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Castlereagh Barrow is a prehistoric burial mound located in County Down, Northern Ireland. The monument stands on bedrock of the Leadhills Supergroup, formed during the Ashgill period, which outcrops as wacke across this part of the landscape. The barrow's construction would have been undertaken by Neolithic or Bronze Age communities who exploited the local stone and soil to create the earthwork, taking advantage of the underlying geology to establish a durable and visible monument.
The site occupies grid reference J3788070730 and is protected as a scheduled monument by the Historic Environment Division under reference 6424, reflecting its significance as evidence of prehistoric burial practice and territorial marking. Barrows of this type served both funerary and social functions within their communities, asserting claims to land and preserving the memory of the deceased over generations. The monuments often contained cremated or inhumed remains, occasionally accompanied by grave goods.
The Castlereagh barrow represents an important survival of prehistoric settlement and burial patterns in the Castlereagh area. Its preservation allows modern understanding of how Neolithic and Bronze Age peoples organised their landscape and memorialised their dead, contributing to the archaeological record of prehistoric Northern Ireland and the broader patterns of monument construction visible across the Irish islands during the prehistoric period.
Barrow is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 6424. View the official record →
Castlereagh Barrow is a prehistoric burial mound located in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 6424.
Barrow dates from the prehistoric 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 6424.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Rath (1 km), Rath (1.4 km), Rath (1.9 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 Leadhills Supergroup, bedrock that formed in the Ashgill. The rock here is wacke.