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The Standing Stone at Down, County Down is a prehistoric standing stone protected as a Scheduled Monument by the Historic Environment Division under reference number 8070. The monument stands within a landscape underlain by Hawick Group wacke, a hard sedimentary rock of Silurian age that dominates the underlying geology of this part of County Down. Such durable bedrock may have influenced the choice of this location for the erection of a standing stone, offering both suitable stone for quarrying and a stable foundation for a monument intended to endure.
Standing stones of this type were typically erected during the Neolithic or Bronze Age periods as markers of ritual or territorial significance, though their precise chronology and original purpose remain subjects of archaeological interpretation. The monument's survival testifies to its robust construction and the relative stability of its moorland setting. Its location within the wider landscape of Down reflects the distribution of prehistoric monuments across the drumlin belt of mid-Ulster, an area rich in archaeological remains from the earliest human occupation of Ireland through to the early medieval period.
Standing stone is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 8070. View the official record →
The Standing Stone at Down, County Down is a prehistoric standing stone protected as a Scheduled Monument by the Historic Environment Division under reference number 8070.
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 8070.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Windmill stump (c.f. ihr 3454 for details) (4.6 km), Tower-house (5.6 km), A.p. site - barrow? (6 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 Hawick Group, bedrock that formed in the Wenlock. The rock here is wacke.