Scheduled MonumentsNorthern IrelandDownSt. mary's. church with cross slab, carved virgin & child, font & 2 bullauns
UNCERTAIN · ECCLESIASTICAL SITE

St. mary's. church with cross slab, carved virgin & child, font & 2 bullauns

Down, Northern Ireland
NISMR MonID 7870
Period
UNCERTAIN
Site type
ECCLESIASTICAL SITE
Nation
Northern Ireland
The designation
Reference
NISMR MonID 7870
Authority
DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR)
Grid reference
J5717140011
Boundary

Scheduled area

© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR)

Overview

History & significance

St. Mary's Church is an uncertain ecclesiastical site located in County Down, Northern Ireland. The monument comprises a church with associated carved stonework and liturgical furnishings typical of medieval parish churches. The surviving features include a cross slab and a carved stone depicting the Virgin and Child, indicating the site's dedication to Marian devotion. A baptismal font remains in situ, alongside two bullaun stones—natural or worked boulders with cup-like depressions traditionally associated with early Christian and medieval ecclesiastical sites, sometimes used for grinding grain or ritual purposes.

The monument rests upon bedrock of the Hawick Group, wacke sandstones dating to the Wenlock epoch of the Silurian period. This locally available stone would have provided building material for the church structure and may have been carved for the decorative and liturgical stones now present at the site.

St. Mary's is protected under Historic Environment Division reference 7870 as a site of archaeological and architectural interest, preserving evidence of medieval religious practice and craftsmanship within the Down landscape.

St. mary's. church with cross slab, carved virgin & child, font & 2 bullauns is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 7870. View the official record →

About this monument

Questions & answers

What is St. mary's. church with cross slab, carved virgin & child, font & 2 bullauns?

St. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 7870.

What period does St. mary's. church with cross slab, carved virgin & child, font & 2 bullauns date from?

St. mary's. church with cross slab, carved virgin & child, font & 2 bullauns dates from the uncertain period, and is classified as a ecclesiastical site. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.

Who is responsible for protecting St. mary's. church with cross slab, carved virgin & child, font & 2 bullauns?

St. mary's. church with cross slab, carved virgin & child, font & 2 bullauns 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 7870.

What other scheduled monuments are near St. mary's. church with cross slab, carved virgin & child, font & 2 bullauns?

Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Windmill stump - ihr 03465 (0.9 km), Souterrain (2 km), Cappel-na-coole. medieval church (in ruins) (3 km).

Unlimited access

Everything a full report reveals about St. mary's. church with cross slab, carved virgin & child, font & 2 bullauns

This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of St. mary's. church with cross slab, carved virgin & child, font & 2 bullauns's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:

Overview
An interactive map of the location with every monument and battle plotted, and a plain-language history built only from what the record holds.
Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman World
Ireland was never conquered by Rome, so this traces the island's Iron Age kingdoms and its contact with the Roman world.
Historic Records
The 19th-century records of this place: valuations, Ordnance Survey memoirs and topographical accounts.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
Spotlight
A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.
Target Zones
For detectorists: the most promising ground to search nearby, ranked by confidence, with what to expect.
Timeline
The whole story of the location told era by era, from prehistory to the present day.
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Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.

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The ground beneath

The bedrock under St. mary's. church with cross slab, carved virgin & child, font & 2 bullauns

St. mary's. church with cross slab, carved virgin & child, font & 2 bullauns stands on Hawick Group, bedrock that formed in the Wenlock. The rock here is wacke.