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The pre-bog landscape near Magherafelt is a Bronze Age cairn field comprising field walls, clearance cairns and stone structures scattered across terrain that lies above Ordovician extrusive rocks of mafic lava and tuff. The monument records a phase of upland settlement and land organisation before peat accumulated across this part of County Londonderry, preserving evidence of pastoral farming practices and territorial division characteristic of the Bronze Age. The site's underlying geology of volcanic rock outcrops would have shaped both the ease of field construction and the drainage patterns that ultimately made the area susceptible to waterlogging.
The cairns and walls visible at the surface represent the accumulated effort of clearance as farmers prepared land for grazing and tillage. Some structures on the site may be degraded megalithic tombs, indicating that occupation or ritual use of the locality extended back into the Neolithic period. The proximity of multiple monuments suggests a landscape intensively managed and inhabited over an extended timespan.
This Bronze Age pre-bog landscape is protected by the Historic Environment Division under reference 13099. The site's archaeological value lies in its preservation of field systems and settlement patterns now largely obscured elsewhere by modern agriculture and peat growth, offering insight into how communities utilised upland zones before environmental change transformed the character of the region.
Pre-bog landscape of field walls, field clearance walls & cairns, a cairn field, a stone structure & possible megalithic tombs is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 13099. View the official record →
The pre-bog landscape near Magherafelt is a Bronze Age cairn field comprising field walls, clearance cairns and stone structures scattered across terrain that lies above Ordovician extrusive rocks of mafic lava and tuff. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 13099.
Pre-bog landscape of field walls, field clearance walls & cairns, a cairn field, a stone structure & possible megalithic tombs dates from the bronze age period, and is classified as a pre-bog landscape. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Pre-bog landscape of field walls, field clearance walls & cairns, a cairn field, a stone structure & possible megalithic tombs 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 13099.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Ring cairn, stone circle & double alignment (2 km), The moat. mound (4.3 km), Cist & alignment (4.4 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Pre-bog landscape of field walls, field clearance walls & cairns, a cairn field, a stone structure & possible megalithic tombs'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.
Pre-bog landscape of field walls, field clearance walls & cairns, a cairn field, a stone structure & possible megalithic tombs stands on Unnamed Extrusive Rocks, Ordovician, bedrock that formed in the Ordovician. The rock here is mafic lava and mafic tuff.