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Wedge Tomb, Ballymena is a Neolithic or Bronze Age megalithic burial monument of the wedge tomb type, a distinctive class of stone-built chamber tomb found predominantly in Ireland and south-west Britain. The monument sits on bedrock composed of Palaeogene extrusive rocks—mafic lava and mafic tuff formed during volcanic activity in the Paleogene period—which would have influenced both the availability of stone for construction and the landscape visible to those who built and used the tomb. Wedge tombs typically comprise a tapering stone chamber, wider at the entrance and narrowing towards the rear, often set within or under a mound of smaller stones and earth.
The monument is located at Ballymena in County Antrim, where the underlying geology of ancient lava flows creates a landscape shaped by deep prehistoric forces. These volcanic rocks would have been accessible to the tomb's builders and may have influenced their choice of this particular site. The monument is protected by the Historic Environment Division of the Department for Communities under reference number 2388, recognising its archaeological importance as evidence of funerary practice and social organisation among prehistoric communities in Ulster.
Wedge tomb is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 2388. View the official record →
Wedge Tomb, Ballymena is a Neolithic or Bronze Age megalithic burial monument of the wedge tomb type, a distinctive class of stone-built chamber tomb found predominantly in Ireland and south-west Britain. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 2388.
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 2388.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Ring barrow (2.1 km), Ring barrow (2.5 km), Ring cairn (2.8 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 Extrusive Rocks, Palaeogene, bedrock that formed in the Paleogene. The rock here is mafic lava and mafic tuff.