NEO/B.A. · MEGALITHIC TOMB

Wedge tomb

Limavady, Northern Ireland
NISMR MonID 12653
Period
NEO/B.A.
Site type
MEGALITHIC TOMB
Nation
Northern Ireland
The designation
Reference
NISMR MonID 12653
Authority
DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR)
Grid reference
C7337507137
Boundary

Scheduled area

© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR)

Overview

History & significance

Wedge Tomb at Limavady is a Neolithic or Bronze Age megalithic tomb, one of the distinctive wedge-shaped chamber monuments characteristic of Ireland and western Britain. Built from stone slabs arranged to form a narrow burial chamber that widens towards its entrance, this monument exemplifies the architectural tradition of the 4th to 2nd millennium BC. The tomb sits upon bedrock of the Argyll Group, metamorphic limestone and marble formed during the Neoproterozoic, which would have provided readily available stone for its construction.

The monument occupies a rural position in the Limavady area of County Londonderry, where the underlying geology shaped both the building materials and the landscape visible to its Bronze Age creators. Wedge tombs typically contained inhumations alongside pottery and other grave goods, serving as permanent focal points for family or community burial practices across generations. The site remains largely as it survives in the modern landscape, its stones worn by millennia.

Protected under Historic Environment Division reference 12653, the tomb represents significant archaeological heritage. Such monuments offer crucial evidence for understanding prehistoric settlement patterns, burial ritual and social organisation in early Iron Age communities across the north-west of the island.

Wedge tomb is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 12653. View the official record →

About this monument

Questions & answers

What is Wedge tomb?

Wedge Tomb at Limavady is a Neolithic or Bronze Age megalithic tomb, one of the distinctive wedge-shaped chamber monuments characteristic of Ireland and western Britain. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 12653.

What period does Wedge tomb date from?

Wedge tomb dates from the neo/b.a. period, and is classified as a megalithic tomb. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.

Who is responsible for protecting Wedge tomb?

Wedge tomb 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 12653.

What other scheduled monuments are near Wedge tomb?

Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Cloghnagalla, cloghnagalla. wedge tomb (0.8 km), White fort. cashel, souterrain & cairn (1.5 km), Black fort. rath (1.7 km).

Unlimited access

Everything a full report reveals about Wedge tomb

This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Wedge tomb's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:

Overview
An interactive map of the location with every monument and battle plotted, and a plain-language history built only from what the record holds.
Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman World
Ireland was never conquered by Rome, so this traces the island's Iron Age kingdoms and its contact with the Roman world.
Historic Records
The 19th-century records of this place: valuations, Ordnance Survey memoirs and topographical accounts.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
Spotlight
A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.
Target Zones
For detectorists: the most promising ground to search nearby, ranked by confidence, with what to expect.
Timeline
The whole story of the location told era by era, from prehistory to the present day.
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Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.

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The ground beneath

The bedrock under Wedge tomb

Wedge tomb stands on Argyll Group, bedrock that formed in the Neoproterozoic. The rock here is marble, meta-limestone.