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The Mesolithic submerged woodland at Ards is a rare surviving record of post-glacial forest that once covered the landscape of County Down. The site preserves tree stumps in their original growth positions, offering direct evidence of the vegetation that colonised Northern Ireland following the retreat of the last ice age. These timbers represent woodland communities that flourished during the early Mesolithic period, before rising sea levels gradually submerged the coastal landscape beneath the Irish Sea.
The stumps rest upon Paleozoic sedimentary rocks of Silurian age, which form the geological foundation of the Ards Peninsula. This bedrock was shaped by ancient marine environments and tectonic movements hundreds of millions of years before the Mesolithic forest took root. The preservation of the timber in waterlogged conditions has prevented decay, creating an exceptional archaeological window into early post-glacial colonisation patterns and climate history.
The site is protected as a scheduled monument by the Historic Environment Division (reference 13494), recognising its significance for understanding human settlement and environmental change in early prehistoric Northern Ireland. The exposed tree stumps are accessible at low tide, making the Ards woodland an important teaching resource for Mesolithic archaeology and landscape change in the British Isles.
Tree stumps is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 13494. View the official record →
The Mesolithic submerged woodland at Ards is a rare surviving record of post-glacial forest that once covered the landscape of County Down. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 13494.
Tree stumps dates from the mesolithic period, and is classified as a submerged woodland. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Tree stumps 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 13494.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Windmill stump (c.f. ihr 2815 for details) (1 km), The ragheries. wooden fish trap (1.5 km), Kelp grid (2.1 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Tree stumps'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.
Tree stumps stands on Paleozoic sedimentary rocks, bedrock that formed in the Silurian. The rock here is sedimentary rocks.