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Cashel is an early Christian cashel located in County Down, Northern Ireland. Casheals were ringfort-like enclosures that served as defensive settlements and monastic sites during the early medieval period. The site sits on bedrock of the Hawick Group, a Silurian wacke formation dating to the Wenlock epoch, which would have provided a naturally stable foundation for the stone and earthwork structures typical of such settlements. The underlying geology of this region, with its resistant sedimentary rock, supported the construction of the dry-stone walls and ramparts characteristic of early Christian fortified communities.
The cashel is protected as a monument of archaeological and historical significance by the Historic Environment Division of Northern Ireland, registered under reference 8478. This designation recognises its importance as evidence of early Christian settlement patterns and defensive strategies in Ulster during the early medieval period, roughly from the fifth century onwards.
Such enclosed settlements served multiple functions within their communities, offering protection for inhabitants and their livestock whilst also potentially serving as centres of religious or secular authority. The location in County Down places this cashel within a landscape rich in early Christian archaeology, contributing to the broader understanding of settlement and society during this formative period of Irish history.
Cashel is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 8478. View the official record →
Cashel is an early Christian cashel located in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 8478.
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 8478.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Carnbane. round cairn with cist (0.3 km), Cashel (0.8 km), Kilchow, kilcoo, kilcudua, kilua. church & graveyard (2.7 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 Hawick Group, bedrock that formed in the Wenlock. The rock here is wacke.