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Cist & alignment is a Bronze Age cairn situated near Cookstown in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. The monument comprises a stone cist—a rectangular burial chamber constructed from stone slabs—accompanied by an alignment of stones, both typical features of Bronze Age funerary and ritual practice. The site rests upon bedrock composed of mafic lava and tuff of Ordovician age, ancient volcanic rocks that underlie much of this region and would have been substantially weathered by the time of the monument's construction in the Bronze Age.
The cist represents one of the most enduring monument types of the Bronze Age, serving as a final resting place for cremated or inhumed burials. The associated stone alignment suggests the site held broader ceremonial significance within the prehistoric landscape. Though modest in scale compared to some contemporary monuments, its survival to the present day testifies to the durability of stone construction across three thousand years.
The monument is protected by the Historic Environment Division of the Department for Communities, registered under reference 14477, ensuring its preservation and continued study for future generations.
Cist & alignment is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 14477. View the official record →
Cist & alignment is a Bronze Age cairn situated near Cookstown in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 14477.
Cist & alignment dates from the bronze age period, and is classified as a cairn. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Cist & alignment 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 14477.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Cairn (2.4 km), Cairn (2.5 km), Cairn & alignment (2.8 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Cist & alignment'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.
Cist & alignment stands on Unnamed Extrusive Rocks, Ordovician, bedrock that formed in the Ordovician. The rock here is mafic lava and mafic tuff.