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Relig-an-Chaisill is a cashel and souterrain situated in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, on bedrock of Gala Group wacke. The monument comprises a stone-built enclosure typical of early Christian settlement, standing on Telychian-period geological foundations. The internal souterrain—an underground passage characteristic of Iron Age and early medieval Irish sites—survives within the cashel's circuit. The site demonstrates the common early Christian practice of reusing pre-existing fortified structures, adapting them for monastic or secular communities.
In later periods, the cashel was converted to serve as a killeen, or children's graveyard, reflecting the changing religious and social functions of such sites across the medieval centuries. This transition from defence and habitation to burial ground marks a common trajectory for early Christian monuments in Ireland, where sacred sites accumulated layers of ritual significance.
The monument is protected by the Historic Environment Division under reference 5650, ensuring its preservation as an important record of early Christian settlement patterns and burial practice in Ulster.
The relig, relig-an-chaisill. cashel & souterrain, reused as killeen (children's graveyard) is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 5650. View the official record →
Relig-an-Chaisill is a cashel and souterrain situated in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, on bedrock of Gala Group wacke. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 5650.
The relig, relig-an-chaisill. cashel & souterrain, reused as killeen (children's graveyard) dates from the e.christ. period, and is classified as a cashel. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
The relig, relig-an-chaisill. cashel & souterrain, reused as killeen (children's graveyard) 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 5650.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including The grey stone. standing stone (1.5 km), Vicar's cairn, vicer's carn, the monk's cairn, carnavanaghan, cairnamnhanaghan, carn-na-vanachan, vicar's carn. passage tomb (3.3 km), The danes cast, the danes cast (north). linear earthwork (3.4 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of The relig, relig-an-chaisill. cashel & souterrain, reused as killeen (children's graveyard)'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.
The relig, relig-an-chaisill. cashel & souterrain, reused as killeen (children's graveyard) stands on Gala Group, bedrock that formed in the Telychian. The rock here is wacke.