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Three Sisters is a standing stone monument comprising three upright stones located near Banbridge in County Down, Northern Ireland. The stones stand upon bedrock of the Gala Group, a formation of wacke dating to the Telychian period of the Silurian geological era, which provides a foundation of hard sedimentary rock beneath the site.
The monument is typical of prehistoric standing stone groupings found throughout Ulster and the wider British Isles, though the specific arrangement of three stones distinguishes it from solitary menhirs. Such monuments were erected during the Neolithic or Bronze Age, serving purposes that remain largely unknown, though they may have functioned as territorial markers, burial monuments or sites of ritual significance.
Three Sisters is afforded statutory protection by the Historic Environment Division of the Department for Communities under monument reference 7701, recognising its archaeological and cultural importance. The site contributes to the broader landscape heritage of the Banbridge area, where such megalithic monuments form part of the archaeological record of prehistoric settlement and belief systems in Ulster.
Three sisters. standing stones (3) is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 7701. View the official record →
Three Sisters is a standing stone monument comprising three upright stones located near Banbridge in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 7701.
Three sisters. standing stones (3) 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.
Three sisters. standing stones (3) 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 7701.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Counterscarp rath (7 km), Oval rath? (7.5 km), Platform rath (7.9 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Three sisters. standing stones (3)'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.
Three sisters. standing stones (3) stands on Gala Group, bedrock that formed in the Telychian. The rock here is wacke.