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Moat Hill, the Cove is a prehistoric cairn located near Banbridge in County Down. The monument comprises a substantial earthwork mound containing a long cist, a burial chamber constructed from stone slabs typical of Bronze Age funerary practice. The cairn rises from bedrock of felsic igneous origin, formed during the Early Devonian period, which would have been exposed and weathered into the landscape when the monument was constructed millennia later.
The site occupies a position of strategic visibility within the local topography, a characteristic often preferred for such commemorative burial structures. The long cist burial tradition reflects Bronze Age mortuary practices across the Irish Sea region, where the deceased were interred in stone-lined chambers beneath substantial earth and stone mounds. Such monuments served as permanent territorial markers and communal records of significant individuals within prehistoric communities.
The cairn is protected as a scheduled monument under the Historic Environment Division reference number 7916, recognising its archaeological significance and fragile nature. Its preservation is important for understanding Bronze Age settlement patterns and burial customs in the Banbridge area. The monument remains a tangible connection to the prehistoric inhabitants who shaped this part of the Ulster landscape over three thousand years ago.
Moat hill, the cove. cairn & long cist is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 7916. View the official record →
Moat Hill, the Cove is a prehistoric cairn located near Banbridge in County Down. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 7916.
Moat hill, the cove. cairn & long cist dates from the prehistoric period, and is classified as a cairn. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Moat hill, the cove. cairn & long cist 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 7916.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Standing stone (3.9 km), Big fort. rath & souterrain (4.2 km), Cashel & souterrain (5.3 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Moat hill, the cove. cairn & long cist'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.
Moat hill, the cove. cairn & long cist stands on Unnamed Igneous Intrusion, Late Silurian To Early Devonian, bedrock that formed in the Early Devonian. The rock here is felsic-rock.