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Monastic site with cross-slab is an early Christian ecclesiastical site in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, protected by the Historic Environment Division under reference 9976. The site is located on bedrock formed from the Tyrone Group, a Visean-age sequence of limestone, mudstone, sandstone and siltstone interspersed with chert, coal and conglomerate. This underlying geology has shaped the landscape where the monastic community established itself, providing both stone resources and the particular drainage and soil conditions characteristic of the local terrain.
The survival of a cross-slab at this location indicates the presence of a monastic settlement of sufficient status and longevity to warrant carved stone monuments, typically erected as markers for burial grounds, shrines or processional routes. Early Christian monasteries in Ulster often occupied positions of strategic or spiritual significance, frequently near water sources and on elevated or distinctive ground.
The monument's location in this part of Fermanagh places it within a region that hosted several early monastic establishments. The cross-slab remains an important testimony to Christian practice and stone-working traditions in medieval Ulster, and its preservation reflects the continuity of the site's religious significance across centuries.
Monastic site with cross-slab is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 9976. View the official record →
Monastic site with cross-slab is an early Christian ecclesiastical site in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, protected by the Historic Environment Division under reference 9976.
Monastic site with cross-slab dates from the e.christ. period, and is classified as a ecclesiastical site. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Monastic site with 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 9976.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Monastic site with cross-shaft & base (0.1 km), Rath (5.3 km), Giant's grave. court tomb (5.5 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Monastic site with 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.
Monastic site with cross-slab stands on Tyrone Group, bedrock that formed in the Visean. The rock here is limestone, mudstone, sandstone and siltstone, with subordinate chert, coal and conglomerate.