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Lissacashel is a cashel with souterrain dating to the early Christian period, located in the Newry and Mourne district of Northern Ireland. The monument comprises a stone-built fortified homestead typical of Irish early medieval settlement, featuring an underground passage chamber characteristic of such sites. The cashel's defensive stone walls enclosed a domestic space, whilst the souterrain provided secure storage and refuge. Such dual features suggest occupation by a family of some status within the early Christian community.
The site occupies ground underlain by an unnamed igneous intrusion of Late Silurian to Early Devonian age, composed of felsic rock. This geological foundation would have influenced both the material available for building and the site's accessibility, with the local stone providing stone for the substantial earthworks and stone walls that define the monument. The surrounding landscape of the Newry and Mourne area offered natural defensibility and resources suitable for early medieval settlement.
Lissacashel is protected by the Historic Environment Division of the Department for Communities under reference number 6155. This designation recognises its archaeological and historical significance as evidence of early Christian occupation and settlement strategy in Ulster. The monument survives as an important record of domestic organisation and defensive architecture during the early medieval period in Ireland.
Lissacashel. cashel & souterrain is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 6155. View the official record →
Lissacashel is a cashel with souterrain dating to the early Christian period, located in the Newry and Mourne district of Northern Ireland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 6155.
Lissacashel. cashel & souterrain 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.
Lissacashel. cashel & souterrain 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 6155.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Rath (1 km), Cofracloghy, colfracloghy. round cairn with cist (1.2 km), Rath & souterrain (2.5 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Lissacashel. cashel & souterrain'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.
Lissacashel. cashel & souterrain stands on Unnamed Igneous Intrusion, Late Silurian To Early Devonian, bedrock that formed in the Early Devonian. The rock here is felsic-rock.