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Lisburn Barrow is a Bronze Age burial mound situated on Sherwood Sandstone bedrock in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The underlying geology of fine-grained sandstone, siltstone and mudstone was deposited during the Ladinian period of the Triassic era, creating a gentle landscape typical of the Lisburn area. The barrow itself represents one of the most distinctive funerary monuments of the Bronze Age, built to mark the burial of significant individuals within the local community during the second and first millennia before the present day.
The mound's elevated position on this local terrain would have made it a prominent landmark visible across the surrounding countryside. Bronze Age barrows typically contained single or multiple burials, often accompanied by grave goods such as pottery, metalwork and tools, though the specific contents of this example are not documented in surviving records. The sandstone foundation, relatively stable and well-drained, would have provided a suitable base for constructing and maintaining such a monument over subsequent centuries.
The barrow is now protected by the Historic Environment Division of the Department for Communities, registered under monument reference 5150. This designation reflects its significance as evidence of Bronze Age settlement and burial practices in the Lisburn region, contributing to our understanding of early metalworking societies in Ireland during prehistory.
Barrow is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 5150. View the official record →
Lisburn Barrow is a Bronze Age burial mound situated on Sherwood Sandstone bedrock in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 5150.
Barrow dates from the bronze age period, and is classified as a barrow. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Barrow is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Ni. The official designation reference is 5150.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Lock 12, the island. canal lock, part of the lagan navigation - c.f. ihr 2680 (1.1 km), Wwii air raid shelter (1.2 km), Raised rath (1.2 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Barrow's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Barrow stands on Sherwood Sandstone Group, bedrock that formed in the Ladinian. The rock here is sandstone, siltstone and mudstone.