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Banbridge Standing Stone is a prehistoric standing stone located in County Down, Northern Ireland. The monument survives as a substantial upright stone and forms part of the wider tradition of standing stone erection across the island of Ireland, a practice with roots extending back to the Neolithic period and flourishing throughout the Bronze Age. Such monuments frequently served ceremonial, territorial or commemorative functions within prehistoric communities.
The stone rises from bedrock of the Gala Group, a formation of wacke deposited during the Telychian age of the Ordovician period, some 440 million years ago. This durable metamorphic substrate provided a stable foundation for the monument's erection and has supported its survival across millennia of weathering and landscape change.
Today the standing stone remains a significant element of Banbridge's archaeological heritage, protected by the Historic Environment Division under reference 7845. The monument contributes to our understanding of prehistoric settlement patterns and ritual practices in the region, and continues to anchor the cultural memory of the locality, testifying to the enduring presence of human activity in this corner of County Down.
Standing stone is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 7845. View the official record →
Banbridge Standing Stone is a prehistoric standing stone located in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 7845.
Standing stone dates from the prehistoric period, and is classified as a standing stone. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Standing stone 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 7845.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Water hill fort. henge (6.1 km), Three sisters. standing stones (3) (6.9 km), Standing stone (7.3 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Standing stone'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.
Standing stone stands on Gala Group, bedrock that formed in the Telychian. The rock here is wacke.