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Cashel is an early Christian cashel situated in County Derry, Northern Ireland. The monument comprises a stone-built enclosure characteristic of early Christian settlement sites in Ulster, constructed upon bedrock of the Argyll Group, a Neoproterozoic formation of psammite, semipelite and pelite. This ancient metamorphic geology provided both the foundation and building stone for the cashel's walls. The site is protected by the Historic Environment Division under reference number 12574, acknowledging its archaeological significance as evidence of early Christian occupation and community organisation in the region.
Cashels served as fortified homesteads and monastic settlements during the early Christian period in Ireland. Their circular or sub-circular stone-built enclosures provided defensive boundaries whilst defining domestic or ecclesiastical space. The construction technique of dry stone or mortared walling was suited to the local bedrock geology of the Derry landscape, allowing builders to quarry and utilise stone readily available on site. This cashel's position reflects settlement patterns of the early Christian period in the north of Ireland.
The monument remains an important archaeological record of early Christian settlement strategies, land use and construction practices in Ulster, offering insight into how communities adapted to and exploited their local geological environment during this formative period in Irish history.
Cashel is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 12574. View the official record →
Cashel is an early Christian cashel situated in County Derry, Northern Ireland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 12574.
Cashel dates from the e.christ. period, and is classified as a cashel. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Cashel 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 12574.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Rath (0.6 km), Rath (1.1 km), Wedge tomb (1.4 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Cashel'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.
Cashel stands on Argyll Group, bedrock that formed in the Neoproterozoic. The rock here is psammite, semipelite and pelite.