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The Ballymena Cross-slab is a carved stone monument of uncertain date and interpretation, located in the townland of Ballymena in County Antrim. The slab displays cross-carved decoration characteristic of early medieval Christian monuments found throughout Ireland and Britain, though the specific form and condition of the carving remain undetermined. Such crosses typically marked sacred ground, funerary sites, or points of religious significance, though without excavation or detailed examination, the precise function of this example cannot be stated with certainty.
The monument rests upon bedrock composed of mafic lava and mafic tuff of Palaeogene age, formed during intense volcanic activity in the early Tertiary period. This dark, fine-grained geology is characteristic of the Antrim plateau, which dominates the local landscape and would have been a familiar sight to those who raised this stone.
The cross-slab is protected as a scheduled monument under Historic Environment Division reference 2225, recognising its significance as a record of early medieval religious practice and stone-carving tradition in the region. The monument's survival to the present day contributes to understanding the distribution of Christian monuments across the north of Ireland during the early medieval period.
Cross-slab is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 2225. View the official record →
The Ballymena Cross-slab is a carved stone monument of uncertain date and interpretation, located in the townland of Ballymena in County Antrim. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 2225.
Cross-slab dates from the uncertain period, and is classified as a cross-slab. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Cross-slab 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 2225.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Motte (3.9 km), Rath and souterrain (4.5 km), Megalithic tomb (5 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Cross-slab'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.
Cross-slab stands on Unnamed Extrusive Rocks, Palaeogene, bedrock that formed in the Paleogene. The rock here is mafic lava and mafic tuff.