© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR)
Tassey's Hill, the Fairy Bush is a prehistoric cairn located in the townland of Limavady in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The monument lies upon bedrock of the Roe Valley Group, a geological formation of Tournaisian age comprising sandstone, conglomerate and subordinate argillaceous rocks. This stone-rich landscape provided the raw material for the cairn's construction. The site is protected as a monument of archaeological importance by the Historic Environment Division under reference number 12052.
Cairns of this type typically served as burial monuments or ceremonial structures during the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods. Their construction involved the deliberate accumulation of stone, often marking significant locations within the prehistoric landscape. The local geology would have made stone readily available for the monument's builders, allowing them to construct an enduring structure from naturally occurring materials.
The monument's local name, the Fairy Bush, reflects the folk traditions and historical memory attached to ancient sites in the region. Such names often preserve centuries of cultural association with prehistoric places, even when the specific original purpose of the monument has been forgotten. Tassey's Hill stands as a physical link to the early communities who inhabited the Roe Valley landscape in antiquity.
Tassey's hill, the fairy bush. cairn is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 12052. View the official record →
Tassey's Hill, the Fairy Bush is a prehistoric cairn located in the townland of Limavady in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 12052.
Tassey's hill, the fairy bush. cairn dates from the prehistoric period, and is classified as a cairn. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Tassey's hill, the fairy bush. cairn 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 12052.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Central court tomb (3.2 km), Rath (3.5 km), King's fort, rings fort. rath (3.9 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Tassey's hill, the fairy bush. cairn'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.
Tassey's hill, the fairy bush. cairn stands on Roe Valley Group, bedrock that formed in the Tournaisian. The rock here is sandstone, conglomerate and [subordinate] argillaceous rocks.