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Wedge tomb at Cookstown is a Neolithic or Bronze Age megalithic burial monument, one of a distinctive class of stone-built tombs found predominantly in Ireland and western Britain. The structure consists of a rectangular burial chamber with an entrance passage, typically built from large stone slabs and covered by an earthen mound, though the original cairn may no longer be fully visible. These monuments date from the late fourth to the second millennium BC and served as communal burial places for the dead.
The tomb sits upon bedrock composed of a mafic igneous intrusion of Silurian age, which forms part of the underlying geology of this region of County Tyrone. This ancient igneous rock, dating back some 420 million years, provided the landscape upon which the Neolithic or Bronze Age communities constructed their memorial. The presence of this substantial igneous outcrop may have influenced the choice of location, offering both stone resources and a prominent geological setting for the tomb.
The monument is now protected by the Historic Environment Division under reference number 14798, recognising its significance as a surviving example of prehistoric burial practice. Wedge tombs represent an important period in the settlement and ceremonial life of early farming communities, and their distribution and characteristics continue to inform our understanding of Neolithic and Bronze Age Ireland.
Wedge tomb is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 14798. View the official record →
Wedge tomb at Cookstown is a Neolithic or Bronze Age megalithic burial monument, one of a distinctive class of stone-built tombs found predominantly in Ireland and western Britain. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 14798.
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.
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 14798.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Trackway (0.7 km), Counterscarp rath (1.7 km), Birch hill. rath (2.1 km).
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:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Wedge tomb stands on Unnamed Igneous Intrusion, Ordovician To Silurian, bedrock that formed in the Silurian. The rock here is mafic igneous-rock.