rd percentile
4,946
Total residents (2021)

The recorded heritage of RATHFRILAND

Of the 81 historic sites recorded, the most common are Enclosure (17, 21% of historic sites), Rath (7), and Enclosure – Rath? (5). For Enclosures, this is the 86th percentile across NI wards that record this type. For Raths, this is the 52nd percentile among NI wards that record this type. Across the ward's 164.5 km², this gives a recorded density of 1.12 sites per km² (all heritage types combined). Scheduled monuments are distributed across approximately 0.06° of latitude and 0.11° of longitude within the ward, indicating dispersed rather than clustered placement.

Most common monument types

TypeCountDescription
Enclosure 17
Rath 7
Enclosure – Rath? 5

Chronological distribution

Mesolithic
9
Iron Age
31
Early Medieval
28
Medieval
4
Post Medieval
2
Modern
2
Unknown
5

Terrain and environment

With a mean elevation of 97m, this ward sits above the NI median (71th percentile), with a maximum of 234m giving the ward meaningful vertical relief. Mean slope is 4.6° (61th percentile across NI), giving moderately undulating terrain. The Topographic Wetness Index of 10.2 (38th NI percentile) indicates moderate drainage, balanced between upland shedding and lowland accumulation. The land-cover mosaic combines improved grassland (83%), woodland (8%), and arable farmland (7%), giving a mixed agricultural and semi-natural landscape.

Terrain measurements

Mean elevation97.1 m 72nd pct
Max elevation233.8 m 78th pct
Mean slope4.6° 61st pct
Wetness index (TWI)10.22 39th pct
Grassland83.1% 87th pct
Woodland7.7% 9th pct
Cropland7.0% 86th pct
Urban land2.1% 26th pct

Where this ward sits in NI

Elevation
72nd
Slope
61st
Drainage
39th
Grassland
87th
Woodland
9th

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 0.38), 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 complexity0.38

Placename evidence

The combined OSNI, Logainm NI, and GeoNames sources record 32 placenames for this ward. Diagnostic heritage strata identified within these are: 7 pre-Christian defensive (rath-, dún-, lios-, caiseal-) and 2 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-)2 names
Pre-Christian Defensive (rath-, dun-, lis-)7 names

Scheduled monuments in RATHFRILAND

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
Motte and baileysMotte And BaileysMedieval
Mound and enclosure: barrowMound And Enclosure: BarrowEarly Bronze Age
Round CairnRound CairnEarly Bronze Age
Tower HouseTower HouseMedieval
RathRathEarly Medieval
CastleCastleUnknown
STANDING STONEStanding StoneEarly Bronze Age
TWO STANDING STONESTwo Standing StonesEarly Bronze Age

Recorded historic sites

NamePeriodType
A.P Site – CropmarksUnknownUnknown
A.P Site – EnclosureIron AgeUnknown
A.P. SITE – 2 RING DITCHESUnknownDefence
A.P. SITE – circular cropmarkUnknownUnknown
A.P. SITE – circular enclosureIron AgeUnknown
A.P. SITE – enclosureIron AgeUnknown
A.P. SITE – rath?Early MedievalDefence
AP Cropmark – possible bivallate rathEarly MedievalDefence
AP Cropmark- Possible enclosureIron AgeUnknown
AP SiteUnknownUnknown

Listed buildings in RATHFRILAND

Address / NameGradePeriod
Mountain View 11 Ballybrick Road Katesbridge Banbridge Co Down BT32 5QPB21840 – 1859
Greenfield 29 Greenhill Road Ballybrick Road Katesbridge Banbridge Co Down BT32 5QYB11800 – 1819
Knock House 46 Lisnacroppan Road Edengarry Rathfiland Banbridge Co Down BT32 5DAB21820 – 1839
Glebe House 25 Banbridge Road Rathfriland Co Down BT34 5PFB21820 – 1839
Ballyroney Presbyterian Church Tirkelly Hill Road Banbridge County Down BT32 5EWB11920 – 1939
Drumballyroney Old Church Bronte Interpretive Centre Church Hill Aughnavallog Banbridge County Down BT32 5LXB11780 – 1799
71 Drumarkin Road Rathfriland Co. Down BT34 5MDB21840 – 1859
Fowlersbridge House 109 Dromara Road Ballyroney Banbridge Co Down BT32 5EYB21840 – 1859
50 Drumlee Road Ballyward Banbridge Co Down BT31 9RTB11860 – 1879
Ballyroney Bridge Tirkelly Hill Road Ballyroney Banbridge Co Down BT32B21840 – 1859

Discover more in Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon

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.

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.