Battlefields›Chichester's Raid on the Route, North Antrim
Tudor

Chichester's Raid on the Route, North Antrim

1601
Antrim, northern_ireland
Era
Tudor
Battle Type
Raid
Location
Antrim, northern_ireland
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Defeated
Irish/Scots (MacDonnell)
VS
Victor
English Crown (Chichester)
Outcome
Chichester marched by night into Randal MacDonnell's territory in the Route while Randal was away with Tyrone in Munster, advancing almost to Dunluce Castle. In his own words he 'spared neither house, corn, nor creature' and drove off substantial plunder. On the return march the MacDonnells (led by Randal's nephew) held the passes and fought Chichester's forces over two days, inflicting some losses on the English though sustaining greater losses themselves. The raid formed part of Chichester's wider scorched-earth strategy of depopulating a wide radius around Carrickfergus to starve resistance in the closing stages of the Nine Years' War.
The Battle

History & Significance

Chichester's Raid on the Route, North Antrim was a Tudor raid, fought in the area of Antrim, Northern Ireland in 1601. English Crown (Chichester) prevailed over Irish/Scots (MacDonnell). Chichester marched by night into Randal MacDonnell's territory in the Route while Randal was away with Tyrone in Munster, advancing almost to Dunluce Castle. In his own words he 'spared neither house, corn, nor creature' and drove off substantial plunder. On the return march the MacDonnells (led by Randal's nephew) held the passes and fought Chichester's forces over two days, inflicting some losses on the English though sustaining greater losses themselves. The raid formed part of Chichester's wider scorched-earth strategy of depopulating a wide radius around Carrickfergus to starve resistance in the closing stages of the Nine Years' War.

The ground

The ground they fought on

The site of Chichester's Raid on the Route, North Antrim lies on Unnamed Extrusive Rocks, Palaeogene, bedrock that formed in the Paleogene. The rock here is mafic lava and mafic tuff.

Questions & Answers

Frequently Asked Questions

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Everything a full report reveals about Chichester's Raid on the Route, North Antrim

This page covers Chichester's Raid on the Route, North Antrim. A full Aubrey report for the area pulls together this battle alongside scheduled monuments and everything else the record holds within a few miles:

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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Protected heritage nearby

Scheduled Monuments near Chichester's Raid on the Route, North Antrim

Castlenagree. mound (cashel or barrow?)
Castlenagree. mound (cashel or barrow?)
Scheduled monument · PREHISTORIC · ~0.4 mi

Castlenagree is a prehistoric mound located in Moyle, Northern Ireland, situated on bedrock of Palaeogene extrusive rocks comprising mafic lava and mafic tuff. The monument's precise classification—whether cashel (stone-built enclosure) or barrow (burial mound)—requires further investigation, tho…

Ice house
Ice house
Scheduled monument · POST-MED · ~1.8 mi

Ice house at Coleraine is a post-medieval ice house situated in the town of Coleraine, County Londonderry. Such structures were built from the seventeenth century onwards to store ice harvested during winter months, providing refrigeration for food preservation before mechanical cooling became av…

Ice house (associated with port moon salmon fishery)
Ice house (associated with port moon salmon fishery)
Scheduled monument · UNCERTAIN · ~2.7 mi

Port Moon Ice House is a nineteenth-century ice house located in Moyle, County Antrim, built to serve what is believed to have been a salmon fishery. The structure survives as a testament to the infrastructure required for preserving fresh fish before the advent of mechanical refrigeration. Ice h…

Dun sobhairce, dunseverick castle. dunseverick castle
Dun sobhairce, dunseverick castle. dunseverick castle
Scheduled monument · C13TH · ~2.8 mi

Dunseverick Castle is a thirteenth-century fortification located in Moyle, County Antrim, commanding a position on the north Antrim coast. The castle exploits the natural defensive advantages of its geological setting, built upon Palaeogene extrusive rocks formed from ancient mafic lava flows and…

Church of dunkelisp. post-medieval church & graveyard, on site of medieval parish church
Church of dunkelisp. post-medieval church & graveyard, on site of medieval parish church
Scheduled monument · POST-MED · ~3.1 mi

Church of Dunkelisp is a post-medieval church and graveyard situated in Coleraine, Northern Ireland, occupying the site of an earlier medieval parish church. The monument represents the continuity of ecclesiastical use across several centuries, with the present structure and its associated burial…

Portbradden ice house. ice house
Portbradden ice house. ice house
Scheduled monument · ~3.7 mi

Portbradden ice house is a substantial underground structure built into the distinctive basaltic bedrock of the Antrim plateau. The dark volcanic rock underlying the site, formed during Paleogene times from ancient lava flows and related volcanic deposits, provided ideal conditions for ice storag…

Chapel field. church, graveyard (site of) & souterrain
Scheduled monument · E.CHRIST. · ~0.6 miles
Carnkirk castle. round cairn
Scheduled monument · PREHISTORIC · ~0.6 miles
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In the same landscape

Battles near Chichester's Raid on the Route, North Antrim

Perrot's Siege of Dunluce Castle
1584
~0.7 miles away
Battle site (Eagry)
~1 miles away
Battle site (Lisserluss)
~1.6 miles away
Battle site (Glebe)
~4.6 miles away
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