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Ballymoney Bivallate Rath and Souterrain is an early Christian ringfort occupying clay-rich ground in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The monument comprises a residential enclosure defended by two concentric earthen banks, a characteristic defensive arrangement for Irish raths of the early medieval period. Beneath the site lies bedrock of the Lough Neagh Clays Group, an Oligocene deposit of clay and lignite that would have shaped both the settlement's drainage and the methods used to construct its ramparts.
The souterrain—an underground stone-lined passage—extends beneath the rath and represents a significant structural investment typical of high-status early Christian settlements. Such subterranean chambers served multiple purposes, from refuge during raids to storage and ritual function. The combination of bivallate defences and an underground structure indicates this was a settlement of some importance within its local community during the early medieval centuries.
The site remains protected as a scheduled monument under the Historic Environment Division's records. Located at grid reference D0135029560, the bivallate rath and souterrain survive as archaeological evidence of the territorial settlement patterns and domestic architecture that characterised early Christian Ireland.
Bivallate rath and souterrain is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 1036. View the official record →
Ballymoney Bivallate Rath and Souterrain is an early Christian ringfort occupying clay-rich ground in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 1036.
Bivallate rath and souterrain dates from the e.christ. period, and is classified as a rath & souterrain. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Bivallate rath and souterrain 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 1036.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Standing stone (3.9 km), Raised rath & ?souterrain (4.8 km), Raised rath? or moated site? (4.8 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Bivallate rath and souterrain'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.
Bivallate rath and souterrain stands on Lough Neagh Clays Group, bedrock that formed in the Oligocene. The rock here is clay and lignite.