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Templenafertagh is a multiphase ecclesiastical site comprising a medieval dry-built masonry well, the site of a church, a graveyard and a ring ditch of Neolithic date. Located in County Armagh, the monument demonstrates a long history of ritual and domestic use spanning over five thousand years. The site stands on bedrock of the Enler Group, Early Permian sandstone and subordinate breccia, geology that would have shaped both settlement patterns and the construction of its stone structures.
The ring ditch, a substantial earthwork, represents the earliest phase of activity and is characteristic of Neolithic ceremonial or domestic enclosures in the region. Successive occupation saw the establishment of an early medieval ecclesiastical community, evidenced by the church site and associated graveyard. These features indicate Templenafertagh's importance as a place of worship and burial within the local Christian landscape.
The medieval masonry well constitutes a significant structural survival from the later ecclesiastical phase and testifies to the engineering knowledge of medieval builders. Wells of this type provided essential freshwater supplies to monastic or clerical communities. The monument is protected under the Historic Environment Division reference number 4935 and remains a valuable record of settlement continuity and religious practice in early medieval Ulster.
Templenafertagh. medieval dry-built masonry well, church (site of), graveyard & ring ditch is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 4935. View the official record →
Templenafertagh is a multiphase ecclesiastical site comprising a medieval dry-built masonry well, the site of a church, a graveyard and a ring ditch of Neolithic date. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 4935.
Templenafertagh. medieval dry-built masonry well, church (site of), graveyard & ring ditch dates from the neolithic period, and is classified as a ecclesiastical site. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Templenafertagh. medieval dry-built masonry well, church (site of), graveyard & ring ditch 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 4935.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including The danes cast, the danes cast (north). linear earthwork (3.7 km), Large, oval bivallate enclosure (3.9 km), Rath (4 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Templenafertagh. medieval dry-built masonry well, church (site of), graveyard & ring ditch'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.
Templenafertagh. medieval dry-built masonry well, church (site of), graveyard & ring ditch stands on Enler Group, bedrock that formed in the Early Permian. The rock here is sandstone and subordinate breccia.